Even though it's June, on fall television show we're excited about is Kitchen Confidential, the Darren Starr spin on Gothamist favorite Anthony Bourdain's seminal "life of a working chef" book of the same name. Zap2It has an interview with Bradley Cooper, who will star as the Bourdainish character and explains the premise:

"[My character] got addicted to cocaine and blew it all up my nose, lost everything. Now I'm a line cook at an Olive Garden-esque restaurant. This guy Pino, this Italian guy played by Frank Langella, just fired his chef last night. He's got 300 on the book for tomorrow. He has no chef, no food, nothing. So he hires me and takes a chance."

Love it. Even better, we'll see Nicolas Brendon (Xander from Buffy) and John Cho (Harold from Harold & Kumar go to White Castle) as other chefs, plus John Daley (Sam from Freaks and Geeks) as a lackey. Also, Bitty Schram, who Gothamist loved as Sharona in Monk, is playing a NY Times food critic (a role that Bourdain's girlfriend, NY Post gossipeuse Paula Froelich, auditioned for). We hope that Cooper's character ("Jack") gets rides a motorcycle and drinks at dive bars in the wee hours, too... and is it too much to expect a cameo from Bourdain?

Updated: Here are some clips of the show; the restaurant "Jack Bourdain" cooks at is called Nolita.

Gothamist went to Les Halles for Christmas Dinner and went all fan-blog on Bourdain there.