NEW ORLEANS -- Anthony Bourdain left quite a legacy in New Orleans.
While visiting the city, he featured Kingpin, Jacques Imos, Snake and Jakes and several more bars and restaurants, putting them in the national spotlight.
“It’s still setting in, It’s been kind of a non-stop day and everybody is talking about it,” said Chef Donald Link, who runs several restaurants across the city and was one of Bourdain’s friends. “You know I don't get star struck. I see people all the time, it's not big deal, but there's something about him, like if you had asked me back then if you could have met anyone in the world who would it be? It would have been Tony Bourdain."
Link said New Orleans was special to Bourdain, who at one point was a writer on the series “Treme.”
Bourdain was a hero to man like link, but he was a mentor to Linda Green, better known as the Yakamein Lady.
"I want the world to know that Anthony Bourdain's show Cajun Country really put me on the map," she said.
Green met Bourdain while he was shooting his show “No Reservations” in New Orleans.
"He said ‘I've been all over the world and I've tasted just about everything, but I've never had that particular flavor,’" she remembered.
He then gave her some advice, which she immediately took to heart.
"(He) told me to do something with that and what I did, I copyrighted, and he said fantastic!"
The two also bonded over some unique and tough experiences.
"You know, the same thing that Anthony was fighting -- his demons -- I know that my son did too, I know what that's about and I wish he could have talked to somebody," she said, holding back tears.
While it’s unclear why Bourdain made the decision to end his life, Green says he may teach her one more lesson: To take care of herself.