Anthony Bourdain : Too Hot in The Kitchen.(Chef Bernard Loiseau)(Interview)

The suicide of French chef Bernard Loiseau in his Burgundy home threw the gastronomic world into shock last week. Loiseau had been under tremendous pressure as owner and head chef of the three-star Cote d'Or in the town of Saulieu, and peers like Paul Bocuse blamed the critics, particularly the GaultMillau guide, which had decided to drop its rating of Loiseau's eatery. To shed light on the high-pressure life of a top chef, NEWSWEEK's Malcolm Beith talked to Anthony Bourdain, executive chef at New York's Brasserie Les Halles and author of "Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly." Excerpts:

Are the critics to blame?

I disagree with Bocuse and some of those people who are immediately pointing the finger at the critics and saying "You guys killed him." Reviews are a force of nature. [But] it is a real tough thing. Here was a guy who was under a variety of pressures. His restaurant was all the way out in Burgundy, far from a rail line. [And] in France, the criterion for three stars from GaultMillau is not just food. It requires vast capital investment on equipment and procedures, which the French economy basically can't support anymore.

The pressures on a chef go way beyond food.

When you're operating at that pitch, if you mess up one plate, it's the end of the world. Your food is how you judge yourself.

Chefs are often considered megalomaniacs.

It is very much "I am the general" because we are busy, in a crisis situation and because my name is on the door. You get all the credit and all of the blame. It's a chef-driven business. The conditions in the kitchen, the hours you work and the demands of the system place horrifying demands on chefs.