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 Gau