Anthony Bourdain and 'Top Chef' lead culinary Emmy nominations

(The Travel Channel)

A powerful episode of Anthony Bourdain's culinary travel show No Reservations in Haiti has been nominated for three Emmy awards, while the show itself has been nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Series.

Similarly, Top Chef has also been nominated in four Emmy categories, including Outstanding Reality-Competition Programming.

Nominations for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards , which recognize the best in TV programming, were announced this week.

In addition to being nominated for outstanding cinematography, picture editing, and outstanding nonfiction series, Bourdain has also been recognized for his writing on the Haiti episode, an hour-long show that shines an uplifting spotlight on the country in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.

Though known for his irreverent, expletive-laced, blackly humored sarcasm and guffaw-worthy one-liners - termed Bourdainisms by producers - Bourdain set aside some of his trademark cynicism to capture hopeful moments against a tangled backdrop of rubble and destruction: anonymous artists who produce art work knowing full well they won't sell anything; a family dinner in a home that's still standing, while their neighbor's house is reduced to a pile of collapsed walls; and small signs that life is returning back to normal on the Rue du Poulet, or Chicken Street, where hawkers sell all manner of chicken bits late at night.

During filming the country was in the middle of a cholera epidemic and faced impending hurricanes.

Bourdain is an accomplished writer having penned a New York Times bestseller Kitchen Confidential. He is also a writer for the kitchen drama part of Treme, an HBO series by David Simon, the creator of The Wire.

He's also rumored to be getting another travel food show that will be more "accessible" to regular travelers.

Top Chef, meanwhile, has been nominated for outstanding cinematography for reality programming, outstanding direction for nonfiction programming, outstanding picture editing for reality programming and outstanding reality-competition programming.

The Emmy Awards airs live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles Sunday, September 18 at 8 pm EDT on Fox.

To watch a clip of Bourdain's Haiti episode, visit http://www.travelchannel.com/Video/relive-moments-from-haiti-15262.