{"id":1207,"date":"2016-12-15T01:03:38","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T01:03:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.womansconed.com\/?p=1207"},"modified":"2016-12-15T02:32:14","modified_gmt":"2016-12-15T02:32:14","slug":"popcorn-and-a-movie-revisiting-a-big-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.womansconed.com\/?p=1207","title":{"rendered":"Popcorn and a Movie: Revisiting a \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcBig Night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153To eat good food,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d says Italian chef Primo in the 1996 film, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Big Night<\/a>,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u0153is to be close to God.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

[A]nd truthfully, over the 20 years since I first saw this movie, I have said, again and again, that my idea of heaven was the kitchen where Primo, played by Tony Shaloub and his brother, Secondo, played by Stanley Tucci, worked miracles to be served up in their struggling restaurant, so poignantly named \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Paradise.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The kitchen is large and well-worn — with rattling plumbing — the industrial artistic space of the 1950s restaurant. Everything has a purpose and is in the proper place; pots hang above within easy reach, rolling shelves hold plates and other needed implements. There is ample work surface and ingredients — from herbs to bowls of eggs — sit in strategic locations to be at the ready when they are needed. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The restaurant is small, elegant and understated, perhaps too understated for the less-than-refined diners who seem to miss the artistry in the food. The place caters to patrons who do not appreciate the subtlety of the risotto and who pay for their food with paintings. Across the street, the flashier \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Pascal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is a meat-and-potatoes-and-liquor-and-music type of establishment that seems to lure people in droves.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Give the customer what they want,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Pascal advises Secondo, who is so desperate to save his ailing restaurant he asks to borrow money from his rival, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Then you can give the customer what you want.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The well-connected Pascal gives Secondo hope in the offering of inviting the jazz great Louis Prima to perform at a special dinner at Primo and Secondo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s restaurant. As the brothers prepare for the festivities, the subdued Primo remarks, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They should come just for the food.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

His pragmatic brother replies, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153They should come just for the food, but they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

The food alone is worth coming to this movie. As the preparations and the big night ensue, we are treated to a lively visual feast from start to finish. Among the dishes created for the night is Timpano, a meat and pasta layered \u00e2\u20ac\u0153drum\u00e2\u20ac\u009d encased in a pasta dough shell and baked in a large enamel tub.<\/p>\n