Lisa Dahl: Blessed by Grace Recounts a Mother's Journey From Tragedy to Nourishing Others
The new documentary Lisa Dahl: Blessed By Grace recounts her journey from a teenage mother to raising her son, Justin, in the San Francisco Bay Area. But she lost him, suddenly, when he intervened to help someone who had been robbed, and was killed by the assailant.
Remembering Justin at every turn, she left the Bay Area for Sedona, a red-rock town known for healing and recovery. When she struggled with her first restaurant, she called to Justin for help. That was the moment her business began to turn around.
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"I have been blessed to find my calling, of cooking and feeding those in need of comfort," says Dahl. "Although I would never wish losing a child to anyone, sometimes we will be able to find the silver lining by giving service to others."
Her business success allowed her to start the Lisa Dahl Foundation, which provides healthy, nourishing meals to people in need.
The new documentary Lisa Dahl: Blessed By Grace plays this weekend at Indy Shorts in Indianapolis, where Dahl grew up, and where she has returned for a screening of the empathetic, beautifully shot short film. It is also the home of one of the film's producers, Amy Pauszek, who first met Dahl while attending the Sedona International Film Festival in 2018.
Dahl has a close relationship with the Sedona festival — its latest edition included a magnificent dinner at Dahl's flagship restaurant, Mariposa, a stately Latin-inspired restaurant with stunning views of the landscape. Her other restaurants include Dahl & Di Luca, Butterfly Burger, Pisa Lisa and Cucina Rustica.
"I heard Lisa's powerful story about her son Justin, where he is honored in each restaurant," Pauszek says. "I knew there was a story to be told, and Lisa and I clicked immediately as if we were sisters and kindred spirits. It was truly a divine intervention and now we are on a journey to not only share Lisa's story but to help make her foundation succeed worldwide."
Making Lisa Dahl: Blessed by Grace
Dahl didn't originally want to be the subject of a film.
"Pat Schweiss, the director of the Sedona International Film Festival, had wanted to connect me with other filmmakers, but at that time and given the vulnerability of the subject matter, it was not something I was pursuing," Dahl says.
But that changed when she met filmmaker Eric Wolfinger, and began collaborating with him on a culinary project. He eventually became the director of Lisa Dahl: Blessed by Grace.
"Divine timing and the introduction to Eric and expansion of the original concept were aligned, and the project took on a life of its own," Dahl says.
Opening up was hard, but it allowed her to share her experiences with people who had been coming to her restaurants, for years, without knowing her full story.
"The process was so painful that I literally cried and wiped my tears throughout the process of the interviews," she says. "In spite of the pain, it was cathartic to let the small part of my son's tragic loss and his courageous act as a Good Samaritan be shared with many people who knew me, and not Justin. But really did not know me."
Pauszek says Dahl's immense determination and grace made her a natural subject for a film.
"When you meet Lisa Dahl, you immediately fall in love with her charm, positive spirit and knowledge of cooking from the soul," Pauszek says. "I've been to every one and they feel like home. Justin is present. People flock to Lisa — she is a philanthropist and has a heart of gold. I've never met anyone like Lisa because she makes everyone feel like family, including over 300 employees that adore her."
The film also shows the attention to detail that goes into running a top-tier restaurant, including scenes of Dahl personally traveling to farm suppliers to inspect leaves that will go into her dishes.
"Everything she makes at her restaurants us fresh and the ingredients are directly hand picked from local farms and organic gardens. She is special because she gives so much back to her community and cares about the well being of others," Pauszek says.
Despite her initial apprehensions, Dahl is glad she shared her story. She ultimately became an executive producer on the film.
"There really aren't words to express the level of vulnerability and poignancy I experienced in opening the doors to the past that I had masked with the layers of creative mastery to protect myself from re-living the depth of grief I had suppressed," she says.
"My hope has always been to touch others through my love for my son and his for me — to help others, who are faced with what we all know as parents is the most unimaginable loss," she says.
But, she adds of the children they lost: "They are not dead. They are watching over us in a way that guides us on a very spiritual and sensory dimension. They will help us in ways we don't know are possible, if we embrace them all of our creative and philanthropic endeavors.
"Our world is so fragile these days, with so much violence and despair. We need to spread our love to others through our gifts that we have been so fortunate to have been given."
Lisa Dahl: Blessed by Grace is streaming online and plays Sunday at Indy Shorts.
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