Anthony Bourdain’s essay, “The View from the Fridge” was first published in our December 2000 issue. Though I can be a terror in my kitchen, in the dining room of other restaurants I'm a pussycat. I know the electric shock that travels through the restaurant's spine and into the brainstem of the kitchen: the chef has that table's food up! It's a tiny, inconsequential move for the customer—a cigarette at the bar—but for the kitchen, particularly in a good restaurant, it can cause mad panic and much misery. But all I can tell you is that it's in the restaurant's best interests to seat you as soon as possible.