For the first time in 43 years (that would be Nov. 1966, when the streak started ... to keep it in sports vernacular), I did not cook a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. I have officially downsized the biggest cooking day of the year for this home cook. Even when I was a hotel manager and worked all the holidays, I still fixed turkey and all the appropriate accompaniments. I have moved passed all the failures and refinements that come with time ... until I had a blend of what I liked from my childhood past (the simple bread/herb/butter stuffing and the canned cranberry sauce) and style points for my grill-roasted Weber turkey (which freed the oven for my spectacular apple and pumpkin pies). I'll spare you the trip back through time of my learning to cook, marriages, kids, hotel food and beverage, Veuve Clicquot, nouveau Beaujolais ... I'm too full right now and the glass of Pinot too large to have any of that conversation be anything but maudlin.
What I can lucidly comment on (in my mind) is the delicious meal Acqua and I had earlier today at Cafe Renaissance in Vienna. We found Cafe Renaissance 15 years ago (it's been serving from its Glyndon Avenue location for 15 1/2 years) when I was writing community dining reviews in my new journalism career. After three visits and one glowing review I lost all objectivity and stopped writing about the restaurant in any impartial way, relegating it to the occasional community feature. The little restaurant was a step back into time where the food was classical, where all the women were lovely ladies and the owners Saeed Abathi and Tony Tassbihi (Tony has since opened Cafe Mileto in Germantown) made every guest feel like the most important. The Turkish chef Ocean Joseph (see the poor quality iPhone foto) has become an American citizen and in recent years has expanded his menu into something more contemporary, but you don't have to whisper if you would like a dish prepared in a manner not matching the menu ... it can be done.
So Cafe Renaissance became our "romantic" restaurant ... a place where we could go and separate ourselves from the stress of life and feel special without being anyone special at all. We became friends of the family and they know my children in NC, Ohio and the UK, my brother in Ga. ... my grandchildren. We have watched Saeed and Soraya's girls grow into lovely young ladies.
I don't get to Cafe Renaissance much any more. I live 45 minutes away. I am on the food trail chasing down the latest new spot, the latest trend, the coolest drink ... but I was off today, a tradtional food holiday ... and I wasn't cooking. Ocean prepared a wonderful turkey plate for me ... Acqua had a lamb rack that she desired and Saeed found a few minutes to join us and eat his own turkey dinner. His oldest daughter was helping on the door when we arrived. They've added a Christmas tree this year to provide a homey, holiday touch to the decor. And Ocean told us he is a new grandfather.
Alas, I must cook a turkey; I can't give up the ghost ... it will be on Saturday. The pumpkin pie is a must and I'll improve my Red Velvet Cake with tips I've taken from David Guas's new cookbook DamGoodSweet. Life is good.
