The perfect comfort food is a big plate of food truck. Always has been. Always will be. On a chilly, lonesome night, snuggle up with your favorite food truck—and the movie Chef (2014) It also helps to have a Stone Brewing (California) Buenaveza Lager nearby to complete the culinary cinematic experience.

This movie serves. It’s got raging chef social media wars, a love story, and a juicy mojo-marinated pork shoulder, which also counts as a love story in my book. The acting is chef’s kiss, and the story is wholesome and sweet with a happy ending. Also, so many food shots. Did I mention the food shots? Simmering, glimmering, tempting, and tasty images of delectable delights had me shouting, “I’m ready to order! Now!”

Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) loses his molten chocolate lava cake sh*t with a certain food critic (Oliver Platt) and a restaurant owner (Dustin Hoffman) who won’t let him cook his way. Meanwhile, he’s divorced, doesn’t have the money to strike out on his own, and his girlfriend (Scarlett Johansson) senses that it’s just not time to move on with their relationship. But his ex-wife, played by Sofía Vergara, encourages him to follow his food truck dream, even getting her other ex-husband (Robert Downey Jr.) to finance the endeavor.

What’s a seasoned chef to do? He gets the fixer-upper food truck and goes on a road trip of a lifetime with his son, Percy (Emjay Anthony) and his line cook, Martin (John Leguizamo). If you haven’t already, crack open a beer to celebrate the beautiful menu of Cubano sandwiches and yuca fries that roll up in that truck.

The Buenaveza beer, in particular, is light and goes well, I guess(?), with a dusting of cornstarch to cool things off (IYKYK).

It has a satisfying yeasty body with finishing notes of lime and salt. This is an honest-to-good beer, never to be served with a pretentious poached egg topped with caviar or heaven forbid, a pompous crock of French onion soup. No. You’ll need a barbecue brisket or your favorite, local regional salt-of-the-earth dish. Grilled cheese or pork belly—or both will do.

Heck, you might even serve this beer at a wedding, such as the one that re-unites Chef Carl Casper and his ex-wife Inez. All’s well that ends well in a food truck, as they say.

Nothing warms the heart and makes you stand up and cheer like a food truck, a food truck movie, and a beer. But if you can’t get to a mobile unit of culinary perfection in person, who gives a fork? Slap some wheels on that TV tray and pull up to the couch. ¡Buen provecho!

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Cecilia Kennedy once paired a viewing of Cocaine Shark with Snoop Dogg’s 19 Crimes red wine and never looked back. She’s a writer and editor living in the Greater Seattle area, who publishes mostly horror fiction, but also humor. Her works have appeared in The Daily Drunk, Tiny Molecules, Kandisha Press, DarkWinter Press, Maudlin House, Flash Fiction Magazine, Rejection Letters, 365 Tomorrows, Molotov Cocktail, and more. You can find her on X (@ckennedyhola) and Instagram (@ceciliakennedy2349) and her DIY Humor blog: https://fixinleaksnleeksdiy.blog/