‘Fine Food,’ ‘Congress’ at UCLA

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences/UCLA Film Archive’s Contemporary Documentary series continues Tuesday at 8 p.m. in UCLA’s Melnitz Theater with David Petersen’s 29-minute “Fine Food, Fine Pastries, Open Nine to Six” (1988) and Ken Burns’ 90-minute “The Congress” (1988).

Widely praised for his monumental “The Civil War,” Burns has emerged as the screen’s foremost chronicler of the American experience, having made illuminating and engrossing documentaries on the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty and Louisiana’s colorful former governor, Huey Long.

“The Congress” is a triumph of vibrant imagination, inspired organization and meticulous research It’s Burns’ special gift to present the Congress as a living, breathing institution, “the greatest reflection of human nature” and “the engine of democracy”--in the words of James Madison.

Along with charting the evolution of the Capitol structure itself, Burns spotlights such major 19th-Century congressional figures as Henry Clay, Daniel Webster and John C. Calhoun, pointing out that over the decades orators have given way to such managerial leaders as Everett Dirksen, Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn.

Petersen’s film is the perfect curtain-raiser, a warm, irresistible account of Sherrill’s Restaurant and Bakery, a beloved Washington institution owned and run by the elderly Lola Revis and her two middle-aged daughters. Sherrill’s is one of those homey, unpretentious places with a counter and booths and hearty, seasoned waitresses. It’s an endangered species, already rendered extinct in so many cities and towns by impersonal fast-food chains. “Fine Food, Fine Pastries, Open Nine to Six” is also a lovely tribute to an honest day’s work. Information: (213) 206-FILM, (213) 206-8013.