Now THAT'S a chef!

So, with all of this Julia Child hype surrounding the new Julie and Julia movie (that I can't WAIT to see) I thought I check out our old friend Julia Child and see if she was as cool as I remembered. Well, I'm here to tell you that she is! I Tivo'd an episode of Julia and Jacques and was blown away by the deliciousness those to whipped up. The episode I caught was on Julia and Jacques favorite sandwiches. They made croque-monsieur and lobster rolls. Holy smoke did those sandwiches look amazing. However, more than anything, I was touched at just how sweet Jacques was with Julia, He clearly adored her and seemed very protective of her. By the time they shot those shows Julia was getting up in years and Jacques seemed to take very good care of her. I like that about him.

Of course, all of this nostalgia made me recall another favorite chef of mine. Well, really he was a favorite of my whole family's. We happened to be very big Justin Wilson fans back in the day... I ga-ron-tee! Do you remember good old Justin?

He was a fabulous old Cajun chef who was a kick in the pants long before the Food Network existed. Justin was old school, he even makes a oleo reference in that clip. I loved him and wish "chefs" like that stupid Sandra Lee would step aside and make room for some Justin reruns on the Food Network. (I've said it once and I'll say it again, NEVER trust a skinny chef. Can you say "repressed"?) Justin was and remains far more sincere and entertaining than the lame-os out there like Sandra Lee. Am I bitter? Well, yes. Yes I am. Give me a big old Cajun chef in red suspenders over an artificially perky Sandy any day.

BTW, I checked and discovered that our friend Youtube seems to have a lot of older clips of Justin but I remember him a bit long in the tooth and cooking outdoors before an audience. The clip above is the only one that resembles the Justin era shows I remember. Ahhh, now that's a chef I can adore. I enjoy Paula Deen and Bobby Flay but in my book nobody these days is as entertaining as Julia and Justin.