Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Dinner Party Diaries With José Andrés’ on Prime Video, where the chef, restaurateur, and humanitarian welcomes celebs into his kitchen  (2024)

In Dinner Party Diaries with José Andrés, the Spanish-born chef, James Beard Award winner, owner of an international palette of restaurants, and founder of the disaster relief food aid organization World Central Kitchen invites his friends and celebrity guests to cook with him in a bright, airy kitchen. As Jamie Lee Curtis, Bryan Cranston, and O’Shea Jackson, Jr. arrive, Andrés puts them to work chopping, using the mortar and pestle, and chiming in with assists as he describes the menu, methods of preparation, and fast facts about the cultural history of its ingredients. Only thirty minutes, Dinner Party Diaries flies by. But with the enthusiastic Andrés as our guide, the mood is light, with an emphasis on a freewheeling, fun experience in the kitchen instead of Michelin Star meticulousness.

DINNER PARTY DIARIES WITH JOSÉ ANDRÉS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Chef José Andrés is climbing into his vehicle, arms full of groceries, when he checks his messages. All three of his celebrity dinner guests have RSVP’d yes. Will the kitchen be too crowded? Not at all. The point, says Chef Andrés, is cooking, having fun, and spending quality time with your friends.

The Gist: As Dinner Party Diaries progresses, it actually will get a little crowded, in both the kitchen and its interpretation of a cooking show format. But it’s a good chaos. As Andrés welcomes the camera into what he calls his “California house” and pours himself a generous glass of red wine, a knock at the door brings Jamie Lee Curtis, complete with a set of knives. (Insert cheeky reference to Curtis’s history with blades and the Halloween franchise here.) The menu for their dinner will include pisto, just like how his mother back in Spain used to make it, scallops a la plancha, gazpacho served cold, and Lobster A La Gallega, prepared with potatoes in the style of Galicia. And as Curtis joins Chef Andrés in the kitchen, Dinner Party Diaries includes periodic cutaways that showcase ingredients and the simple steps used in preparing the dishes. “Cooking onions slowly in a lot of olive oil makes them soft and sweet. Be patient and don’t burn them!”

Knock knock, it’s Bryan Cranston, and he brought eggs and jokes. The Breaking Bad star might have “cooked” a lot on that show, but he admits his inclination to freestyle in an actual kitchen, and pretty soon Cranston’s getting crazy with the salt-shaking over a plate of fresh scallops, heated to popping open perfection directly on the oven’s flat-top griddle. It’s already a busy kitchen, with Andrés eagerly describing his process to Curtis and Cranston as he offers throwbacks to his childhood and the history of Spanish cuisine. But things get even more lively once O’Shea Jackson, Jr. arrives and the three drinkers in the crew prepare a passion fruit co*cktail with mezcal.

“Here we are in America drinking out of Solo cups, and you got genie lamps to drink out of.” What Jackson’s referring to is the porrón, the traditional glass pitcher of Spain with a long, tapered spout. Andrés pours a healthy amount into his own mouth – don’t let your lips touch the spout! – while Cranston and Jackson get into the act, and Curtis continues to tend and stir the pisto mixture on its large circular pan. Garnished with fresh eggs and flower blossoms, the distinctive and colorful dish becomes the centerpiece of their meal once they sit down to eat.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? José Andrés is no stranger to cooking shows – he hosts in Spain, the Spanish-language cooking series Vamos a Cocinar, and has appeared on Selena + Chef. The chatty, approachable vibe of Dinner Party Diaries also aligns it with the friendly cooking universe of Italian celebrity chef and restaurant owner Lidia Bastianich, who in specials for PBS and her series Lidia’s Kitchen pours the wine, welcomes family and occasional guests, and always invites everyone to her table, not to mention David Chang, whose Dinner Time Live series on Netflix is a slightly looser version of this same concept.

Our Take: Andrés’ boundless energy and celebration of food is at the heart of Dinner Party Diaries. But despite its brief thirty minute runtime, the series still slips in personal context from its celebrity guests that doesn’t feel forced or in service of a career plug. For example, O’Shea Jackson, Jr.’s anecdote about ordering expensive market price lobster in Australia as a clueless eighteen-year-old comes complete with the actual photos he took to mark the occasion, and Curtis says her godson Jake Gyllenhaal recently phoned to request her unique Caesar salad recipe. These little bits keep Dinner Party Diaries lively, and its easy approachability also incorporates the dishes on the menu, all of which utilize elemental ingredients and relatively simple preparation. There’s no guarantee that Curtis or Bryan Cranston will knock on your door if you decide to make Lobster A La Gallega. But the way Andrés eagerly explains how to make it, and make it simply, is a welcome hook for the casual, purposely informal Diaries.

Sex and Skin: Well, the skin of the lobsters turns a glorious pink as they’re added to the boiling potato water. “Thank you for your service,” intones Bryan Cranston.

Parting Shot: As Chef Andrés summarizes the experience – “four friends, having fun, learning from each other, taking risks, and changing the name of the recipe when things don’t go as planned” – Curtis agrees, offering that there is fun to be had in imperfect adaptation. Jackson puts it even more simply. “Mistakes make memories.”

Sleeper Star: Olive oil, olive oil, and even more olive oil. It’s not shout-out style like Rachael Ray with “EVOO,” but Andrés does swear by it as a key ingredient, and in Dinner Party Diaries we see him adding unbelievably large amounts of olive oil to pisto, his garlic and parsley mixture, and as a liberal drizzle over freshly grilled scallops.

Most Pilot-y Line: Andrés doesn’t necessarily elaborate on some of the asides he offers throughout the show, but they still provide insight into his philosophy as both a chef and restaurateur. “I think sometimes we use the phone so much so much so much, that we forget about living,” the chef says when prompted by Curtis for his thoughts on people photographing their food.

Our Call: STREAM IT. José Andrés is an engaging central presence on Dinner Party Diaries, the banter with his celebrity guests/sous chefs is lively and informal, and the food being prepared and consumed not only looks delicious, but feels like an equally approachable part of this entertaining cooking show special.

Johnny Loftus (@glennganges) is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift.