Roy Choi and Jon Favreau, two very big deals in the increasingly overlapping worlds of food and entertainment, are teaming up for a new Netflix series called The Chef Show that will showcase their favorite dining destinations and culinary inspirations across the country. The friends will be joined on their journey by an ever-rotating cast of guest stars, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert Downey Jr., David Chang, Evan Kleiman, Jazz Singsanong, Andrew Rea, Bill Burr, Robert Rodriguez, Tom Holland, Kevin Feige, and Joe and Anthony Russo.
The two stars of the show first met during the production of Favreau’s 2014 comedy Chef, where Choi worked as a culinary consultant and taught the actor/writer/director how to cook like a pro. Since then, Favreau has become one of Hollywood’s most in-demand filmmakers with a CV that includes The Jungle Book, the Lion King remake, and the forthcoming ten-part Star Wars series The Mandalorian. Choi, meanwhile, published his acclaimed memoir LA Son, expanded his empire across Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and became a food TV fixture. In the years following the release of Chef, the friends also collaborated on a few pop-ups with fellow Angelenos Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo serving dishes inspired by the film.
“During the production of Chef, I developed a much deeper understanding of the ways in which we express our emotions, share our cultures and seek meaningful connections through the act of cooking and eating,” Favreau says in a statement. “I am so nostalgic about that time and those experiences — this series gives me the perfect opportunity to get back in the kitchen and create some new memories.” In addition to appearing on screen throughout the series, Favreau is also the director and a producer of The Chef Show.
While Choi has worked on a number of food TV projects recently — including his excellent new series with KCET and Tastemade, Broken Bread — he has never starred in a proper cooking show before. “I grew up on Julia Child, Paul Prudhomme, Sara Moulton, and obviously Emeril’s first show had a huge impact on my life,” Choi explains in an announcement about the series. “There is something timeless and beautiful about cooking straight to camera. The only snafu was, I’m not a natural born entertainer so doing it alone was always out of the question! But then I met Jon and we built such an amazing friendship over the movie, Chef. We both kinda didn’t want it to end.” Choi and Favreau announced this new joint venture at a Netflix event in Hollywood earlier today celebrating the streaming titan’s roster of recent food hits, including Nailed It! and Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.
The Chef Show premieres globally on June 7, with episodes featuring a dinner in Atlanta with the Avengers cast, a tribute to Los Angeles food writing icon Jonathan Gold, and a look at how Aaron Franklin smokes his brisket at Austin’s acclaimed Franklin Barbecue. Stay tuned for more details on The Chef Show as they become available.
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