Local Artist Brings Buffalo Bill to Life for New BBQ Restaurant

When Richard Gherardi, owner of the soon-to-open Cody’s BBQ & Bar in downtown Riverhead, wanted to hire a muralist to convey his restaurant’s country and western theme, he met first with an artist from Manhattan.

Unimpressed with the portfolio he was shown, Gherardi said the thought suddenly occurred to him: “Why would I want to hire somebody from the city when we have so many great local artists around?”

So he talked to former Town Councilman Vic Prusinowki, a consultant for the restaurant, who proceeded to march him up the block to 133 East Main St. to meet with Pat Snyder, executive of the .

Snyder was more than happy to go into her registry of artists and come up with a number of suggestions, one being Frank Latorre, a seasoned muralist and a master of trompe l’oeil realism from Eastport.

Gheradi said he was “blown away,” not only with Latorre’s work, but with the ideas he presented.

“He suggested having Buffalo Bill Cody come crashing through the wall riding a bull,” he said. “He showed me a sketch, and we signed him up.”

“Buffalo Bill probably never rode a bull,” Latorre admitted Thursday, referring to William Frederick Cody, who got his nickname killing more than 4,000 American bison in a single eight-month period in 1867 supplying buffalo meat to railroad workers out west.

“But the bull seemed like an image that would work,” Latorre said, "so I went with it."

Gherardi liked Latorre's finished product so much that he plans to use the image as his restaurant’s logo on menus, in ads and on tee shirts.

The second mural Latorre suggested was of a cowgirl standing in front of a giant American flag. But Gherardi said the first sketch  showed the girl much too scantily clad to go along with the family-style restaurant he wants to run.

“I don’t think parents would have approved,” he said.

Latorre then came back with a toned-down version, which now adorns a wall in the bar area of the restaurant. “She’s still very good-looking, but much less revealing,” Gherardi said.

Cody’s BBQ & Bar will represent the second time Gherardi will have opened a restaurant in the building he owns – the first being Michael’s, which debuted in 2007, only to close less than two years later.

“We did a great business at first, but we just couldn’t get people there at night,” he said.

In the interim, he leased the space to a couple of restaurateurs, who proceeded to open a place called Casa Rica. But less than a year and a half later, it had its liquor license revoked after a . Now Gherardi is opening Cody's in its place and expects to be up and running by by Memorial Day.

Gherardi said he sees a big change taking place in downtown Riverhead and is confident his new venture will be much more successful than Michael’s was.

“I see a rebound on Main Street, and I think everybody’s starting to feel it,” he said.

As for the art council’s Snyder, she expressed delight at being able to play matchmaker between Gherardi and Latorre, who owns a gallery on Montauk Highway in Eastport called Art and Soul and teaches art classes in addition to his mural work.

“That’s what the council is all about,” she said “When businesses want to find an artist to do whatever for them, they come here and look through samples of work.

“When our artists do well, we do well,” she said.