Memories and Moments by GrannyJo

I SMELL A MEMORY
Copyright 2003

VALENTINE DINNER FOR LOVERS

July 6, 1955

From the first year that My Forever Valentine and I were married, back in 1955, Rich always gave me a huge valentine, flowers or jewelry, and a great evening out. He’s always been my best valentine, the one with all the love built right in.

Later when we had the Little Italy Restaurant, Valentine Day was an especially busy evening and Rich and I were needed to keep things running smoothly. One year in the early seventies, when the dinner hour had died down and we could take a quiet booth back in the lounge, we celebrated with a special dinner of our own. It was a wonderful moment of candlelight, handholding, excellent service and of course, fantastic aromas and tastes.

I slipped off my heels under the table and Rich loosened his tie. We gave each other a sigh, a smile and a peck, happy with the way the day had gone, and began the meal I’d discussed earlier with Catherine our cook, by sipping a nice cold Reunite White and nibbling on a basket of the garlic toast for which we were famous. In a short time, two frigid shrimp cocktails with fiery red centers of sauce were placed in front of us by our favorite waitress, Carolyn, who knew the order of the day was ’slow and easy’ service. She set a plate of crackers and bread sticks between us, topped off the wine glasses and quietly went away.

When the cocktails were gone and water glasses low (I said the sauce was firey!), Carolyn appeared with a cup of steaming wedding soup for each of us. She filled the water glasses, checked the wine and went on her way. We enjoyed the soup, while remembering the story from which it got it’s name; it was the first course served at the big old-fashioned Italian wedding dinners in the days of yore. My mother never tired of telling us that her wedding dinner was the biggest, most extravagant one, our hometown had ever seen and everyone was invited!

Suddenly, there was Carolyn again, replacing the soup cups with chilled salad plates and forks. In the center of the table she placed an antipasto salad for two. A bed of mixed head lettuce, greens and sweet onions was crowned with pepperoni, salami, Italian ham, provolone cheese, 2 rolled anchovies with capers, some pepperonicini and drizzled all over with our own Italian dressing and a generous dusting of Parmesan cheese. A basket of crusty, warm Italian bread accompanied the luscious looking antipasto. Our bottle of Reunite White being finished, we switched to a basket bottle of Ruffino Chianti. Glasses filled, we carefully attacked the salad, making sure we both got some of each of the goodies.

When the salad was gone, Carolyn brought out two tiny liqueur glasses with a melon ball scoop of rainbow sherbet in each. Time to clear the palate and rest a bit until the next course.

About five or six minutes later, we could hear the hissing of a sizzle platter, see the steam rising and catch a hearty aroma of beef cooking, as Carolyn came carrying a huge tray, which she set on the tray stand near our table. On it were two sizzle platters with thick N.Y. strip steaks jumping with the heat. There were also two side orders of spaghetti, dripping with tomato sauce and bowl of fried greens, wafting garlic and crushed pepper aromas into the air. She placed the steaks and pasta in front of us and the greens between us, whipped out another basket of hot bread and topped off the wine glasses. Zip ~ she was gone! I told you she was good. What wonderful steaks! Red, juicy but warm in the middle and crispy on the outside, so tender you could use a butter knife if you needed to. The pasta and greens were a colorful and fragrant red and green salute to the day, and were just delicious! Not to be daunted, we toasted each other with the Chianti and enjoyed every bite of our main course.

Later--much later, Carolyn came by to remove the ravaged plates. She brought us demitasse of Café Sambuco to encourage digestion and we relaxed with little demented smiles on our faces.

On, No! We weren’t done yet! Out of the kitchen marched Carolyn and Bobby, each carrying a flaming mug of brandied strawberry ice cream. Everyone in the place ooo-ed and aaaahhhh-ed as the flames sparked in the dimly lit lounge. What a fitting end to a beautiful Valentine Dinner.

By now it was getting near to closing time and Catherine appeared out of the kitchen to say, “Go on home, you two. We’ll get it done just fine. Happy Valentines Day!” How sweet they all were, we had a goooood group of associates and friends there. Rich and I looked at each other, tipped everyone generously for their wonderful gift and went out into the crispy, snow-blown night to our cozy home and an even bigger celebration for lovers----(Rated R).

The next morning as we were having coffee, I said that our Valentine Dinner for Lovers was so wonderful, I thought we should reproduce it for the customers as a price fixe‘, reservations only, affair. Rich agreed and we came up with a menu and placed an ad or two in our local newspaper. It wasn’t long before there were reservations for every booth in the lounge on the weekends and many during the week. In fact, we seated some folks who wanted to have a special day, though we were full up in the lounge, out in the main dining room, which brought ‘more’ reservations! We carried the special for many months and even after we discontinued it, calls for reservations came in for a long time.

(See Dinner For Lovers Menu and Recipes)