in the city
A MARRIAGE BUILT ON
LOVE & FOOD B y Kat ie B e h r m an a n d Ji l l i a n Di Fi l i ppo p h oto s b y ia na Fel i ci a n o
“Food unites us,” Jennifer Lea Cohan says. She doesn’t mean this in a strictly romantic sense, but rather in reference to lifestyle. However, the former rings true for her and her husband, Steven Petrecca, the head chef at Continental Mid-town, 1801 Chestnut St. Fourteen years ago, Cohan worked in New York’s Upper East Side as a publicist for the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She developed a crush on a tall, skinny line cook at the nearby Vinegar Factory, where she would buy a bagel and coffee every morning. Cohan once even tried to flirt with him, but insists, “He was awkward!” Petrecca shrugs, “I was busy.” A year later, Cohan 30
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saw him out one night and approached him, “Shouldn’t you be prepping vegetables?” Petrecca replied, “You’re the coffee girl.” The pair has been together ever since. Aside from their heights—they both stand above 5’10’—Cohan and Petrecca have little in common. Cohan is an ex-Cali girl with an enviable eclecticchic style and a degree from the Fashion Institute of Design and Management. She runs her own food-centric public relations firm, Savory PR, and never lets a dull moment sneak into a conversation. Petrecca, lanky and reserved, lets his wife do most of the talking, but he is quick to throw in the occasional teasing comment and wry smile. It’s
easy to understand why Cohan initiated the relationship. Petrecca claims that he thought she was “out of his league,” to which she asserts with a confident grin, “You still are.” Plenty of banter and two kids later, Cohan and Petrecca’s roots in food not only ground their relationship, but also their family. Although he’s busy, Petrecca finds time to demo fresh pasta for his children’s classmates. The couple prohibits picky eating habits in the house and insists their kids “eat the way we eat since day one.” Barbuzzo, not Burger King, is a common request heard from the back seat of the family’s car. When not eating veal tongue from Amis or slurping duck noodle soup in Chinatown, the pennappetit.com