Spinning Plates chronicles the background, food and hardships faced by the people behind three different restaurants. Alinea is a Chicago restaurant helmed by Grant Achatz, a proponent of molecular gastronomy, i.e. his food does not look like food. Think of Achatz as the Picasso of fine dining. Breitbach’s Country Dining opened on August 23, 1852 and is a German family-owned and run restaurant and bar in Iowa. La Cocina De Gabby is a short-lived Mexican family-owned and run restaurant.
Spinning Plates sounds like an interesting documentary, but it is ultimately uneven and sad. It is not until I reached the end of Spinning Plates that I realized why the filmmaker chose those three restaurants. Spinning Plates uses the story of these three contemporary restaurants to simultaneously depict Grant Achatz’s influences from childhood to becoming a three Michelin star chef. It would have helped if I had known the point sooner.
I came to Spinning Plates to learn more about the restaurant business, but instead had front row seats to the real life horror story of the financial ruin about to befall the owners of La Cocina De Gabby. As soon as they came on the screen, I knew that they were doomed. Their story is emblematic of many inexperienced restaurant owners, but Spinning Plates fails to acknowledge the additional risk factors in their perilous journey. They are Mexican Americans in Arizona who can’t get work so they opened a restaurant.
Spinning Plates fails to address another enormous elephant in the room. When I decided to watch Spinning Plates, I knew that there was a famous Chicago chef who successfully battled tongue cancer, but did not realize the documentary was focusing on him. When they showed Alinea’s chef, I thought, “Woah! He is dying!” I got distracted from the movie as I began to do an Internet search and finally made the connection.
Spinning Plates does not discuss his battle against cancer until the middle of the film. This decision was a big and distracting mistake. Also I have no idea when Spinning Plates was filmed, but it was released in 2012. Achatz was supposed to be cancer-free in 2007. Um, his personal life is private, but he decided to be in Spinning Plates. What is going on? I know professionally, Achatz is excellent, and his family loves him, but he still looks incredibly sick. Spinning Plates never asks him if he is OK or if it does, it fails to portray what is really going on.
Spinning Plates ultimately was an incomplete and unsatisfying journey into people’s lives. Spinning Plates was a superficial entry into the threshold of the restaurant business owners’ lives, but failed to tackle the harsh realities of their lives outside the restaurant and their optimistic take on life. I don’t need an inspirational documentary. I need a realistic one.