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musings on
synchronicity
and the value of
paying attention

Good food is serious business — and it can also be a lot of fun. Both sides of that coin are on display in the charming story of No Reservations. It's not Anthony Bourdain's world-traveling and stomach-churning adventures with road kill and dysentery. It's a restaurant, a chef, and all the kitchen clatter that accompanies upscale fine dining in the city. It's also a story of how a woman who has devoted her life to food and the culinary arts must learn to take care of her orphaned niece, get a life for herself, and maybe even make a family.

An appropriately cool and focused Catherine Zeta-Jones, the omnipresent Abigail Breslin, and the quirky Aaron Eckhart form the centerpiece trio of this engaging romantic comedy with several twists. They get able assists from Patricia Clarkson, who plays the owner of the restaurant where Zeta-Jones' Chef Kate runs a tight kitchen ship, and Bob Balaban, as the therapist challenged to get her attention and help her get a life. (He also enjoys her food.) The director mixes humor and drama in well-blended measures and offers a believable scenario. Of course, there's a lot of good-looking (and, apparently, good-tasting) food, too, and everyone's all in for that.

The DVD provides a 20-minute backstory blurb from Marc Summers of TV's Food Network, explaining how the locations were scouted and transformed, and discussing what the actors needed to learn about cooking in order to make their presentations believable.

I learned to cook from scratch, using family recipes, sample tasting, and approximations for measures ("hmmm. . . maybe I should add a pinch of. . ."), and I cooked for a good-sized family as a youngster. To top it off, I was actually named my high-school senior class' Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow. Didn't but probably should have seen that one coming. Although my current foodie efforts focus more on fresh and less on utensils, I recently started working with a new business client organization that brought the memories back. This university client offers several industry-based programs, one of which is culinary arts. Some of their alumni are also Food Network favorites, including Emeril Legasse, Tyler Florence, and Michelle Bernstein. After touring the spotless facilities in these culinary teaching programs, sampling their fare, and seeing this film again, I remain amazed at how much good food is served in any location at any time. Doing it for a family of six is one thing. For a restaurant of any measurable size is another. No Ratatouille cute-mice-in-the-kitchen here. Just a lot of good people who love good food and want to share it with others.

A home kitchen hardly matches the professional layout of a restaurant, even when lots of people now try hard to duplicate it. But, as we see in No Reservations, food, cooking, humor, and warmth can be the basis for bringing people together, no matter how far off track they've gone.

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Copyright ©2003-2008 Jill J. Jensen  |  All Rights Reserved  |  515 . 225 . 8208