Skip to main content

El Jefe (The Chef) - film review

One of those feel good (food) films of this year.  It is all about the food and sights and sounds of places across the contiental USA.

A renowned chef working at a LA area restaurant decides to spin a daring feast for a blogger / food critic about to visit that night.  He is banking on complete surprise and a wow factor when the owner played by Dustin Hoffman comes in and advises against it.  He plays safe and wants hired help (chef -Favreau's character) to focus on cooking what works, that pays the bills.

That takes away from the chef whose creativity feels inhibited and he decides to take a chance on himself to prove what he is capable of.  With some cliched storyline involving a divorced father (also the chef) that yearns to spend time with his kid who is growing up missing him, and some item number (by popular vote played by the estranged Sofia Vergara in her loud over the top mannerisms) the story tends to showcase the spunk of the protagonist who despite being ignorant of the challenge involved in going entreprenuerial manages to pull of a successful business.

He remodels and operates a food truck that he starts with help from his former line cook and his kid managing the marketing for the business.

The little boy helps him get up to speed on today's social phenonenon using handheld computing power and that helps snag the clientelle including the star power or cachet that the chef previously has established with his cooking.

The truck starts in Miami and travels west to California making pit stops along the way selling local delicacies with the hit item being a Cuban sandwich also called a Cubano.  I had the pleasure of eating some amazing Cubano at Porto's in Burbank CA recently which is all about the bread.  Toasted in a panini maker the bread is used to sandwich a slice of cheese and some salami.  It is a treat.

Film ends with a predictable but still wonderful to watch scene where the blogger (played by Oliver Platt) visits the food truck wanting to eat the wonderful palate pleasers that Chef has cooked up.  He offers a partnership to the chef to start a new restaurant where he can be the BOSS.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...
2 comments
Read more

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language.  Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds.  The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic.  Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'.  This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...
2 comments
Read more

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected.  I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot.  It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is.  Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy.  It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff?  Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality.  So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing?  Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...
2 comments
Read more