For Grace (2015) – Review

Review For Grace

What do you think about the balance between various things in your life? Do you have the feeling you spend enough time and give enough attention to both work/studying as family, friends and hobbies? If I look at my own life I think I have found it. Of course that has meant I’ve had to compromise in some way. Could this blog be better? Yeah, I would like to spend lots more time on writing reviews and improving their quality, write more articles etcetera. But I’ve made the decision to keep the amount of time I spend blogging at a level where it gives me some sense of satisfaction even if that means I’m not operating at the highest level.

That is very different for chef Curtis Duffy, who lives for cooking. He worked with the talented chef Charlie Trotter, he was “chef de cuisine” at the three Michelin star restaurant Alinea, made the move to Avenues and was responsible for this restaurant in getting two Michelin stars. But working there made him feel he wasn’t reaching his full potential. It limited him because the kitchen was too small and it was a challenge to keep the restaurant running while understaffed and even not having enough cutlery. He decides to quit and start his own restaurant, Grace, in Chicago at a time during his life when he is having some personal issues as well.

Review For Grace

That some chefs leave their job to look for some new challenges isn’t new and something we saw last year in the documentary about Sergio Herman, who closed a three star restaurant to start something new. The emotion that was missing from that documentary is more than present here. This isn’t only because Duffy is much more open in expressing his feelings, but also the way in which its story is told adds a lot to that. Because of his obsession with food Duffy has succeeded in reaching the top, but his personal story impresses without giving the viewer the feeling he’s being manipulated. He has had a difficult youth, but one of his teachers motivated him so well that he still regards her as a mother and is willing to do anything for.

“For Grace shows that behind the beautiful dishes a lot of emotions are hidden…”


 This documentary follows Duffy from the moment he stops working at Avenues and starts setting up the restaurant and the issues he runs into while doing so. What this film also shows is what a chef has to do in order to become successful. It is a side of this industry you don’t hear much about, but is talked about quite a bit by various other chefs. Duffy has made the choice to put all his energy into one thing, even though he knows that means he misses out on other things, like spending time with his daughters. For a large part food is emotion and For Grace shows that behind the beautiful dishes a lot of emotions are hidden, emotions you normally wouldn’t think about.

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