On a recent afternoon, Marco Barrila moved around his bright and spacious new restaurant with ease, effusing charm as he greeted the guests. Finally sitting down at a table set with red napkins folded like roses, he waxed poetic on food as an enthusiastic bartender shook up some cocktails nearby.
You can buy any kind of food pre-made, he said, but "where's the fun in that? How much people care -- that's evident in the food they make for each other."
In 2021, Mr. Barrila was on the cusp of retiring from the full-time-and-then-some grind of restaurant ownership. He had been in the industry for 55 years, having started in his family's trattoria at age 13, and he wanted his next act to be on the stage, not so much in the kitchen, in local and regional theater productions.
When they needed a commercial cooking space for their Insatiable Eats catering business, his wife, Sheila Minkel-Barrila, lined up a tour of the former Michaelangelo's flagship pizzeria location on East Main Street in Riverhead, which had closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. One look at that kitchen was all it took for Mr. Barrila to find the inspiration for his latest venture, Insatiable Pastaria and Restaurant.
He calls the town his "new frontier." When he cut the ribbon on the new restaurant in December, Mr. Barrila was pleasantly surprised by the warm greetings he received from town officials and fellow business owners. He even got a handshake from Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.
At the age of 24, it was New York City that was his new frontier. Hailing from coastal Messina, Italy, one of the largest cities on the island of Sicily, he started out working at an Italian bakery on West Fourth Street. From there, he went on to hold several roles at Sfuzzi, near Lincoln Center.
The affable and confident Mr. Barrila, who has lived, cooked, and catered in Southampton since 2005, was the owner of Manna in the Water Mill Square from 2016 to 2018 and is also currently a co-owner of the Shinnecock Lobster Factory. In 2017 he was featured on the TV show "Chopped," and has worked in other capacities with the Food Network. He has also recently consulted with other local restaurateurs on their own ventures, including Blade and Salt in Montauk.
His philosophy, he says, is that "food unites people; food is an expression of love." And there's lots of both to go around at Insatiable, from the open-face lasagna and short-rib pappardelle that are his personal regular favorites, to the off-the-menu artisanal artichoke and pizzette he shared with visitors on a recent Sunday afternoon.
"Food is like art," he added. "You have the same colors, the same canvas that everyone has. But the difference is how you choose and mix your colors . . . how you balance the ingredients."
One of his main ingredients is semolina, which he uses to make fresh, supple pastas. Another is La Fede tomatoes. "You find this in every house in Italy," he said.
When he's not cooking up a masterpiece -- or traveling to Maine to source fresh shellfish for the Shinnecock Lobster Factory -- Mr. Barrila is busy memorizing his lines. With the Center Stage theater company in Southampton, he has had roles in "Guys and Dolls," "Mamma Mia," and "Beauty and the Beast," and he was recently invited to audition for "The Producers."
The key, he said, is blending what you love -- art, food, acting, mentoring. "Years by years, palate by palate, region by region, it becomes a meld," he said.
Ms. Minkel-Barrila's own talent for culinary entrepreneurship fits right in with her husband's. She is the manager of their catering and events business, which includes a private downstairs dining room that seats as many as 60. Want to know a secret? She's actually the one who does most of the cooking at home. "When you're cooking and smelling the food, you're not really eating. You're starving," she said. "I didn't cook before I met Marco. He really did train me. He says my lasanga is just like his mother's."
At the restaurant, Mr. Barrila's Sicilian upbringing has come full circle. To manage the restaurant's day-to-day operations, he hired Gloria Natoli, the daughter of his childhood friend Alessandro Natoli, who had been managing restaurants in London. Mr. Natoli, a restaurateur himself, trained Mr. Barrila's pizza-makers. (Pizza at Insatiable Eats is sold by the pound, rather than by the slice! "Some people feel weird about it, but then they taste it and they understand," he said.) And the coffee and espresso that he serves are brewed with imported Miscela d'Oro beans using an exclusive brewing system that's relatively new in the United States -- also a company owned by a friend of Mr. Barrila's.
He considers himself both a traditionalist and an ambassador to the expansion of one's palate. He eats one pasta dish each day, but has an affinity for Asian cuisine, which his wife is also adept at cooking.
"I cook because I want to see people leaving with happiness," he said.
