Stage: The Culinary Internship follows a group of interns during a nine month apprenticeship at one of the best restaurants in the world, Mugaritz. While the restaurant’s notorious avant-garde cuisine and creative working environment elevates these young hopefuls to think outside the confines of a kitchen, the extremely high standards prove to be mentally and physically exhausting. Ultimately, not everyone can handle the heat.
Les dames du 9e (1998)
Ladies of good families and social standing come to have their afternoon tea with their daughters who will someday follow in the same tradition. A charming portrait of a time that is slowly disappearing.
Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's (1998)
In 1995, Chasen's closed its doors after 60 years of serving chili to movie stars and visiting dignitaries, Presidents and the Pope. During its two final weeks, Chasen regulars (actors and producers), staff, and management sat for interviews. There's an Oscar party for 1500, footage and photos of famous diners, and time with Tommy Gallagher, the ebullient head waiter until retirement in 1994, his son Patrick, catering head Raymond Bilbool, general manager Ronnie Clint, hat check girl Val Schwab, ladies' room attendant Onetta Johnson, and foreign- born waiters, including Jaime. When he started in 1970, like other Latins, he wasn't allowed out of the kitchen. It's a family farewell.
Batali: The Fall of a Superstar Chef (2022)
This astonishing glimpse into the restaurant world examines sexual harassment concealed within the industry, causing many employees to suffer in silence or leave their jobs rather than confront a celebrity chef or powerful owner who can ruin their career.
El Bulli: Cooking in Progress (2011)
For six months of the year, renowned Spanish chef Ferran Adria closes his restaurant El Bulli -- repeatedly voted the world's best -- and works with his culinary team to prepare the menu for the next season. An elegant, detailed study of food as avant-garde art, EL BULLI: COOKING IN PROGRESS is a rare inside look at some of the world's most innovative and exciting cooking; as Adria himself puts it, "the more bewilderment, the better!"
Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
Revered sushi chef Jiro Ono strives for perfection in his work, while his eldest son, Yoshikazu, has trouble living up to his father's legacy.
She Chef (2023)
We’re travelling from luxury kitchen to luxury kitchen with Agnes, from Bergisch Gladbach via Barcelona to the Faroe Islands. The cook’s luggage always includes her backpack containing various knives, cleavers and tweezers. The camera watches over the inquisitive young woman’s shoulder as delicacies are being prepared. Our mouths water. At the same time, we get insights into the different ways of running a restaurant. It’s about team spirit and equality at the stove.
Noma: My Perfect Storm (2015)
A creative journey into the unique mind of René Redzepi, chef and co-owner of Noma, voted best restaurant in the world four times.
¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor! (2024)
Casa Bonita opened in 1974 in an unassuming strip mall. The massive "Disneyland of Mexican restaurants" is an Old West and Acapulco-inspired fever dream made famous by its indoor waterfall, cliff divers, and haunted caves, and was featured in a classic 2003 episode of South Park. When its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, learn that Casa Bonita might close its doors for good, they attempt to preserve a crumbling piece of their childhood and Denver history.
Koto: The Last Service (2021)
After nearly 40 years in operation, the family-run Koto Japanese Restaurant is closing down. Over the course of its final service, the small Vancouver Island community bids farewell.
Harry's Bar (2015)
Harry's Bar opened in 1931 and attracted a multitude of customers from the start, drawn to the atmosphere and the talents of barman Giuseppe, with his cocktails, gourmet dishes and exquisite hospitality. Over eight decades the bar has seen it all, from being closed during the fascist regime to being declared a national treasure in 2001, and witnessed a stream of writers, painters, directors, film stars, kings, queens and epicures, becoming a legend.
Restaurant Hustle 2020: All On The Line (2020)
Like many businesses, the restaurant industry has been hard hit by COVID-19. This timely film, directed and executive produced by Guy Fieri and Frank Matson, intimately chronicles the impact of the pandemic on the restaurants of four chefs familiar to viewers of The Food Network: Antonia Lofaso, Marcus Samuelsson, Maneet Chauhan, and Christian Petroni. Unfolding as the COVID-19 outbreak sweeps across the US, Restaurant Hustle 2020: All on the Line follows these chefs as they face the reality of shutting down, laying off staff, and finding alternate ways to save their beloved restaurants and industry.
80.000 Schnitzel (2020)
Battering, breading, frying – Berta has prepared thousands of schnitzels in her old cast-iron pan over the years. This 83-year-old landlady’s life on the family farm with adjoining guest house in the Upper Palatinate has been marked by constant hard work. A life that her granddaughters Monika and Hannah never wanted to lead. Now, the deeply indebted farm is on the brink of collapse. Despite having an academic background and contrary to her intentions, Monika, in her early thirties, decides to give up her modern life and save the family business. The two women join forces and give themselves a year to sort out the farm’s problems.
Old Fashioned: The Story of the Wisconsin Supper Club (2015)
Supper club restaurants were the hot dinning trend in the mid twentieth century. They provided a place for people to spend their evenings enjoying cocktails, home cooked, high quality food and entertainment. The supper club scene slowly faded from the rest of the country, but kept a strong hold in Wisconsin due to a culture that allowed it to thrive. Around for decades, supper clubs in Wisconsin have been able to hold their own style and traditions. While chain restaurants continue to expand and threaten their future, supper clubs are fighting to survive while continuing to offer the same exceptional dinning experience and a personal touch that is not seen in the modern lifestyle of dine and dash. Old Fashioned: The Story of the Wisconsin Supper Club takes you into this uniquely Wisconsin institution.
Saving the Restaurant (2022)
During the pandemic-induced lockdowns of 2020, a restaurant owner struggles to maintain his business.
A Taste of Sky (2019)
Danish culinary entrepreneur and Noma co-founder Claus Meyer has kickstarted a gastronomic revolution in Bolivia’s capital of La Paz with the opening of Gustu, a fine-dining restaurant and cooking school for the country’s impoverished youth. Kenzo, a hunter raised in the Bolivian Amazon, and Maria Claudia, a native of the Andean altiplano, have resettled in La Paz in order to pursue a career in the culinary arts. Under the tutelage of Meyer, these young Bolivians are working towards a better future as they attempt to establish their country as the world’s next great culinary destination.
Bloodroot (2019)
Douglas Tirola’s latest documentary traces the evolution of feminism through the lives of two exceptional women, Noel and Selma, who came of age in the ’50s when women were relegated to the roles of wives and mothers. During the height of the women’s movement, Noel, a former teen model and Playboy bunny, meets and falls in love with Selma, a tough, outspoken radical feminist. Both women choose to leave their comfortable, yet unsatisfying marriages and children to come out as lesbians. The two share a love of cooking and gardening and, in the ’70s, open Bloodroot, the first vegetarian collective restaurant and bookstore in Bridgeport, Connecticut. By interspersing archival footage and clips from The Stepford Wives, Tirola affectionately chronicles the cultural shifts of the last 40 years as Noel and Selma attempt to keep Bloodroot open as an indispensable gathering spot for progressive women.
The King of Fish and Chips (2019)
In the late 1960s, Haddon Salt built a fast-food empire. Then Kentucky Fried Chicken came knocking.
A Tale of Two Kitchens (2019)
Two countries, two restaurants, one vision. At Gabriela Cámara's acclaimed Contramar in Mexico City, the welcoming, uniformed waiters are as beloved by diners as the menu featuring fresh, local seafood caught within 24 hours. The entire staff sees themselves as part of an extended family. Meanwhile at Cala in San Francisco, Cámara hires staff from different backgrounds and cultures, including ex-felons and ex-addicts, who view the work as an important opportunity to grow as individuals. A Tale of Two Kitchens explores the ways in which a restaurant can serve as a place of both dignity and community.