Velvet, lace, Italian wine and a four-course traditional Italian meal were the hallmarks of the second annual Big Night Fundraiser.
Held Sunday afternoon at Trattoria Stella, the event drew 68 attendees and raised funds for the third annual Traverse City Film Festival, scheduled for late July and early August. The family style meal transformed the restaurant and patrons into a large Italian family sharing three long tables and dining family style.
"That's kind of the thing about this, it's way too much food,” said Myles Anton, the executive chef for Trattoria Stella.
In a meal of dramatic moments and savory interludes, Anton's massive timpani cooked up for the occasion were impressive. The oversized, 50-pound stuffed breads guaranteed more than enough food for everyone attending — and they were just the second course. Requiring two people to carry, each timpano was stuffed with layers of pasta, meatballs, hard-boiled eggs, Italian Sausage, Tomatoes, mozzarella and ricotta cheese and garlic.
The description on the menu as a "drum of pastry” was fitting.
"One of these feeds 70,” noted Anton, who has been with the restaurant since it opened in 2004.
Besides the food, the movie "Big Night” was the star of the show, with multiple screens running the classic flick continuously. Against this backdrop of drama and suspense over a fictional Italian restaurant struggling to survive, guests feasted and toasted as an army of servers smoothly handled their needs.
On screen, diners relished the same meal as those in Trattoria Stella: chicken consommé with small pasta pieces, tri-color risotto, whole roasted salmon, whole roasted suckling pig and whole roasted guinea hens served with an assortment of fresh vegetables. Dolce of assorted truffles, biscotti and amaretti, pistachio gelato, local strawberry gelato and fromaggio Italianio rounded out the meal — literally.
While the festivities of this big night may not change lives, the Big Night Fundraiser has been making a name for itself during its short run. Restaurant proprietors Paul and Amanda Danielson suggested the event last year and generously offered to host it again this year, with an eye to a longer run.
"We did it last year and our hope is to do it every year,” Sarah Bielman, manager of Trattoria Stella. "Big Night is a great independent film from the 90s and this is probably the most traditional Italian meal people would eat, not that we do this kind of cooking every day.”
"It's a great way to incorporate film and food … and wine, of course,” she added.
The third annual Traverse City Film Festival will run from July 31 through August 5, featuring a range of films shown at venues around town, including the City Opera House, the Old Town Playhouse and the State Theater downtown.
The characteristic mix of movies includes independent films, documentaries and foreign releases with something to please everyone — more than 70,000 admissions were sold in 2006. Another popular feature of the festival is the showing at dusk of classic movies for free on a large inflatable screen floating in the Grand Traverse Bay at the Open Space.
For more information on the Traverse City Film Festival, see their web site at www.traversecityfilmfest.org.