CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Chicagoan filmmaker is making her directorial debut with a documentary about a revolutionary Chicago chef.
Known for his taste for perfection and a fiery temper, chef Charlie Trotter's grit helped him rise to culinary fame with his Michelin-starred restaurant in Lincoln Park during the 90's and 2000's. Filmmaker Rebecca Halpern described Trotter's story as Shakespearean.
"It had the rise, this epic, meteoric, explosion onto the scene. It had this period of total domination and total excellence for many, many years," she said.
Trotter passed away from a stroke in 2013, just one year after he closed his world-renowned restaurant. He was 54. Halpern's biopic of Trotter's life uses postcards, never-before-seen archival footage, and interviews with other famed chefs.
It's a "quintessentially Chicago" story, Halpern said.
"He really took Chicago's dining scene by storm, and the rockstar restaurant in America, not just Chicago, but America, was Charlie Trotter's," Halpern said.
"Love, Charlie" will show at AMC River East on Friday. It is also available to stream through the Chicago International Film Fest website.
Related
