I would like to mention in this post two nice sweet films, owing to which I discovered two breathtaking tastes: a savory and a dessert. Let me start from the savory. It appears in one of my favorite films I have watched a couple of times: Spanglish.

Spanglish is a magical film – funny, romantic and sincere … It is about anything in life: Family, values, relationships, raising a child and cultural differences. The 2004 American film is written and directed by James L. Brooks (director of ‘As Good As It Gets‘ and a developer of ‘The Simpsons‘) and it stars favorite comedian Adam Sandler, Paz Vega (my favorite Spanish actress following Penélope Cruz), Téa Leoni and Cloris Leahman.

Flor Moreno (Paz Vega), a poor Mexican single mother and her daughter Christina move to the U.S. seeking a better life, and they settle in a Latino community in Los Angeles.

Flor is a proud woman attached to her Mexican roots and wants to raise her daughter as such. Her cousin helps her find a job as a housekeeper at the Claskys’ house in Los Angeles – where she would have to face and cope with the American culture.

John and Deborah Clasky live together with their two children and Deborah’s mother Evelyn Wright (Cloris Leachman), a former jazz singer. Although Flor doesn’t speak English but only Spanish, she manages her job well and gets on well with the Claskys.

John Clasky (Adam Sandler), a gentle and cheerful man who finds a comedy even in tough situations, is a successful chef with his own restaurant. He receives a wonderful review in a newspaper and is proclaimed the best chef in U.S., yet gets anxious that the things will lose its magic – an episode revealing his romantic personality.

Deborah Clasky (Téa Leoni) is a neurotic and an obsessed woman. She once buys small size clothes for her overweight daughter Bernice to push her lose weight, which upsets the warm-hearted Bernice a lot.

Deborah rents a house for the summer in Malibu and expects Flor to live with them since traveling by bus from city center to Malibu is hard. Flor refuses the offer at first, but then she agrees to bring her 12-year-old daughter Christina and live with the Claskys for the summer. That is when the problems start for Flor.

She once gets mad when John Clasky pays her daughter a large amount of money for the sea glasses she finds at the beach and they have a funny quarrel – Christina, who speaks English well, translating. Flor empathizes with John and decides to learn English, as it seems to her improper to have Christina continuously translate for her.

Deborah is fond of the friendly Christina who praises her. She takes her out without the permission of Flor and arranges a scholarship at her daughter Bernice’s private school. Now that Flor speaks a bit English, she talks to John about her concerns as she wants Christina to maintain her roots. John empathizes, as he is also concerned about the effect of the private school on his own daughter and the attitude of her mother towards her. Flore tries to comfort John that he shall not worry and says with her limited English, concerning Bernice that “nothing is going to change that heart“.

This talk forms a bond between them which gets stronger when John learns that Deborah has an affair. John cooks for Flor, who already decided to quit her job, at his restaurant and the two have an intimate and romantic dinner.

Flor’s quit her job upsets her daughter Christina. On their way back home, Flor tells her that she cannot attend the private school anymore. Although Christina bursts into tears and accuses her mother of ruining her life, she still afterwards tells in her Princeton University application essay that her mother is the most influential person in her life.

Spanglish is based upon a specific journey that many Mexicans do to the U.S. and the cultural differences – especially “where the cultures meet about raising kids and where they can never meet” as director James L. Brooks tells in a special feature of my DVD. The film is also quite realistic as Paz Vega doesn’t speak English in real life as well, as being told in the same feature of the DVD. I came across some sincere behind the scenes shots in my DVD.

I liked the summer house in the film which is said to be at the Carbon beach, a popular beach in Malibu. When I was at a trip in U.S.A. years ago, I had admired Santa Monica, close to Malibu in Los Angeles. That part of L.A. is enchanting known for sandy beaches, beautiful sights and celebrity homes.

The beachfront house in the film seems very pleasant and heartwarming. The beach seems breathtaking especially at one scene of the film at night, illuminated by the stars revealing sweet strong breezes and the waves accompanying John and Flor’s talk.

I also liked the intimate and characteristic restaurant of John. I found out that Adam Sandler’s restaurant scenes in Spanglish, specifically the patio area of the restaurant, were shot in Il Cielo, a Tuscan-style Italian restaurant in Beverly Hills. The restaurant, also a wedding venue, had been voted “the most romantic restaurant in Los Angeles” several times by different publications. I have read that celebrities Jennifer Aniston, Robert Redford, Rod Stewart, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones were among its customers and that Brad Pitt had took Gwyneth Paltrow there on their first date. (iamnotastalker.com)

The dilemma of John Clasky in the film is also seen today in the special chef restaurants. Meriting the chefs with stars values their success but also brings the risk of losing the traditional or the magic of the business. In the end, it is difficult for such restaurants to bear the cost for the demanding standards of fine dining industry and to maintain their traditional style at the same time. This was the case for “El Bulli”, a legendary restaurant in Spain named the World’s Best Restaurant five times and closed in 2011. It is probably also the case for “Noma“, Danish Chef René Redzepi’s three-Michelin starred restaurant in Copenhagen frequently rated the World’s Best, which announced recently that it will close for regular service at the end of 2024. 

One of the reasons Spanglish appealed to me might be that the Mexican culture is quite similar to the Turkish culture – more traditional than the individualistic American culture. So I easily captured the concerns and fears of Flor about her daughter as well as Christina’s disappointments when constrained by her mother. Besides, as I once attended Spanish courses, I liked hearing some Spanish.

The film is sweet and funny from the beginning to end and full of scenes that make you smile. However, interestingly, the scene which made me write this post is the one when John comes home from work and prepares himself an extraordinary sandwich, as befits a chef: a sandwich which looks so delicious, accompanied by bier. I thought then that this can be the best sandwich in the world, substituting for a meal. I then noticed the photo of the same sandwich on my DVD, and that I was not the only one thinking so.

In a special feature of my DVD, I came across the recipe of this gorgeous sandwich, which I think would be perfect for supper or lunch as well as at brunch. We tried it at home and it is already one of the favorite breakfast options of my son. It is really delicious and rich, which can easily substitute for a meal. I share the recipe below:

You can click the link below for the sandwich scene of the film Spanglish, which will also give you an idea of how to make this sandwich:
“Spanglish sandwich scene” (The link)

I will mention the second film and the other taste that appears at that film ( the sweet one) at my following post – the second part of this post.

Enjoy your sandwich!