For three decades, Lisa Dahl has fed Sedona. A new documentary short tells the part of her story she says she had never fully shared. Lisa Dahl: Blessed By Grace, directed by James Beard Award-winning photographer Eric Wolfinger, began streaming on November 12 on Tubi, Roku, Documentary+, Google Play and YouTube Movies & TV, according to her publicist, Shore Fire Media.
A Son, and a Fresh Start in Sedona
In 1994, Dahl’s son, Justin, was killed in San Francisco while trying to stop a robbery. A 2015 post on the KlaasKids Foundation’s blog says he was 23. His death upended her life and, in time, carried her from the Bay Area to Sedona, Arizona, where the self-taught chef opened Dahl & Di Luca Ristorante Italiano in 1995.
In a newsletter to her followers, Dahl wrote that before the film she did not think she had ever really shared how raw her emotions were about losing Justin. “I came to Sedona hoping to find healing, carrying a loss I was still learning how to live with,” she wrote. “It became a place where I thought I could gather myself and start over. In so many ways, this film is a love letter to Sedona.”
Building a Dining Destination
From that first restaurant, Dahl built Dahl Restaurant Group, which now runs six restaurants across five concepts, from Dahl & Di Luca to Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill, which opened in 2015. In a 2022 profile, Haute Living said many credit her with putting Sedona on the national food map. The group says it employs about 300 people and serves an estimated 500,000 guests a year, and describes itself as one of Northern Arizona’s largest employers.
Justin is present in those rooms, too. The KlaasKids post, written after a dinner at Mariposa, described an altar to him in each of her restaurants.
Dahl has cooked twice at the James Beard House in New York, the second time for a sold-out Latin-Italian dinner in January 2017. Her team also lists an appearance on Food Network’s Beat Bobby Flay and two Arizona Restaurant Association honors, Food Pioneer and Top Chef Arizona. She is the author of two cookbooks, Elixir of Life and A Romance With Food, which her team says have sold more than 30,000 copies combined.
The Film
Wolfinger’s 26-minute film follows Dahl from San Francisco to Sedona and looks at how food and hospitality helped her start again. It premiered at the Sedona International Film Festival and has since screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival, the Black Rock City Film Festival and Indy Shorts International Film Festival, among others, according to Shore Fire. At Indy Shorts it won the Indiana Spotlight Award and the Indiana Spotlight Audience Choice Award. IMDb lists Jesse P. Cutler and Amy Pauszek as producers.
Soup Hope and the Lisa Dahl Foundation
Dahl has turned the same instinct to feed people into philanthropy. The Lisa Dahl Foundation, a 501(c)(3) her team says was established in 2024, marked its public launch with a benefit weekend in Sedona in December 2025. AZ Big Media and El Restaurante reported that its work centers on food insecurity in Arizona’s Native American communities.
Its flagship program is Soup Hope, a jarred soup meant to bring nourishment to people in need. El Restaurante describes it as a plant-based, gluten-free minestra made with 27 heirloom beans and legumes. According to Shore Fire, the foundation is building an endowment to support that work.
Where to Watch
Lisa Dahl: Blessed By Grace is streaming now on Tubi, Roku, Documentary+, Google Play and YouTube Movies & TV.
IOM has not seen the film. The release details, festival run, quotes from Dahl’s newsletter, restaurant group figures and trailer link come from press materials provided by Shore Fire Media, which represents Dahl. Other details come from the sources named in the text. Photos and poster courtesy of Shore Fire Media.
