Butera’s 'Big Night' in Huntington
Gary, left, and Martin Butera cut the timpano they prepared for the "Big Night" benefit at Cinema Arts Theatre in Huntington. (April 1, 2012) Credit: Newsday / Erica Marcus
Sunday night, cinephiles and gastronomes gathered at Huntington’s Cinema Arts Centre for a “Big Night” benefit to raise money for new digital projection equipment. The event was the brainchild of Martin Butera who, with his brother Gary and wife Laurie, own Butera’s restaurants in Woodbury, Smithtown, Seaford and Sayville. Butera, a member of Cinema Arts’ board of directors, is a big fan of the 1996 film “Big Night,” which explores the relationship between two Italian immigrant brothers who operate a restaurant on the Jersey Shore in the 1950s.
After a screening of the film, one of its stars, Isabella Rossellini, led a far-ranging discussion about film, art, digital media and Italian food. After the discussion, guests repaired to Cinema Arts’ Sky Room Café for a buffet, provided by Butera’s, featuring Italian dishes that were served in the film’s climactic dinner scene. The undisputed highlight of both that dinner and this buffet was the timpano, a huge, molded “drum” lined with pasta and filled with meatballs, salumi, hard-cooked eggs and vegetables. The crowd broke into applause when Gary Butera unmolded the timpano onto the platter. It was a thing of beauty, and delicious to boot.
In true “Big Night” fashion, older brother Gary concentrated on the food while the younger, Martin, handled the public. He spoke about Butera’s own challenges in staying true its roots while appealing to a broad audience. “When we opened in 1991,” he said, “we didn’t have any Parmesans on the menu. That didn’t last.” Martin quoted a line from the movie, spoken by the successful restaurateur Pascal to the struggling brothers Primo and Secondo. The secret to success, he says, is to “give the people what they want, then you can give them what you want.”
