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'Spinning Plates': Three restaurants, one shared dream

Spinning Plates is a foodie phantasmagoria and something more. On one level a series of mini-docs about three wildly different eating establishments, it becomes a group portrait of the restaurant business as well as an involving look at personal dramas that go well beyond the kitchen.

Spinning Plates is a foodie phantasmagoria and something more. On one level a series of mini-docs about three wildly different eating establishments, it becomes a group portrait of the restaurant business as well as an involving look at personal dramas that go well beyond the kitchen.

This is the first documentary feature for writer-director Joseph Levy (who previously produced the Food Network series Into the Fire), and he has been shrewd in the restaurants he profiles, places with passionate, articulate key personnel who would all agree that, as one of them puts it, "This is not just our job; this is our life."

The highest-end place is Chicago's Alinea, whose chef, Grant Achatz, is a charismatic and volatile culinary visionary. He is a kind of scientist/chef, a leader in molecular gastronomy who puts hours of experimentation into dishes so complex the man himself looks on them as absurd. Among the culinary challenges on his mind is the first visit to Chicago by Michelin Guide judges and his determination to get the maximum three stars.

It's not Michelin stars but Mother's Day that concerns Mike and Cindy Breitbach, owners of Breitbach's Country Dining in Balltown, Iowa. The town may have only 70 inhabitants, but the restaurant can serve more than 2,000 people on a major holiday.

The place has been owned and operated by Breitbachs for six generations and serves as a community center - half a dozen customers have keys of their own and can be counted on to open the place themselves if the owners are running late.

Humbler still is a Mexican restaurant in Tucson called La Cocina de Gabby. Open only eight months as the film begins, with no employees outside of family, it is the culmination of a lifetime dream for Francisco Martinez, who thinks his wife, Gabby, "cooks like an angel."

Given the varied cuisines and customer bases of these three places, it comes as a fascinating surprise when interviews reveal how much the spirit and energy behind them have in common. Not only do all the chefs and owners dream of expressing themselves through food, no matter how humble or exalted, they also understand that a restaurant experience has to be a treat for the customer.

"Every restaurant exists to entertain people," says Nick Kokonas, Alinea's owner. "No one needs to eat out."

Spinning Plates offers enough tantalizing footage of food preparation to turn this into a feature that should not be seen when hungry. But what raises it to a more interesting level is that in addition to the food, each segment presents a personal drama - a health crisis, a disaster, financial problems - that extends beyond the table.

Spinning Plates *** (Out of four stars)

Written and directed by Joseph Levy. Distributed by Film Arcade.

Parent's guide: Unrated

Running time: 1 hour, 33 mins.

Playing at: Ritz BourseEndText