Chef (2014)

I am not a big fan of movies about cooking. I guess when I watched Julie and Julia (2009), with Amy Adams and Meryl Streep, I felt like I needed a break from cooking movies. The movie was not horrible. I just didn't like the dramatic performance of Amy Adams. Then, several years later, I rented Chef, starring Jon Favreau, John Leguizamo and Sofia Vergara and immediately placed it on my top favorites. Writer Jon Favreau's writing and directing made this movie enjoyable from start to finish. The movie is about an awesome chef in a fine dining restaurant who quits after a confrontation with the owner and decides to start a food truck business with his son and friend. The comedy and drama is well balanced. You have jokes, insults and cursing which I believe was the reason it was given the "R" rating. On the other hand, you have the professional chef who realized the best thing he can do was the only skill he needed to connect with his son and the people around him. We can't forget about the food. The food featured made me salivate like I had not eaten in days. The culinary tour of dishes and specialties form several regions in the United States makes you think the basics like sandwiches, beignets, and barbeque is what bring people together. Who needs fine dining and sugar-coated foods like sweetbreads and lamb fries when you have the basics with beer chasers and good music in the background. All this is featured in Chef. I highly recommend it.