FROM 2015: Bourdain samples cheesesteaks at Donkey's Place in Camden

Editors note: This story was originally published in February 2015. Anthony Bourdain, a New Jersey native and the star chef and host of the acclaimed "No Reservations," died Friday morning. Bourdain, 61, committed suicide, CNN reported.

From Camden to the Pine Barrens, some of the latest stops on the CNN series "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" may be quite well known to South Jerseyans.

The famous globe-trotting foodie stopped by Donkey's Place in Camden in late January for not one, but two of its special cheesesteaks, featuring candy caramelized onions and a poppy-seeded Kaiser roll.

Owner Bob Lucas knew the world-renowned chef would order the Donkey steak.

"We only make the one sandwich," Lucas says.

Lucas found out a day earlier that Bourdain and his crew of eight would be visiting. He didn't make any special preparations.

"How could he give me a bad review?" Lucas says.

His confidence in his corner shop is not without reason. Donkey's has been a local favorite since soon after Lucas' father, an Olympic boxer, opened it in the 1940s. The shop got its name because his punch drew comparisons to a donkey kick.

Bourdain found out the sandwich also packs a punch, in part from rolls from Del Buono's Bakery in Haddon Heights.

"He ate the second one and it was pretty self-explanatory," says Lucas, whose son Joe opened a second location — Donkey's Too — in Medford.

"He said he really liked it. He said the poppy roll was unusual but delicious. He was always used to Philly style (torpedo roll)."

In an email, CNN representative Karen Reynolds said the network does not confirm locations where Bourdain dines while the show is in production, but plenty of sightings suggest the network is working on a New Jersey episode.

Sources say Bourdain was also at another Camden cheesesteak shop, Tony & Ruth's — also known as Ruthie's — in North Camden.

The Asbury Park Press reported Bourdain stopped and shot at Frank's Deli in Asbury Park. The Atlantic City Press has reported sightings at several Shore locations.

Wanting the full dish on the Jersey Devil, Bourdain stopped off in the Pine Barrens for a meal, sources say.

A local historian met up with Bourdain at Buzby's Chatsworth General Store and referred him to Lucille's Country Cooking in Warren Grove "as a place locals go," says Diane Brown, daughter of the restaurant owner Lucille Bates-Wickward.

A CNN producer contacted Bates-Wickward about two weeks prior to the shooting, Brown notes.

"When she saw the New York number she thought it was a telemarketer," Brown says of her mother.

Though her 41-year-old restaurant lacks a TV, Wi-Fi or even a website, Bates-Wickward was somewhat familiar with the traveling taster's work.

"Anthony Bourdain ... is that the guy who goes all over the world and eats fried rats?" Brown recalls Bates-Wickward saying. "Because we don't have fried rats."

Known for trying some unusual foods across the globe, Bourdain dared to try the area's most adventurous product, or byproduct.

"He liked the Scrapple a lot," says Brown, adding that he also enjoyed white toast, chili and scrambled eggs as served by her daughter, Kimberly Wohr.

Shooting the segment was far from over-easy, says Brown, who occasionally helps her mother.

"That was the amazing part — just how much work goes on behind the scenes for this," Brown, 53, remarks. "It takes four to five hours to do that four- to five-minute segment."

About a dozen crew members arrived at the rustic restaurant hours before Bourdain and recorded the kitchen cooking eggs.

Bourdain, whose show won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series or Special in 2013 and 2014, did not give off the star aura.

"He was very approachable, very gregarious," Browns says. "He took a lot of photos with people, but I found him very shy. You think celebrities are used to the whole paparazzi thing like politicians, shaking hands and kissing babies, but he was actually shy."

It was not Lucille's Country Cooking's first brush with celebrity.

"Joe Piscopo was a regular in the '80s," Brown says.

CNN's Reynolds said the premiere date for the fifth season of "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" is still being determined, "but we are confirmed for a second quarter start date."

Reach Steve Wood at (856) 486-2474 or at stewood@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @CP_SteveWood

FOR MORE INFO

Donkey's Place, 1223 Haddon Ave., Camden. (856) 966-2616.

Tony & Ruth's, 837 North 8th St., Camden. (856) 964-8193.

Donkey's Too, 11 Tomlinson Mill Road, Medford. (856) 810-0445. donkeystoo.com

Lucille's Country Cooking, 1496 State Hwy. 539 North Barnegat. (609) 698-4474.