Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Branding of Wendell Dawes a Chef's Comic Tale by Nao Hauser The Branding of Wendell Dawes a Chef's Comic Tale by Nao Hauser. Goodreads TBR Cleanup 01/14/21. There are two similar challenges: Goodreads TBR Cleanup and Down the TBR Hole that each take your TBR lists on Goodreads and you choose to either keep or toss. The main difference is how you choose your books as Down the TBR Hole has you start with the oldest additions to your TBR list and Goodreads TBR Cleanup uses a random number generator to choose a different place in your TBR list every time. I decided to go with the Goodreads TBR Cleanup (created by @ Mega Bunny Reads) as the random selections from my 1000+ TBR list sounded like fun. These challenges can be done bi-weekly or weekly (or any other timeframe that suits you). If you’re interest in the other Down the TBR Hole meme, then you can check it out following the links. The meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story — has a new blog though called Sunflowers and Wonder! How It Works: Go to your Goodreads want-to-read shelf. Ask Siri (or any other generator) to pick a number between 1 and however many books are on the list. Go to that book and look at it and the 4 after it, for a total of 5. Read the synopses of the books. Decide: keep it or should it go? For the number selection, I used an online random number generator. TODAY’S RANDOM NUMBER : 620. Stillicide. Water is commodified. The Water Train that serves the city increasingly at risk of sabotage. As news breaks that construction of a gigantic Ice Dock will displace more people than first thought, protestors take to the streets and the lives of several individuals begin to interlock. A nurse on the brink of an affair. A boy who follows a stray dog out of the city. A woman who lies dying. And her husband, a marksman: a man forged by his past and fearful of the future, who weighs in his hands the possibility of death against the possibility of life. From one of the most celebrated writers of his generation, Stillicide is a moving story of love and loss and the will to survive, and a powerful glimpse of the tangible future. THOUGHTS: This book still greatly interests me and it’s well worth keeping especially since I won it in a Goodreads giveaway. Time keeps getting away from me or this one would have been read by now. An automatic Keep for me as I wanted to read it enough to enter the Giveaway and re-reading the description still sounds worth a Keep. 2. We Run the Tides. Teenage Eulabee and her magnetic best friend, Maria Fabiola, own the streets of Sea Cliff, their foggy oceanside San Francisco neighborhood. They know Sea Cliff’s homes and beaches, its hidden corners and eccentric characters—as well as the upscale all-girls’ school they attend. One day, walking to school with friends, they witness a horrible act—or do they? Eulabee and Maria Fabiola vehemently disagree on what happened, and their rupture is followed by Maria Fabiola’s sudden disappearance—a potential kidnapping that shakes the quiet community and threatens to expose unspoken truths. Suspenseful and poignant, We Run the Tides is Vendela Vida’s masterful portrait of an inimitable place on the brink of radical transformation. Pre– tech boom San Francisco finds its mirror in the changing lives of the teenage girls at the center of this story of innocence lost, the pain of too much freedom, and the struggle to find one’s authentic self. Told with a gimlet eye and great warmth, We Run the Tides is both a gripping mystery and a tribute to the wonders of youth, in all its beauty and confusion. THOUGHTS: This novel is one of my 2021 anticipated reads. I never got around to requesting an ARC for this one though as I have many others and would never have finished it in a timely manner, especially as I strive to read them before their release dates. It’s still one that greatly interests me and well worth keeping on my TBR. 3. I Will Listen If You Tell Me Who I Am. Collection of poetry and short fiction. Seventeen of these works have been published in reputable journals, worldwide. THOUGHTS: I honestly have no memory of adding this to my TBR. It’s a short collection of poems and stories which makes it appealing to keep on my list. However, I doubt I will get to this story any time soon so for now it’s a toss, but maybe one day if I come across it again, then I’ll add it back on the list. 4. Identical Genius. Kris is a highly accomplished and driven prodigy, a goal-oriented force of nature. Her sole focus is on becoming the world’s leading cybersecurity expert. That is, until she meets Max. He melts her heart and changes her entire world. But, a case of mistaken identity threatens to break Kris’s heart, and to thwart her one chance at true love. Kris’s twin sister Liz carves her own path. Liz is a polymath, good at almost everything, but her lack of focus keeps her in Kris’s shadow. Liz blooms later, but will her star shine as bright as Kris’s? Or, will the envy that results from Kris’s success doom Liz to a tragic and bitter end? In turns, the girls match wits with Dr. Reginald Hammond. Hammond is bitter and vain. He considers himself the smartest man in the room. Any room. And, he may well be. But is he the smartest person in the room? Or, has he met his match in Kris and Liz? THOUGHTS: This one sounds fairly interesting still. For now, I think I’ll keep it. If I don’t get around to it in the semi-near future (even if that’s a year from now), then I will revisit this title. 5. An Imperfect Candidate. An idealistic law student thinks he knows where good and evil lie–and soon discovers he doesn’t, in this novel about crime and redemption, set in the midst of Chicago politics over a period of 20 years. Just before he begins law school, with his ambitions set on running for office one day, Arthur Gorman marries the daughter of a construction magnate and alleged racketeer, Tolland Shenck. He believes he can follow a political path that will steer clear of Shencks’s corrupt Machine connections. But not long after the wedding and the start of classes, his prospects are cut off when his wife, Harriet, is kidnapped and held for ransom by those he believed shared his ideals. Gorman is forced to drop out of school and restart his life, working in his father’s shoe store. Harriet is gone, having divorced him after her release and moved West. But after years apart, she returns, unwilling to give up forever on the love and ideals they had shared. She insists on going back to the poor neighborhood that had been the scene of the crime and to the community center that had attracted Arthur, as a beginning law student, to its good work and political prospects. On the night of the crime, Harriet had been on her way there to meet him—and the criminals had used this to entrap her. Still, she goes back there, daily, rather than give up what she had once believed in, and so, eventually, does Arthur. When a Machine politician sets out to destroy the community center, Harriet comes up with a way to save it and enlists Tolland Shenck’s collaboration. In this way, Arthur’s onetime political ambition is resurrected when they insist he stick with what he once believed in and run against the Machine. But with his youthful ideals having yielded to harsh reality, Arthur knows his winning depends on his being an imperfect candidate. The character of Tolland Shenck, crook and redeemer, towers over this novel, which begins in the year of Watergate and ends in the hopeful era of Clinton. Nao Hauser lived in Chicago for 14 years, witnessing the politics of the Machine and the Left as well as the urban dynamic of gentrification that underpins An Imperfect Candidate. Her previous novels are Bronoff’s Rules, a comedy about playing the stock market; The Restaurant Reviewer, a drama about lovers, young and old, coming to terms with mortality and what a good man’s life means. set in New York City after 9/11; and The Branding of Wendell Dawes, a comic tale of a serious chef with a failing restaurant learning how to be a hot chef. THOUGHTS: Similar to the other Toss novel on this list, I have my doubts that I will get around to reading this any time within the next year or two as other novels just keep coming up higher on the list and this one is bound to get buried. It still interests me so there’s a part of me that wants to label it as a Keep, but with over 1000 others on my TBR list that keeps growing by the day, I feel it’s best to Toss for now and add it again if I come across it in the future. That’s it for my first TBR Clean-up week. It might change which version that I use, but the general concept remains the same. For now, I believe I’ll try to do this weekly, but that could change even by next week depending on the time I can dedicate to creating a list. Funnier than fiction. “Semi-Pro” is semi-good. But it should have exposed the real stories of the ABA and could have been an all-time sports movie. I had been waiting eagerly for the comedy, which stars Will Ferrell and Woody Harrelson and bounces through the final season of the American Association and the (fictional) Flint Tropics. I chose the Friday night opening of “Semi-Pro” over the Nuggets-Clippers game, which featured old ABAers George Karl and Doug Moe. Moe was the Nuggets’ assistant in 1975-76 — and had been an ABA all-star — and Karl was playing for the San Antonio Spurs — the last team the Tropics faced in the movie. I covered the ABA for Memphis and Denver newspapers for its last six seasons, wrote The Sporting News’ weekly ABA column and co- authored three basketball books chronicling the players and the history of the mesmerizing (and humorous) challenger to the NBA. “Semi-Pro” aside, the ABA had several better teams and more outstanding young players than the NBA that last season, which is why four — the Nuggets, the Pacers, the Nets and the Spurs — were allowed into the NBA’s exclusive men’s club. But “Semi-Pro” is true to the red, white and blue ball, the massive ‘Fros, the 3-point field goal, the cheerleaders (copied the Floridians), the goofy players who weren’t NBA worthy, the short- short shorts, the minuscule crowds and the weird promotions (“Corn Dog Night”). Denver attorney Arthur Hundhausen, guardian of the website remembertheaba.com, served as the movie’s consultant and pushed writer Scott Armstrong in the right direction. But not quite far enough. There were a million stories in the old ABA that are funnier and more poignant than the movie’s. Here’s a few about two of the most bizarre, flakiest, entertaining and exceptional players: Wendell Ladner was a handsome, strapping young man from a Mississippi pothole in the road, Necaise Crossing. He played for five teams in five years. I wrote of the mustachioed bull on a basketball court: “Wendell doesn’t know the meaning of the word ‘fear.’ But, then, he doesn’t know the meaning of many other words.” Wendell flung up 444 3-pointers, but made just 25 percent. Wendell dived for a ball over the press table. He dragged back to the court all the equipment of the team’s radio announcer. The rest of the game was not broadcast. The had a glass water cooler at the end of the bench. Wendell crashed into the cooler, bursting it, and ended up with 60 stitches. In a radio commercial, Wendell’s only line was: “I love (brand name) potato chips.” It took 17 takes. Just before one game, Wendell was asked to sign a piece of paper. He wrote his name and “#33.” Wendell had autographed the divorce papers served on him. Once, Rick Barry took the ball away as Wendell’s shoe came off. Ladner grabbed the sneaker, ran down the floor and, from 25 feet away, threw it at Barry’s head — and missed, of course. Wendell posed for a poster, prone and wearing only his basketball shorts, with a basketball strategically placed. Wendell fought every heavyweight in the league, including and Warren Jabali, and never lost, but was ejected every time. In our early 20s and single, Wendell and I were in a bar on Miami Beach when two women walked in and waved at him. “Which one are you going away with?” I asked Wendell. “Both them.” He did. Wendell was flying to New York to begin workouts with the Nets for the 1975 season featured in the movie when the Eastern Airlines plane crashed at LaGuardia. Wendell died at 27. Johnny Neumann, the most heralded scorer in the South since Pete Maravich, signed a reported five-year, $2 million contract with the Memphis Pros. Actually, he got $50,000 a year and 100 tickets for each game. He traded tickets for haircuts and lunches, but couldn’t give away most. Johnny Rebel once held Carolina’s Larry Miller to an ABA-record 67 points. In the fourth quarter, Neumann stopped at the press table, and I asked why he couldn’t stop Miller. “The dude’s hot,” Neumann said. I wrote that Neumann had been an incredible passer at Ole Miss, but was averaging 1.9 assists as a rookie and seldom passed the ball. That night he set a league record with 27 assists and declared, “Do you think I can pass now, (expletive deleted)?” The following morning, a young woman appeared at my hotel room door. “I am a gift from Johnny Neumann. He loved your article.” Years later I related the story for an HBO special on the defunct ABA — and finished with: “I declined Neumann’s present because it was unethical and immoral, and I had a column to write, anyway.” That sentence was cut from the show. In downtown Denver after a road game, Johnny showed me his new, expensive pool cue. “Let’s shoot some.” I won six straight games and was up $100 when Neumann smashed the pool cue over his knee and walked out. After the merger Neumann played — rarely — for the Lakers. When ordered to report in for the final two minutes, Johnny ripped the snaps off the sides of his warm-up pants. He wasn’t wearing shorts. Johnny is now a highly successful pro coach in the European League. He e-mailed me recently. Neumann and Ladner played together in Memphis for 39 unusual games. The sequel to “Semi-Pro” should be “The Amazing Adventures of Wendell & Johnny in the ABA.” The Brand Chef | Branding and Marketing Communications Des Moines, Iowa. More than blogging, more than newsletter fodder or search engine optimization (SEO) and keyword depth, the content you develop within a strategic content marketing program. There’s a certain level of excitement when we get to design vehicle graphics for clients. I mean, who doesn’t love to see their work THAT. Engaging brands on Twitter and Facebook and other various social media channels have a unique challenge when it comes to truly building community and support. WHAT IF… and just go with me for a second, here… WHAT IF your current email marketing campaign offered more than a 10% discount. Weathering a business crisis requires a focus on the long game. When considering your crisis messaging strategy, be firmly focused on transparency, consistency and calm. BBC America's New Original Series 'The Watch' Enlists Wendell Pierce and Matt Berry. During BBC America’s virtual New York Comic Con panel for its newest original series, The Watch , released today, it was announced that the series will premiere on Sunday, January 3 at 8pm ET . Additionally on the panel, it was revealed that Wendell Pierce ( The Wire , Selma ) and Matt Berry ( What We Do in the Shadows, Year of the Rabbit ) are joining the series voicing the characters of “DEATH,” a dry, sardonic Grim Reaper, and “Wayne,” a magical speaking sword, respectively. The panel, moderated by actress and host Yvette Nicole Brown ( Community, Avengers: End Game ), sees stars Richard Dormer ( Game of Thrones ), Lara Rossi ( I May Destroy You ), Adam Hugill ( 1917 ), Jo Eaton-Kent ( Don’t Forget the Driver ) and Marama Corlett ( Blood Drive ), along with lead writer and executive producer Simon Allen ( The Musketeers ) and executive producer Richard Stokes ( Broadchurch ), discuss the origination of the series sharing anecdotes from filming earlier this year while providing a first look at the series with a teaser trailer and three sneak peek clips. The Watch follows an unlikely group of misfits, The City Watch, who are forced to find the guts to save the world, surprising even themselves in the process. The comedic yet thrilling series pits trolls, werewolves, wizards and other improbable heroes against an evil plot to resurrect a great dragon which would lead to the destruction of life as they know it. From lead writer and executive producer Simon Allen , the modern and inclusive series is inspired by the characters created by Sir Terry Pratchett ’s famous “Discworld” novels, including the captain of The City Watch Sam Vimes (Dormer), the last scion of nobility Lady Sybil Ramkin (Rossi), the naïve but heroic Carrot (Hugill), the mysterious Angua (Corlett) and the ingenious forensics expert Cheery (Eaton-Kent) together with The Watch’s own idiosyncratic depiction of Death (Pierce). Further casting includes Paul Kaye ( Game of Thrones ) who plays Inigo Skimmer, a.k.a. The Duke of Stab, a member of the Assassins’ Guild whose long and distinguished career is jeopardized when he runs into The City Watch, as well as Ralph Ineson ( Chernobyl ) who is voicing Sergeant Detritus, a huge a troll made of stone and a member of The City Watch. An elemental exemplar of truth, loyalty and kindness, Detritus and Vimes have been close friends for many years since each saved the other from ruin. Previously announced cast includes Sam Adewunmi ( The Last Tree ) as Carcer Dun; Anna Chancellor ( Pennyworth ) as Lord Vetinari; James Fleet ( Outlander ) as The Archchancellor; Ingrid Oliver ( Doctor Who ) as Doctor Cruces; Ruth Madeley ( Years and Years ) as Throat; Hakeem Kae-Kazim ( Dynasty ) as Captain John Keel; and, Bianca Simone Mannie ( Homeland ) as Wonse. The Watch is a BBC America original series executive produced by Hilary Salmon ( Luther ), Ben Donald ( The Mallorca Files ) and Richard Stokes for BBC Studios, Rob Wilkins ( Good Omens ) for Narrativia, Simon Allen and Craig Viveiros ( The War of the Worlds ). Johann Knobel ( Shameless ) is series producer of The Watch , and Simon Rogers ( Doctor Foster ) is production designer. BBC Studios is handling distribution internationally. The Untold Truth Of 's The Chef Show. In June 2019, Netflix debuted The Chef Show , focusing on director, writer, actor, and screenwriter and chef as these food-loving friends undertake a culinary odyssey inspired by Favreau's 2014 film Chef . The show caught on with viewers, and a second season ( Vol. 2 ) debuted later that year, with a third season following in February 2020. Throughout the series, Choi and Favreau are joined by celebrity friends in locations both far-flung and close to home, with an eclectic array of episodes bound together by an overarching philosophy. " Cooking is a journey," described Netflix's synopsis for the show. "And making a meal is about more than just food." The Chef Show , the synopsis continued, set out on a mission to follow Choi and Favreau as they "experiment with their favorite recipes and techniques, baking, cooking, exploring and collaborating with some of the biggest names in the entertainment and culinary world." Viewers have proven to have a big appetite for the series, yet there's still much for fans to learn about this fun foodie favorite. Prepare to dig in and discover the untold truth of The Chef Show . The Chef Show originated from a Jon Favreau passion project. In 2014, Jon Favreau shifted his focus from directing blockbusters such as Iron Man and Cowboys and Aliens to directing and starring in a smaller, more personal movie called Chef , about a temperamental chef who loses everything but rediscovers his passion for cuisine when he buys a food truck. In order to ensure the level of authenticity Favreau sought for this passion project, he turned to Roy Choi, a Culinary Institute of America-trained chef who interned at Eric Ripert's famed restaurant Le Bernadin before hitting the road to sell Korean barbecue tacos from his Kogi food truck. Favreau brought Choi onboard Chef as a consultant, launching a friendship that extended far beyond their experience on the film. The duo reunited for The Chef Show , a food-centered Netflix docuseries. "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," said Favreau in a statement to Deadline in advance of the series' premiere. Reuniting with Choi for The Chef Show , he added, "gives me the perfect opportunity to get back in the kitchen and create some new memories." Roy Choi didn't go easy on Jon Favreau while filming Chef. Jon Favreau had never met Roy Choi when he approached him about serving as a consultant on his 2014 film Chef . Bringing Choi onto the film proved to perhaps more than Favreau had bargained for when Choi laid down his rules, and the expectations he had for the director. "I told him, 'If I'm going to do this, we really need to honor the craft and the code of cooking,'" Choi told the Los Angeles Times . While Favreau was used to being the taskmaster on his movies, Choi turned the tables on him. "You're not coming into my kitchen until you're trained," Choi told Favreau, who spent a couple of months learning the ropes from Choi, beginning with kitchen grunt work. "I had him work an eight-hour shift, just prepping," Choi told the Times . "You can't make a movie about a chef if you don't understand what it is to be a cook." The Chef Show evolved in an organic way. The working relationship on Chef evolved into a behind-the-camera friendship for Jon Favreau and Roy Choi. After filming ended, the friendship continued yet changed fundamentally, as it no longer involved the two cooking together. This, Favreau told People , was because cooking "was his job and I was making movies." While Favreau was reprising his Iron Man role in the final two Avengers movies, he had the idea to "bring a camera crew and cook for some of the people that are working on that show, and some restaurants and some chefs in Atlanta. And then I took that footage and I started working on it like a documentary." As Favreau told Eater , he didn't know what he would eventually do with the footage. "We ended up doing enough episodes to actually deliver a season, and it turned into a Netflix show," he said. "They loved the authenticity of it, they loved the passion." The Chef Show , Favreau explained, "became this thing that took on a shape through the editorial process, like a documentary. And now we have a format, but at first it was really [about] having fun cooking together and talking and sharing those experiences with friends." Jon Favreau and Roy Choi recreated some Chef recipes on The Chef Show. When they were filming Chef , Roy Choi generated all the recipes that Favreau's character, Carl Casper, cooks in the film. Given that Choi created the dishes and then taught Favreau how to prepare them so he could do so convincingly onscreen, it shouldn't be surprising that they decided to recreate some of those recipes for The Chef Show . In fact, Food & Wine detailed the Chef dishes recreated for The Chef Show , including the berries and cream Carl sells from his El Jefe food truck and the aglio e olio pasta that he lovingly creates for Molly, played in the film by Scarlett Johansson. According to Food & Wine , Choi shares some deep-dive Chef trivia in the episode, revealing the reason he had Favreau's character thinly slice the garlic instead of simply crushing it "was to show how much he cared about this pasta." After they complete the dish — which they came to nickname "Scarlett's Pasta" — and plate it during the episode, Choi tells Favreau that the pasta is best eaten immediately after it's cooked. Otherwise, he explains, "the magic dies." The Chef Show has enlisted some big stars. Throughout his career as a director, Jon Favreau has worked with some pretty serious Hollywood heavyweights, ranging from Will Ferrell to Beyoncé. As a result, he's been able to entice a lot of his celebrity pals to lend their star power to The Chef Show , with guest stars including funnyman Seth Rogen, celebrity chef/ Ugly Delicious star , director Robert Rodriguez, comedian Bill Burr, and Iron Man 's Robert Downey Jr. and , to name just a few. Chatting with Variety , Favreau admitted that his Marvel movie pals have been "a family, for over a decade," and revealed that it was Paltrow who, inadvertently, brought him together with Choi in the first place. "My first time eating Kogi barbecue — the gourmet Korean taco truck Choi created — was because [Gwyneth] brought the Kogi trucks to the set of Iron Man ," Favreau told Variety, revealing that she was a natural to appear on The Chef Show given how many meals he's shared with her over the years . " The first screening we did of Chef was at her house where we cooked with Gwyneth," he added. Gwyneth Paltrow made an embarrassing confession on The Chef Show. Gwyneth Paltrow has had a long relationship with Jon Favreau, who's been her director in two Iron Man films and her co-star in numerous other Marvel movies, so it's not surprising that Paltrow was one of the first celebrity friends he lined up to appear in The Chef Show . Paltrow's appearance, however, was memorable not just for the meal, but for her hilariously mortifying admission that she's been in so many Marvel movies she literally can't remember them all. During their conversation in the episode, Favreau casually mentions being with Paltrow in Atlanta while they were filming Spider-Man: Homecoming . " Spider-Man ?" Paltrow says. "We weren't in Spider-Man ." Favreau begs to differ. "Yes we were. You were in Spider-Man ," he responds. "No," Paltrow insists. "I was in Avengers ." Favreau then proceeds to detail the scene they were in, with Paltrow hilariously proclaiming, "That was Spider-Man? Oh my God!" Paltrow addressed her gaffe during a subsequent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! " I just got confused," she admitted. "There's so many of these wonderful Marvel inter-connecting movies and I thought that it was an Avengers movie but it was not." Why Roy Choi sees The Chef Show as a return to old-school cooking shows. Once the show established its format, Choi said in an interview with Eater , The Chef Show " was about going back to the essence of the original cooking-to-camera shows," citing such TV pioneers as Julia Child and Paul Prudhomme. The concept was brilliant in its simplicity. "Put on the camera, get some food, start cooking, invite some friends over, and let's see where it goes," explained Choi. As Favreau told Eater, ". chefs are all teachers. You're being shown little things, you're picking up lessons all along the way. And being able to ask somebody who's an expert questions is such a valuable thing. I guess we figured if we liked it, other people might like it, too." If Favreau sees Choi as a teacher, Choi sees Favreau as an A+ student when it comes to picking up kitchen techniques. "I have seen Jon go from not knowing anything in that specific criteria to being proficient at it in literally five minutes," Choi told People . "That is superhero level." Jon Favreau and Roy Choi revealed their favorite moments from The Chef Show. Chatting about The Chef Show with Eater , Jon Favreau and Roy Choi were asked to single out their favorite moments from the show. For Choi, the first thing that popped into his mind was filming with barbecue guru Aaron Franklin at the inaugural Hot Luck Festival in Texas. According to Choi, "I got to access all of the [barbecue] smokers — so, that's like riding in someone's car." For his top pick, Favreau settled on an episode in which he worked in one of Choi's kitchens. Not only did he get to learn the intricacies of Korean cuisine, he totally geeked out when he met one of his food idols in that episode, celebrity chef David Chang of Netflix's Ugly Delicious . As Favreau explained, "to be working in one of Roy's kitchens cooking Korean food and have David Chang come in and they both taste my cooking, and think that it tasted good? To me, that was a moment that I'll never forget." TV critics showered The Chef Show with love. After the series made its debut, reviews for The Chef Show were glowing, bordering on ecstatic. Forbes went out on a limb to describe The Chef Show as "the most insanely watchable and enjoyable food series Netflix has offered," declaring stars Jon Favreau and Roy Choi to be "one of the most compelling duos on television." Collider declared the show to be "an absolute delight," describing the stars' chemistry as "infectious." As the London Evening Standard pointed out, The Chef Show "doesn't feel indulgent," adding that "it's entertaining to feel like you are part of their culinary adventure." A review from Uproxx doled out even more accolades, praising the series for being "fun, light, and hunger-inducing," while also inspiring "a fair bit of friendship envy, as the most common takeaway is, 'But I want to hang with these guys!'" With reviews like that, it shouldn't be surprising that The Chef Show has earned an enviable perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes , achieving a rare 100-percent rating on the review-aggregating website. Roy Choi was a shy kid before The Chef Show. Jon Favreau got his start as an actor, bursting onto the Hollywood scene alongside pal Vince Vaughn in their 1996 indie-film breakthrough Swingers . While Favreau has long been comfortable in front of the camera, the same cannot be said for Roy Choi. In an interview with Grub Street , Choi admitted he's definitely not the typical extrovert who everyone expected to wind up as a television star. However, said Choi, coming to television is something that's been brewing for a long time, but it's only recently that he felt ready to embrace the challenge. "I've been a shy kid for almost four decades now of my life," explained Choi, who also hosts solo series Broken Bread . "And I'm ready for the second chapter of my life. I've got a lot to share with the world. I just didn't know how I could share it. It just all came together in one year, and I'm not going to shy away from it anymore." Choi credits Favreau with "exposing me to the entertainment world," admitting he'd been "approached by everyone under the sun to make a show" but the time wasn't right until The Chef Show came along. Jon Favreau has watched each episode of The Chef Show many times. There's a reason why Jon Favreau has been responsible for such wildly successful box-office blockbusters as Elf , Iron Man and Disney's live- action remakes of The Jungle Book and The Lion King : he's painstakingly meticulous, a trait that he absolutely brought with him to The Chef Show . As Favreau told Grub Street , "I've watched all these episodes a dozen times in the process of making and defining the show. Every little thing, a lot of care went into it." Favreau compares the process of creating The Chef Show to that of cooking a spectacular meal for friends. "It's just really nice to share," he explained. "It's like you cooked a meal you want to eat, and now you've invited people." What he's trying to capture onscreen, he added, is to "show people who cook for real, and not try to present it any other way. And what it's like to be there by the side of someone who is really great at what they do and learning from them. I wanted to show what that was like." The message Roy Choi wants viewers to take away from The Chef Show. One aspect of The Chef Show that sets it apart from other food-centered TV series is its warts-and-all approach. One episode, for example, follows Roy Choi and Jon Favreau making a batch of New Orleans beignets using a prepackaged mix from the Big Easy's famed Cafe du Monde. As Eater recounted, Choi bites into a beignet and realizes the mix was old, and tosses the whole batch in the trash. Moments like that, Choi told Uproxx , underline the central message he wants viewers to take away: Not everything in the kitchen is going to go perfectly, but it's all part of the experience. "​I'm sure there are a lot of things in food shows that don't turn out right but they either don't make it to the screen or maybe they'll make it in some sort of outtake or something," Choi explained. "But that just shows the character of the show right there. They're not really mistakes. It's about just not being perfect or messing up or putting to much water in or this or that. That's all just a part of cooking." Roy Choi's cooking kit from The Chef Show contains some interesting stuff. When viewers see Roy Choi on The Chef Show , he's always equipped with a small-but-essential array of kitchen tools, and this is not by accident. In an interview with HypeBeast , Choi revealed the contents of the mobile cooking kit packed away in a nondescript backpack he carries with him at all times. The kit includes a set of knives he splurged on for Chef , as well as a wooden spatula. "Food to me tastes better when cooked with a worn wood spoon or spatula," he explained. "I feel like it transfers soul — or maybe splinters!" Also on hand are an array of seasonings, including small bags of salt and pepper as well as three small seasoning tubs labeled "Spicy," "Cheesy" and "Sweety." The most important item in the bag, however, is a special Chef Show coin that symbolizes his friendship with Jon Favreau. The platform Choi's been given by Netflix, he told HypeBeast , "has given me a new wind in life," the ability to be involved in "something honest and meaningful that inspires people to cook and change lives." The coin, he explained, reminds him to "never to lose sight of the truth." Spider-Man's ate his first oyster on The Chef Show. Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. weren't the only members of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to appear on The Chef Show . One episode featured Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tom Holland. When Choi learned that Holland had never in his life eaten a raw oyster on the half-shell, he made it his mission to change that. In the episode, The Chef Show 's Jon Favreau and Roy Choi visit a seafood restaurant along with Holland, Avengers: Endgame co-director Anthony Russo and president . After Holland selects his oyster, Choi fixes it up with some cocktail sauce and hands it over as someone instructs him to "slurp it down." Holland does just that, and then takes a moment to savor what he's just tasted, shaking his head approvingly. "That was really good," he says with a mouth full of oyster. For Choi, introducing Spider-Man to the joy of raw oysters gave him some extra cred with a special someone. "I am forever a hero with my kid because I gave Tom Holland is first oyster ever, in his life," Choi joked to Variety . "That can never be done again by anyone."