A family struggling to make ends meet and dealing with foreclosure, a young chef, at the top of his career, suddenly comes down with tongue cancer, and a German family, who has held this little town together for years, has to suffer two restaurant burn downs; this is Spinning Plates.

A compelling, raw, and intriguing documentary of three completely different restaurants and how they overcome some heart wrenching obstacles in their lives.

IMG_9253    Grant Achatz, a young, hungry, chef, who studied under Thomas Keller himself, is now the Executive Chef and Owner of Alinea in Chicago, IL. This restaurant pushes your comfort zone, with dishes that are constructed like art and are almost to beautiful to possibly eat. One component to a dish can take up to 12 hours to make, and to Grant, that’s absolutely worth it, because he wants guests to be amazed, wowed, and have something they wont find anywhere else. Grant is strong, determined, and pushing limits everyday with his cuisine and menu. He works his staff hard, but once you work with and for him, you too can be the best. During the documentary, Grant is faced with Tongue Cancer, and is told he will not survive. After seeing many doctors, he was about to give up, until his friend had him go see one more doctor; and they did. A staff of medical professionals took an alternate approach, and he was able to keep his tongue and his life was saved. Grant went on to bring Alinea to a 3 Michelin Star restaurant and one of the top restaurants in the world.

IMG_0477 Breitbach’s Country Dining, run by the Breitbach family since 1852, took this documentary to a different level when they were faced with two restaurant burn downs. This restaurant is the home, community center, and town meeting spot, where people check in every morning to see how their friends and family are doing. Many town people have keys, and will open the restaurant, make coffee, and await the rest of the town folk for a big morning breakfast. Balltown, Iowa is a town where the population may be small, but the heart and soul of this community is larger than life. Mike Breitbach, a 6th generation owner, runs this restaurant with his wife Cindy, children, and son-in-law. Overcoming a Christmas Eve gas fire, the town was stricken with sadness, but because of the restaurants significance, everyone pulled together and rebuilt. Horror then struck again, and the cause is still unknown, but a second fire occurred.

Watching the film, tears wanted to pour out of my eyes, how could this happen? What will happen? Well, the Breitbach’s, and the town were not going to let it stop them, so they rebuilt once more.

IMG_0093La Cocina de Gabby, a small Mexican restaurant in Tucson, Arizona, struggles with owning a small business, maintaining customers, and raising a child. Francisco and his wife Gabby put their heart and soul into this restaurant and risked everything they had, to hopefully provide security for their daughter Ashley. Food is family, and special to them, and we hope to see La Cocina de Gabby reopen one day.

 

Food is a way of life, it is passion, it is love, and it is what drives this documentary and brings three completely different restaurants, people, and owners, together to make one amazing, heartfelt, movie.