A breezy, low-key tribute to Wolfgang Puck, “Wolfgang” is most notable for the extent to which he can be thanked — or blamed — for the advent of the celebrity chef, as well as ripples that extended into everything from cooking styles to the way restaurants are designed. That might not merit full Disney+ documentary treatment, but for those even remotely interested in the topic, bon appétit.
“Wolfgang was without a doubt the first celebrity chef,” says chef/author Nancy Silverton, as director David Gelb proceeds to detail the Austrian-born Puck’s humble beginnings, the child of a single mother later raised by an abusive stepfather, who told him that boys hanging around the kitchen was somehow unmanly. Coming to America, Puck worked his way up, eventually taking over the kitchen at Ma Maison before striking out on his own to open Spago, where the “California cuisine” “changed the way Americans eat,” says food writer Ruth Reichl, noting that Puck “changed the perception in the public for what a chef is,” as illustrated through clips of his ubiquitous media appearances.
