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Opening an eatery is fraught with peril — especially in New York City, with its sky-high rents and fetishistic dining culture. Each year more than 1,000 establishments open, and only 200 survive. As critic Tim Zagat points out in Andrew Rossi and Kate Novack’s engrossing documentary, it takes a lot more than just being a good cook to succeed. "Too many people," he says, "don’t know what they’re getting into." Billy and John, two transplants from Minnesota with zero experience, look at first like they don’t. We follow them as they undertake the Herculean task of transforming a decrepit building into an upscale corner café. They do everything themselves, from placing the pigeon spikes on the roof to laying the concrete on the front stoop. But as the months wear on and the doors don’t open, John fantasizes about an El train obliterating the place. Strikingly, though, more than half the film is devoted to interviews with the tux-clad luminaries of the Manhattan dining world — Drew Nieporent, Daniel Boulud, Sirio Maccioni — who recount their own humble beginnings, suggesting that all that earnest perseverance may just pay off in the end. (80 minutes.)