By Adam Rabiner
42 Grams, about a talented chef and his wife and their struggle to open a fine dining destination in Chicago, is not an easy film to categorize. Director Jack Newall met Jake Bickelhaupt and his wife Alexa Welsh at Sous Rising, an “underground” private supper club run out of their apartment, adjacent to the “L.” Reflecting on the meal as “some of the best food I had ever tasted,” he asked the couple if he could film their food prep and presentation. The close-up, stop-motion, footage of elaborately crafted meals coming together, ingredient by ingredient, (and then rapidly vanishing, leaving an empty plate except for food scraps and sauce stains), together with an original score by composer Nick Takenobu Ogawa, is visually and musically reminiscent of the Netflix series, Chef’s Table. But 42 Grams, two years in the making, captures the complications, messiness, setbacks, and character flaws of Jake, its principal subject. It is nothing like the highly polished biographies and tightly controlled narratives of chefs presenting their best selves.
Alexa, a highly organized advertising executive and self-confessed Type A workaholic, is a steady business partner, handling much of the logistics and front of house service. In contrast, Jake, when stressed, curses his staff, drinks too much Pabst Blue Ribbon, and even admits at one point he may be an alcoholic. A demanding boss, several of his stagiaires walk out on him, but despite his worst moments, he does not aspire to be the stereotypically mean celebrity chef. In fact, he explicitly rejects that paradigm. Though he is ambitious, having set life goals to win the James Beard Award by 33 and own his own restaurant by 35, he feels that celebrities often spend more time marketing themselves and going on book tours rather than cooking for their guests, ideally in a small, intimate, and comfortable setting. He’s gifted, but also a regular guy. Having grown up in a trailer, he understands that $180 for a meal is a lot of money. If a guest had spent that much to see Neil Young, but instead got an understudy, she’d be disappointed. Using that same logic, he reasons he had better be personally preparing her food and making sure it’s special.
The film 42 Grams explores Jake’s creative process. Not formally trained in any culinary school, he started cooking around age 12 or 13, learning by doing. He believes being an autodidact not bound by any classical rules or conventions frees him to dream up whatever he wants. Unlike many other chefs, his creations never start with an ingredient, but rather a thought, vision, or feeling that he tries to recreate. For example, he may think “comfort food” or “Thai food” and take it from there. He does not follow steps or recipes which to him are not real cooking but painting by the numbers or being a robot on an assembly line. He arrived at that opinion with the help of his mentor, famous chef Charlie Trotter, for whom he was once a stagiaire.
According to popular mythology, the weight of a soul is 21 grams, and the 18-seat restaurant, 42 Grams, reflects Jake’s and Alexa’s joint effort. Located a floor below their apartment and financed with their savings, it was aptly named, as husband and wife put their bodies and souls into it. Parallel to the portrait of the artist-chef as a young man, the film tells the equally compelling story of what it takes for two young people to open and run a restaurant. Jake’s and Alexa’s friends think it’s glamorous. In truth, 42 Grams, is all Alexa and Jake talk about. It’s all-consuming and caused them to put their marriage and lives on hold. They no longer have time to socialize, travel or dine out. Most nights, well after midnight, they eat a “breakfast” of random leftover scraps while sitting at the counter.
Jake is a charismatic subject who holds the viewer’s attention, but because he feels like an outsider, never part of the club, he has a chip on his shoulder. More than anything, he wants validation in a Michelin Star. But more than recognition, what always has really motivated Jake, and keeps him going, is the connection to the people he cooks for. That relationship - and throughout the film you see customers telling Jake how much they love his food - is ultimately more important to him than the restaurant. Food is simply his medium for sharing good times and a communal, happy experience - his way of talking and communicating.
With hard-earned wisdom and experience, Jake and Alexa slowly reclaim their lives and lost identities. From time to time they shut down the restaurant to travel, see friends, and eat out. But as the closing credits roll and bring the viewer up to date, a note of ambiguity is introduced. Life, indeed, is very complicated.
42 Grams, about a talented chef and his wife and their struggle to open a fine dining destination in Chicago, is not an easy film to categorize. Director Jack Newall met Jake Bickelhaupt and his wife Alexa Welsh at Sous Rising, an “underground” private supper club run out of their apartment, adjacent to the “L.” Reflecting on the meal as “some of the best food I had ever tasted,” he asked the couple if he could film their food prep and presentation. The close-up, stop-motion, footage of elaborately crafted meals coming together, ingredient by ingredient, (and then rapidly vanishing, leaving an empty plate except for food scraps and sauce stains), together with an original score by composer Nick Takenobu Ogawa, is visually and musically reminiscent of the Netflix series, Chef’s Table. But 42 Grams, two years in the making, captures the complications, messiness, setbacks, and character flaws of Jake, its principal subject. It is nothing like the highly polished biographies and tightly controlled narratives of chefs presenting their best selves.
Alexa, a highly organized advertising executive and self-confessed Type A workaholic, is a steady business partner, handling much of the logistics and front of house service. In contrast, Jake, when stressed, curses his staff, drinks too much Pabst Blue Ribbon, and even admits at one point he may be an alcoholic. A demanding boss, several of his stagiaires walk out on him, but despite his worst moments, he does not aspire to be the stereotypically mean celebrity chef. In fact, he explicitly rejects that paradigm. Though he is ambitious, having set life goals to win the James Beard Award by 33 and own his own restaurant by 35, he feels that celebrities often spend more time marketing themselves and going on book tours rather than cooking for their guests, ideally in a small, intimate, and comfortable setting. He’s gifted, but also a regular guy. Having grown up in a trailer, he understands that $180 for a meal is a lot of money. If a guest had spent that much to see Neil Young, but instead got an understudy, she’d be disappointed. Using that same logic, he reasons he had better be personally preparing her food and making sure it’s special.
The film 42 Grams explores Jake’s creative process. Not formally trained in any culinary school, he started cooking around age 12 or 13, learning by doing. He believes being an autodidact not bound by any classical rules or conventions frees him to dream up whatever he wants. Unlike many other chefs, his creations never start with an ingredient, but rather a thought, vision, or feeling that he tries to recreate. For example, he may think “comfort food” or “Thai food” and take it from there. He does not follow steps or recipes which to him are not real cooking but painting by the numbers or being a robot on an assembly line. He arrived at that opinion with the help of his mentor, famous chef Charlie Trotter, for whom he was once a stagiaire.
According to popular mythology, the weight of a soul is 21 grams, and the 18-seat restaurant, 42 Grams, reflects Jake’s and Alexa’s joint effort. Located a floor below their apartment and financed with their savings, it was aptly named, as husband and wife put their bodies and souls into it. Parallel to the portrait of the artist-chef as a young man, the film tells the equally compelling story of what it takes for two young people to open and run a restaurant. Jake’s and Alexa’s friends think it’s glamorous. In truth, 42 Grams, is all Alexa and Jake talk about. It’s all-consuming and caused them to put their marriage and lives on hold. They no longer have time to socialize, travel or dine out. Most nights, well after midnight, they eat a “breakfast” of random leftover scraps while sitting at the counter.
Jake is a charismatic subject who holds the viewer’s attention, but because he feels like an outsider, never part of the club, he has a chip on his shoulder. More than anything, he wants validation in a Michelin Star. But more than recognition, what always has really motivated Jake, and keeps him going, is the connection to the people he cooks for. That relationship - and throughout the film you see customers telling Jake how much they love his food - is ultimately more important to him than the restaurant. Food is simply his medium for sharing good times and a communal, happy experience - his way of talking and communicating.
With hard-earned wisdom and experience, Jake and Alexa slowly reclaim their lives and lost identities. From time to time they shut down the restaurant to travel, see friends, and eat out. But as the closing credits roll and bring the viewer up to date, a note of ambiguity is introduced. Life, indeed, is very complicated.