Michael Sparaga never thought he’d be making a movie about wallpaper. But the Niagara Falls native’s latest documentary The Missing Ingredient deals with just that. Though along with home décor, the film centres on two New York City restaurants.
Sparaga doesn’t like to call The Missing Ingredient a food film. Instead, it’s a documentary that asks: what does it take for a restaurant to become an institution?
The movie pits the now-shuttered Manhattan stalwart Gino’s – a casual Italian place with famous zebra wallpaper that served the likes of Frank Sinatra – against Charles Devigne’s Pescatore, another New York spot that’s been around for a while. But despite its longevity, it doesn’t have Gino’s cultural cachet.
Devigne, who’s a friend of Sparaga’s, gives his tired-looking restaurant a makeover and puts up Gino’s iconic zebra wallpaper. Gino’s owners and longtime customers aren’t too pleased; they don’t think imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Yet, beyond this conflict, Sparaga talks to notable restaurant owners and food critics, like former New York magazine writer Gael Greene, as The Missing Ingredient digs deeper to examine the tension between old school eateries and new-fangled foodie fads.
“I really wanted to have a discussion about the change in diners,” says Sparaga in a phone interview. He spent a year in New York back in 2001. That’s when he met Devigne, who he describes as an old school restaurateur, the type that comes and chats at your table during your meal. But patrons don’t want that anymore – they’re looking for the latest hot spots to try.
Sparaga, on the other hand, still appreciates institutions. His documentary premiered in November at the DOC NYC festival and has since screened in places such as North Carolina and Victoria, B.C. Oftentimes, audience members will recommend local places for him to check out after a screening.
“I try to go out to the institutions of pretty much any place I go to because that’s where the history of the city is,” he says. His Toronto-area haunts include beloved places like Centre Street Deli and the old Lychee Gardens.
Sparaga’s also no stranger to the food industry. “The restaurant business is very important to me because that’s what I did for a lot of years and that’s what gave me the opportunity to become a filmmaker,” he says.
For him, the chance to document the New York City restaurant scene was a real treat, as was working with his best friend Joel Roff, who edited the film. The two grew up going to Hebrew school together in Niagara Falls and now live on the same street in Toronto’s west end.
Making this self-financed documentary wasn’t always cozy however. They took overnight buses from Toronto to Manhattan for two years, starting in the summer of 2013.
Sparaga was writing a script for a family film at the same time and he’s now on to his next documentary project. This one looks at dedicated fans that fight to keep their favourite television shows on air.
Yet this summer, he’s excited to see The Missing Ingredient on the big screen. It showed at Toronto’s Hot Docs Theatre on July 15 and will soon be available on demand.
Just make sure to grab a snack before you hit play. You don’t want to watch this documentary on an empty stomach.