Countdown to Dan’s Bubbles: Meet Sheila & Marco Barrila of Insatiable EATS 

Barrila has been participating in Dan’s Taste events for 10 years. He and his wife, Sheila, enjoy taking part in the events to share their cooking with attendees and catch up with fellow local chefs.

“We’re known for the Shinnecock Lobster Factory, for our fresh lobster,” Barrila says. “We get fresh lobsters from Maine.”

Barrila’s culinary roots lie in Sicily, where he grew up. Moving to the United States, he was among the top 40 chefs in New York City. He is also known for competing on Food Network’s Chopped. When he came to Long Island for the weekend, Sheila says, he never left. He became an executive chef for a hotel group that owned hotels like The Atlantic in Southampton.

“He did catering for one year,” says Sheila. “He loved it and he decided he wanted to do catering.” It was then that Barrila and Sheila launched their own catering company, Insatiable EATS.

“We’ve done everything under the sun since then,” Sheila says. “We started doing very private events for celebrities, like A-List, sort of high-profile people. And then it just grew into all the other catering events. We’ve done the Guild Hall, all the galleries … We do a lot of craft catering for fashion and film shoots where we just drop off catering.”

Barrila has also opened three restaurants on Long Island: Shinnecock Lobster Factory, which he opened with Shinnecock tribal leader Lance Gumbs, seafood restaurant Frutti Di Mare and Insatiable EATS.

“When I came to Long Island, I loved it so much because of the seafood and the farms,” Barrila says. “I felt like I was back in Sicily. That’s why I’m really inspired, because it’s like I’m in Messina … where I come from. It has similar geography to Long Island. This is a summer place, with a lot farm and wine, the fish.”

The Insatiable EATS Creative Kitchen, the restaurant that opened on New Year’s Day, is among the Barrilas’ latest projects. It’s a place where customers can shop and dine. Sheila says it was modeled after Little Italy in New York City.

“In the morning, it is casual,” says Barrila. “You can come and buy … then at night it becomes a restaurant.”

Insatiable EATS features an expansive antipasti bar; a dining room with soaring ceilings; a pasta laboratory where pasta is produced fresh on-site and is paired with signature sauces; a pizzaiola station making Sicilian-style pizza alla pala; an Italian dessert section and a takeaway market.

Sheila added that if one wanted to take home fresh pasta, they can do so, and buy it by the pound, as well as jars of their special pasta sauces. They will also be bringing fresh pasta and sauces to the local farmers market, as well as offering it in a subscription box.

“It is one-of-it’s-kind,” says Barrila. “You can purchase the pastas, you can purchase the sauces. We are doing a lot of private events … I think the place works nice because it has a lunch bar, and it’s very beautiful and fresh inside, we have a bunch of Italian ceramics like vases and plates and stuff for the kitchen.”

Insatiable EATS is located at 300 E Main Street in Riverhead. Visit insatiableeats.com for more info.

Dan’s Bubbles will be held from 7–10 p.m. on Saturday, August 6 at Nova’s Ark in Water Mill. Visit DansTaste.com for tickets and more info.