Anthony Bourdain appears to have worked at WPA in SoHo, New York City around 1980–81. A contemporaneous account explicitly says the photo was taken while “we … worked at WPA in SOHO, NYC in 1980 or ’81,” which is the clearest lead available here.

What that means

  • The SoHo job most directly tied to that period was WPA.
  • That same source also says Bourdain never worked at the Lobster Pot ; he worked at the Flagship instead.
  • So if you were asking about the SoHo restaurant specifically, WPA is the best-supported answer from the available evidence.

Extra note

Anthony Bourdain’s early restaurant work was varied, and later biographies tend to summarize his career more broadly rather than pin down every short- lived job.