A film for foodies: Documentary ‘Spinning Plates’ opens in Denver on Thursday

The documentary Spinning Plates promises viewers a look at the grueling demands of three very different restaurants and what fuels the people behind them. Chicago’s Alinea is recipient of three Michelin stars and home to innovative/complicated molecular gastronomy. Breitbach’s Country Dining in Balltown, Iowa, is a family establishment that has served its community since 1852. The third restaurant is La Cocina de Gabby, a family run roadside cafe outside of Tucson that is not yet a year old.

Chef Grant Achatz is the leader at Alinea, but in the course of the film we learn that a health setback nearly took him out of the game. Watching Achatz and his crew create stunning bites that look complicated and bizarre is at the onset spellbinding. The artistry and techniques are mind-boggling. What the documentary doesn’t show us is anyone eating it. Achatz and his partner go on at length about the dining experience, but that is the component missing in Alinea’s story. I imagine that a documentary film crew doesn’t fit the painstaking atmosphere crafted for this tier of diner.

Achatz’ celebrity overrides the mystique of Alinea. The story turns to his battle with cancer and the prominent role of his business partner in finding treatment. It is incredibly gripping, but while is central to the stories of the other two restaurants, Achatz’ wife and sons are barely present.

Breitbach’s Country Dining is a community center as much as a restaurant. Located in rural Iowa, on Sundays they often serve more covers than the population of the surrounding town. The place has become a gathering spot for the town, where people check in each morning. If they don’t show up, someone sees after them.

Mike Breitbach, patriarch of the current restaurant clan, is an archetypal “pillar of the community,” taking care of neighbors and getting his kids over to tend the sizeable yard of a neighbor recovering from a heart attack. When Breitbach’s burned to the ground on Christmas Eve 2007, people rallied to rebuild it, donating time and money, and lots of both. But that wasn’t the end of the restaurant’s woes, and on a second occasion family and friends rallied to save the business. This is Norman Rockwell’s America: cozy, hearty, close knit, and not very diverse.

La Cocina de Gabby takes us to Tucson where we meet Francisco and Gabby Martinez, and their toddler Ashley. Hanging on by a financial thread, the Martinez family and their relatives work together to produce hearty plates of Mexican fare to a sparsely populated dining room. Francisco previously worked nearby and when the restaurant became available, his faith in his wife’s cooking prompted them to join forces and open an establishment. The challenges of owning a modest home and a new restaurant weigh heavily on the family, with Francisco putting in long hours cleaning, serving, planning and fighting to hold on.

Director, producer, writer and editor Joseph Levy has created a great looking, very nearly aromatic documentary; and makes us feel close to the subjects. When toward the end Grant Achatz talks about working in his parents’ diner and that he is asked how he rose to Alinea from humble beginnings, he points out: “It’s all the same.” Why do people eat out? For entertainment; under normal circumstances, there is no reason to eat out.

At the preview screening, Spinning Plates elicited enthusiastic applause from the audience, many of whom stayed through the credits to discuss a film experience they found engaging and appetizing.

Spinning Plates opens November 15 at Landmark’s Chez Artiste theater. Visit LandmarkTheatres.com for show times or call 303-758-3496.