Spinning Plates is a documentary film directed by Joseph Levy. It centers on three restaurants, each one unique not only for its cuisine, but also its owners and their turmoil. Levy introduces us to Chef Grant Achatz and his Michelin three-star rated restaurant Alinea in Chicago. It is followed by the Martinez's struggling Tuscon Mexican restaurant La Cocina de Gabby. Finally, we have the Breitbachs and their restaurant Breitbach's Country Dining, which has been around Baltown, Iowa for over 150 years. While these three samples seem random, albeit eclectic, the film's final moment ties everything together into a coherent narrative about food and family.
I admire how Levy presents us with three restaurants, each one unique for its economic and social status in the culinary world. The Martinez's restaurant is a struggling familial enterprise. Francisco Martinez is an overly optimistic father, whose only wish is to have his restaurant succeed in order to provide for his daughter. His wife Gabby is the restaurant's sole chef, who beliefs her style of home cooking is what makes her food distinct. However, circumstances arise where they are forced to leave the home Francisco bought for his wife. Out of the three stories in the film, theirs is the most heartbreaking and familiar for it signals not only the economic slide but unearths the realities of the restaurant business.
The other family owned restaurant in the film centers on the Breitbachs. Their restaurant is so firmly established in their small town that it has become a cornerstone of the community. Unlike the Martinez's restaurant, it is not economic difficulties that unsettle the family but sheer bad luck. The Breitbach's Country Dining was twice destroyed by fire. Both times the community gathered together to help rebuild it. Their storyline reveals how food is both personal and communal. It looks at how the restaurant transcends business and settles into the realm of a communal relic.
In perhaps the most detached of the three, but more engaging, at least for me, is on Chef Grant Achatz and his famed restaurant Alinea. Grant represents the current explosion of high cuisine, where the trend now is the fusion of cooking with science. Where he and his team cook in is a kitchen and a science laboratory hybrid. Pots and pans sit next to Bunsen burners. Before Grant started his own career, he worked under Thomas Keller, who many consider to be one of the greatest chefs. As an avid fan of Mr. Keller, whose laurels extend from his esteemed restaurant The French Laundry all the way to his role as a consultant for Pixar's Ratatouille, I can never tire of listening to his infinite wisdom. Grant is a product of Keller, who focuses on providing not only an artistic and memorable experience, but also, nurturing the customers on a primitive level. While his story seems to be the most artificial, compared to the struggle faced by the Martinez family, Levy flips the script by revealing of Grant's fight against cancer. Levy does a successful job at bringing back his story down to Earth, making him more empathetic.
Levy goes a very good job at juggling the difference in class and economic standings with these three restaurants. The ending of the film with Grant's voice-over is a touching ending that ties the themes of the movie together. Despite the difference in social and economic standing, the film purports to say that food and restaurant function similarly. The ending makes you rethink about these three restaurants. It no longer seems like they are just three disparate restaurants but shows the trajectory of how a restaurant can grow on a grassroot level into one that sits atop the culinary world. Spinning Plates is a delightful film for the casual viewer and for food buffs like myself.
I admire how Levy presents us with three restaurants, each one unique for its economic and social status in the culinary world. The Martinez's restaurant is a struggling familial enterprise. Francisco Martinez is an overly optimistic father, whose only wish is to have his restaurant succeed in order to provide for his daughter. His wife Gabby is the restaurant's sole chef, who beliefs her style of home cooking is what makes her food distinct. However, circumstances arise where they are forced to leave the home Francisco bought for his wife. Out of the three stories in the film, theirs is the most heartbreaking and familiar for it signals not only the economic slide but unearths the realities of the restaurant business.
The other family owned restaurant in the film centers on the Breitbachs. Their restaurant is so firmly established in their small town that it has become a cornerstone of the community. Unlike the Martinez's restaurant, it is not economic difficulties that unsettle the family but sheer bad luck. The Breitbach's Country Dining was twice destroyed by fire. Both times the community gathered together to help rebuild it. Their storyline reveals how food is both personal and communal. It looks at how the restaurant transcends business and settles into the realm of a communal relic.
In perhaps the most detached of the three, but more engaging, at least for me, is on Chef Grant Achatz and his famed restaurant Alinea. Grant represents the current explosion of high cuisine, where the trend now is the fusion of cooking with science. Where he and his team cook in is a kitchen and a science laboratory hybrid. Pots and pans sit next to Bunsen burners. Before Grant started his own career, he worked under Thomas Keller, who many consider to be one of the greatest chefs. As an avid fan of Mr. Keller, whose laurels extend from his esteemed restaurant The French Laundry all the way to his role as a consultant for Pixar's Ratatouille, I can never tire of listening to his infinite wisdom. Grant is a product of Keller, who focuses on providing not only an artistic and memorable experience, but also, nurturing the customers on a primitive level. While his story seems to be the most artificial, compared to the struggle faced by the Martinez family, Levy flips the script by revealing of Grant's fight against cancer. Levy does a successful job at bringing back his story down to Earth, making him more empathetic.
Levy goes a very good job at juggling the difference in class and economic standings with these three restaurants. The ending of the film with Grant's voice-over is a touching ending that ties the themes of the movie together. Despite the difference in social and economic standing, the film purports to say that food and restaurant function similarly. The ending makes you rethink about these three restaurants. It no longer seems like they are just three disparate restaurants but shows the trajectory of how a restaurant can grow on a grassroot level into one that sits atop the culinary world. Spinning Plates is a delightful film for the casual viewer and for food buffs like myself.