Anthony Bourdain’s Lower East Side Episode of ‘Parts Unknown’ Will Air This Fall

CNN is moving forward with the final season of the late Anthony Bourdain’s groundbreaking food docuseries Parts Unknown this fall, including an episode focused on the Lower East Side and East Village, the LA Times reports. The beloved food TV celebrity died in June.

Bourdain, who once called New York “the greatest city in the world,” celebrated all sorts of different restaurants throughout NYC during his career. For the LES/East Village episode, he visited dessert institution Ray’s Candy Store, the iconic Ukrainian diner Veselka, red sauce Italian joint John’s of 12th Street, and LES art bar Max Fish. He also hit up old-school Italian restaurant Emilio’s Ballato, where he dined and chatted with rock music legends Debbie Harry and Chris Stein of the band Blondie.

The episode stars lots of icons from the NYC art and music scenes, including punk rock music industry executive Danny Fields, artist Joe Coleman, and hip-hop legend Fab Five Freddy. It will be his final love letter to his hometown.

Only one episode of the final season had completed filming and production before Bourdain’s death. It takes place in Kenya, where Bourdain traveled with W. Kamau Bell, the host of CNN’s United Shades of America.

The four other episodes, including the LES one, will be completed by the directors who filmed them and will use audio from Bourdain captured while shooting on location but will not feature his signature narration. The other episodes spotlight Big Bend National Park in Texas, the Asturias region of Spain, and Indonesia.

“Each one will feel slightly different depending on what’s gathered in the field,” executive vice president of talent and content at CNN Amy Entelis told the LA Times of the final episodes. “They will have the full presence of Tony because you’ll see him, you’ll hear him, you’ll watch him. That layer of his narration will be missing, but it will be replaced by other voices of people who are in the episodes.”

Parts Unknown launched on CNN in April 2013 and has won five Emmy Awards. During season nine of the series, Bourdain ate his way around Queens. Other than using outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with the cast and crew for the final episodes and a final hour dedicated to “how Tony affected the world,” Entelis said that CNN will not pull from the show’s archives after the final two episodes, signaling a true end for one of the most influential food programs on television.

• CNN will say goodbye to Anthony Bourdain with a final season this fall [LA Times]