Big Night: A nod to our namesake

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Big Night is a food delivery service that brings exceptional dining experiences to your doorstep from the best independent restaurants in London. A nod to our namesake was written as the first installment of their monthly newsletter, The Big Night Note. It celebrates the film that gives the brand its name and that never ceases to inspire its two founders, Charlie Mellor and Pavel Baskakov.

There are two types of people in the world: those who have seen the cult food classic Big Night, and those who have not. Yet. As you may suspect, we lie firmly in the former camp, to a somewhat obsessive degree. We return to the film time and time again as an endless source of inspiration and a reminder of our passion for food and the people who make it.

“The first time I watched the film was with my co-founder Charlie”, says Pavel, “I had seen bits of it before, but I only saw it in its entirety when Charlie said that we should call the company Big Night. It didn’t click with me at first, so Charlie said we had to watch it straight away. We set up a laptop at his restaurant, The Laughing Heart, and watched it drinking a bottle of premixed Negroni between us. As we watched it, we couldn’t help but pause every few minutes to discuss how great it would be to create a company that incorporates these beautiful moments of pause. Moments that celebrate the details and the processes. To be a brand that’s not scared to show the not-so-pretty elements that go on behind the scenes.”

The film tells the story of Primo (Tony Shaloub) and Secondo (Stanley Tucci), two brothers who left their home for the land of opportunity, with the dream of bringing America the authentic flavours of Italy. Primo, the older of the two, is an artist in the kitchen whose passion for food is a matter of life and death. His one wish is that customers come “only for the food”, but they don’t come at all. Then there is Secondo, the front-of-house-man, full of pizzazz, who under the surface is desperately trying to keep their heads above water. “Secondo resonates with me so much”, says Charlie Mellor, “I love the scene where right before service starts he wanders around the dining room, adjusting chairs and making sure the tables are perfectly set. I do that every night in my own restaurant.” As a pair, the brothers perfectly capture the tension between authenticity and assimilation, between selling what they love and selling out, between dreams of home and the American dream. 

Their restaurant, Paradise, with its neon sign winking at an empty street, is a cosy affair. “The kind of place families come to eat”, Secondo explains to the banker who tells him they’re behind on their loan repayments. “If you can’t pay up by the end of the month, we’ll have to foreclose”, he warns. In desperation, Secondo pays a visit to their neighbourhood rival Pascal, whose success is built on a collection of circus tricks: flames, free champagne, and spaghetti and meatballs, perfect for the American palette. Pascal, in feigned loyalty, offers to call his friend and famous musician, Louis Prima, and have him dine at Paradise, saving the brothers from closing their doors forever. And so the anticipation of their Big Night begins. The delirium of food preparation. Infidelity in exchange for cheap booze. Heartwarming moments of awkward flirtation. And a timpano montage to end all montages, ever.

It’s a story filled with moments of magic. “The scenes where Primo accepts another painting in lieu of payment from his bohemian friend. When he buys flowers from Ann, the woman he fancies, and somehow toes the line between timid and flamboyant. When he makes an espresso and uses the base of the cup to tamp the basket. I don’t know why but these small things get me every time,” says Charlie. For Pavel, it’s the big meal scene, when everyone has finally gathered around the table after a long evening of anticipation. They groan with pleasure, kiss their fingertips, and drop their jaws as the brothers roll out yet another course more delicious than the last.

Through all of the brothers’ imperfections, though their struggles to survive in an America that wants to eat them alive, what Primo and Secondo teach us is to always deliver the very best of what we know. They teach us that while there is a time and a place for decadence, there is always beauty to be found in the simple act of scrambling an egg for the one you love. They teach us integrity, passion, and authenticity. But most importantly, and in the words of Primo, they teach us that “to eat good food is to be close to God”, and with that, we couldn’t agree more. 

Big Night was co-directed by Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott. You can rent it on Youtube or Amazon Prime.