As somebody who reports the news, it has never felt good to be the one to break bad news to someone directly. But in reporting this story, it happened. Twice, actually.
Anthony Bourdain visited Houston back in June 2016 to scope out the city’s lush and diverse landscape for his hit CNN television show “Parts Unknown.” The episode aired a few months later in October to glowing reviews and little in the way of controversy. That is, until it hit streaming.
Folks who had watched the original episode back in ’16 noticed a few things were missing in the transition to digital-namely, Bourdain’s visit to the Indo-Pak restaurant Himalaya and Indian grocery store Keemat Grocer. Neither CNN nor Bourdain ever released a statement about why it happened, but one ongoing theory was that it was because of Bourdain’s dining companion: Sunil Thakkar.
The reluctant guide
Sunil Thakkar on the music stage get hundreds of fans to wave at the camera for a photos during the Festival of Colors. (For The Chronicle)
Thakkar, 60, is the owner of Houston-based Indian Bollywood radio station Masala Radio (98.7 FM) and the organizer of the Houston Holi and Diwali Festivals at Levy Park. He also joined Bourdain as a dining companion for portions of the 2016 “Parts Unknown” episode. This week, Thakkar told Chron he had no idea his segments were edited out of the current streaming version on HBO Max. He’s been able to watch the full unedited version on YouTube and has the original cut on a DVD provided by Bourdain’s production crew.
When Bourdain came to town in 2016, Thakkar said he had a wonderful time filming, but also experienced significant ups and downs. The biggest difficulty was related to his Hindu upbringing and faith: He doesn’t eat meat, and he specifically did not want to go to a restaurant that sold it. Bourdain’s team, according to him, was insistent about going to a restaurant that sold meat as well.
Himalaya at 6652 Southwest Fwy wasn’t Thakkar’s first choice. Had he gotten his way, Bourdain and Thakkar would have been chatting over bhaji pav at Honest, an Indian restaurant chain at 5901 Hillcroft Ave.
“Beef is sacred to me. I was trying to get them to pick a restaurant that didn’t sell beef,” Thakkar said. “We were going back and forth. I wasn’t happy about it.”
Keemat Grocers has multiple outposts around the city, but the location in Little India was featured on the late Anthony Bourdain’s show Parts Unknown. (Megha McSwain)
Thakkar relented after some of his sponsors and friends in the Indian-American community told him not to make a big deal out of Bourdain eating beef in front of him. Ultimately, he said he really liked the chef turned world-traveling television host. In the episode, he serves as the lens into the city’s South Asian community, highlighting its rich colors and diversity. At Keemat Grocer, he donned an Indian police officer uniform and toured the aisles, bringing with him an ensemble of dancers and live music.
“[Bourdain is] a strict meat eater and we laughed about that. There was one time he went to Vietnam or somewhere, he talked about it off-camera, where they sold eggs and it was a delicacy, and I was like, ‘Okay, cool’,” Thakkar recalled. “It just didn’t sit well with me, you know, but cool if you like it.”
Why was Bourdain’s Houston episode re-cut?
Anthony Bourdain filmed an episode of his CNN show Parts Unknown in Houston. It aired October 30, 2016. (David S. Holloway, photographer / CNN)
There are some documented examples of “Parts Unknown” episodes being pulled outright from streaming services. In 2018, Axios reported that CNN had pulled three episodes featuring Asia Argento from CNN Go. The Italian actress, who was also Bourdain’s romantic partner leading up to his death, had been accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old actor when she was 37 in 2013. The network also quietly pulled another episode that was set in Buenos Aires.
The information vacuum regarding the Houston edit has led some to believe something similar played out here as well. In 2016, a Harris County grand jury indicted Thakkar on a second-degree felony charge of sexual assault of a child, age 14-17. He pleaded guilty in 2017, but the court made no finding of guilt and placed him on deferred adjudication for the next five years. Thakkar ultimately received a $1,500 fine and served 10 days in jail. The case was closed in 2022.
Neither CNN nor Zero Point Productions responded to questions regarding whether Thakkar’s criminal case had prompted edits to the episode. When I asked Thakkar about it, he said he didn’t know.
“Everybody has a free will,” Thakkar said. “My perspective: I’m in for the moment, for the experience right now, and everybody has a right-as an actor, it’s up to the producer to keep me or remove me, whatever the reason is. That is their right. I was just there as an actor. I’m glad I had the opportunity.”
‘The entire Houston section?’
Himalaya restaurant chef-owner Kaiser Lashkari stands in the kitchen on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Lashkari was unaware that the “Parts Unknown” episode featuring him and his restaurant had been omitted in the HBO Max version. (Michael Ciaglo, Staff / Houston Chronicle)
Himalaya chef and owner Kaiser Lashkari told Chron he was aware of Thakkar and that the episode had been edited. But Lashkari seemed to have been under the impression that the episode only cut out Thakkar, not Himalaya. He also said the production crew gave him a DVD of the original episode and the behind-the-scenes footage of their filming.
I, unfortunately, had to be the one to tell Lashkari, a James Beard Foundation Award-nominated chef, that the episode that now lives in streaming on HBO Max had cut him and his restaurant out entirely.
“HBO Max … so the entire Houston section? That’s fine with me,” Lashkari said. “Sunil had the gift of the gab. Unfortunately, he blew it for all of us … because of this unfortunate thing, we all had to suffer.”
Lashkari had fond memories of Bourdain’s visit to his hole-in-the-wall restaurant at 6652 Southwest Fwy. Bourdain, in Lashkari’s account, was frank about his visit to Himalaya. There weren’t many restaurants that could be a perfect 10 to some people, and a perfect 0 to others. Thus, it piqued his curiosity.
When the Parts Unknown crew arrived, Lashkari recalled they were very accommodating, especially given the size of Himalaya’s kitchen. The crew filmed at the restaurant for a total of seven hours. Bourdain was there for three and apparently, according to what the crew told Lashkari, was the longest he had ever stayed at a restaurant up until that point.
“He was so tall, he had to duck his head,” Lashkari said. “All the women wanted to be photographed with him. He was very accommodating. Never said no.”
The chicken hara masala at Himalaya. (Megha McSwain)
While there, Bourdain had Himalaya’s famous steak tikka and chicken hara masala. Lashkari sent him away with more food, but in smaller portions so he could try a little of everything. That included the korma, the daal fry, the tandoori chicken and saag paneer. According to Lashkari, the food made such an impression that Bourdain went back some time later, but incognito.
“I was two years short of being a medical doctor,” Lashkari said. “After eating the food, he said he was so glad I’m not a doctor. That was one thing that stuck in my mind.”
These memories are a big reason why Lashkari was able to take the news of his edited-out cameo on the chin. It also helps that Bourdain’s aired visit put his restaurant on the map. He said his Sundays became incredibly busy after the episode was released in October 2016.
Coincidentally, when Lashkari and I were talking, he mentioned he had already been planning to watch “Tony,” the biographical coming-of-age film set around Bourdain’s time in Provincetown, Mass.
“Nothing can take away from the fact that he came to us. Out of 100 restaurants, he chose me,” Lashkari said.
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This article originally published at Houston chef takes ‘Parts Unknown’ edit in stride: ‘He chose me’.
Dining and Cooking