In what is arguably one of the most popular scenes from the 2014 film Chef, filmmaker Jon Favreau’s character Carl Casper creates the perfect grilled cheese sandwich. It’s the ideal ratio of gruyere, parmesan and cheddar, melted and oozing over two buttery, griddled-golden slices of sourdough. A simple dish made decadent. And the secret ingredient? Korean-American chef Roy Choi.
Choi, who founded the gourmet Kogi food truck in LA and opened the Korean-Mexican fusion concept Best Friend at Park MGM, co-produced Chef with Favreau and helped create the iconic dishes that made the flick a culinary phenomenon for fans around the world.
“If you’re lucky enough to even make one breakthrough, something that becomes even just a little bit iconic, or a part of the pop-cultural fabric in someone’s head or in their life, it really humbles you as a person, as a creator,” Choi says.
“I love that people care that much. It meant so much to us,” adds Favreau, whose past projects have included creating and directing The Mandalorian and working on multiple Marvel films. “I recalibrated what I wanted to do creatively, and I met somebody else who had also recalibrated what he meant to do a few years earlier with the Kogi truck.”
The two joined forces again for The Chef Show, a hit Netflix cooking series where they revisited some of their favorite recipes and sampled new ones with celebrity friends and chefs.
And now their ongoing collaboration has come full circle with The Chef Truck, a permanent grab-and-go concept at Park MGM, based on the film’s most drool-worthy meals.
“It was Vegas that really inspired it because people that came to Best Friend would stop me and say, ‘The Chef Show saved our lives,’” Choi says. “It had a resurgence during COVID, and they would come up and say how much The Chef Show meant to them, [how much] the movie meant to them, and that just kept me thinking ... how could I bring this into life?”
The Chef Truck is a true-to-scale reimagining of the El Jefe truck from which Favreau’s character slung Cubano sandwiches in Chef, and the menu carries the canon forward.
You can order the perfect grilled cheese ($12) just how Carl Casper’s son had it, medianoche sandwiches ($16) and breakfast burritos ($15) stuffed to the gills with slow-cooked Cuban mojo pork, or a vegetarian version of The Chef Truck Cubano ($15) with eggplant, portobello mushrooms, grilled tofu and Choi’s secret weapon—tangy salsa verde.
For sides, the ham and cheese croquettes ($6) and spicy watermelon cubes ($7) are bite-sized and addictive, while the beignets (eat ’em while they’re hot!) and the velvety molten chocolate lava cake ($8) are the ultimate on-the-go treats.
“The biggest thing I worried about was if people are going to check this out, it better taste like it looks like it tastes in the movie. It better taste as good as it did on the set,” Favreau says. “[Roy’s] constantly tweaking it, adjusting it and trying new things. It’s an ever-evolving thing. It’s like a movie that’s alive.”
The question of how to further “the next iteration of dinner theater” is at hand, Choi says. And with Favreau experimenting with more VR and AR technology in his films, it’s possible we’ll see that emerge into new, immersive dining experiences.
Favreau says he’s happy to be Choi’s “cheerleader” on The Chef Truck, stepping back to allow the classically trained chef do what he does best: tell a story. “He’s taking you in real time through this whole journey and cares as much as any storyteller that I know,” he says.
THE CHEF TRUCK Park MGM, mgmresorts.com. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Friday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-11 p.m.
