Real-life New York Chefs Dish on What Works — and What Doesn't — in Foodie Movies
Chef, the new hunger-stoking foodie film that Jon Favreau writes, directs, produces, and stars in, arrived in select theaters May 9 and expands to a wider release May 16. It tells the story of Carl Casper (Favreau), a once-edgy chef who is fired from a popular L.A. restaurant and sets off on a journey with his son and sous-chef in a freshly tricked-out food truck. It’s been well publicized that Favreau logged serious hours in real kitchens and sought the consulting services of Roy Choi, whose traveling Korean BBQ taco emporium helped jump-start the gourmand food-truck craze. Foodies seem to think Favreau captured the world accurately, something not every maker of kitchen-centric movies pulls off. We asked chef Eric Ripert of the four-star New York seafood restaurant Le Bernardin and Nick Curtin of the wood-oven-centric Rosette what filmmakers tend to get right and wrong about restaurant life.
WRONG: Nobody dresses like the Swedish Chef anymore.
"Very often, when you see food scenes in movies, it’s not realistic. Or, technically, it doesn’t make sense," says Ripert. "Sometimes the knife skills are not right, or the outfits are not right — like they put the very tall hats on chefs and make them look ridiculous, which we don’t anymore."
RIGHT: Sometimes, though, the details — and the eggs — are just delectable.
Naming one of his favorites, Ripert points to the quiet, final minutes of Stanley Tucci’s Big Night (1996) — during which Tucci’s character prepares some basic eggs after an emotional night of feasting — as a scene that gets both the kitchen details and the feelings right: There is no pomp, no theatrics — just someone taking a simple meal seriously. “He makes a damn good omelet, I tell you,” says Ripert.
WRONG: Chefs are disciplined enough to wait until after work to have sex.
While Ripert demurs when asked for cringe-worthy movie titles, Curtin is game. “No Reservations, the Aaron Eckhart film — total drivel,” he says. Also disastrous, though fun to watch, was the quickly cancelled 2005 Fox series Kitchen Confidential, based on Anthony Bourdain’s memoir and starring Bradley Cooper. “He’s the most unrealistic chef I’ve ever seen, slipping out the back door for four hours to sleep with his owner’s mistress. And then, like, live rabbits coming in the door [in one kitchen scene]?” laughs Curtin. “That doesn’t happen in New York.”
RIGHT: Chefs are pretty obsessive folks.
Chef is also the rare film to accurately depict the chef lifestyle, which is “all consuming,” says Curtin. “It takes a lot of concerted effort to maintain the relationships in your life and to give other things as much attention as you give your kitchen.” Curtin appreciated the accuracy of Casper’s workspace being “polished down and glimmering stainless steel,” while his apartment is basically “a bed with just sheets and, like, his mail in bundles.”
RIGHT: More than technique though, the key to a good food film is passion.
Curtin says he has a soft spot for Tampopo, the 1985 Japanese film about a truck driver who helps a single mother improve her ramen shop. “It’s about passion and perfection and the rigor of cooking, juxtaposed with the sort of messy, chaotic element that drives the food scene,” says Curtin. Ripert singles out Babette’s Feast, the 1987 Danish drama about a French woman who prepares a life-altering meal for some ascetics. “Technically, the kitchen parts are not realistic at all,” says Ripert. “But I like that movie very much because she’s so passionate. She’s cooking with her heart and soul.”
Photo credit: Everett Collection
