From the Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Regular readers of this column know that I’ve had a bit of an adjustment, to put it mildly, with our daughter having headed off to college two years ago. Admittedly, I’ve been all over the map: outwardly thrilled that our little bird left the nest for Chicago, proud that she is confidently spreading her wings in a new city and environment, while also secretly (and sometimes not-so-secretly) wishing she lived a little closer to home. After a bout of homesickness early in her sophomore year, we wondered if she might be feeling the same way. (Because who wouldn’t want to spend more time with their parents during their college years, right?) But after winter break, she went through rush and joined a sorority, and we could hear the happiness in her voice. She was making new connections and finding her place, just like we knew she would. Realizing that we’re entering a new chapter as a family, my wife and I decided to change up our Passover tradition this year and create a new way of celebrating with our two children. Serendipitously, we saw that one of our favorite restaurants in Chicago was offering Passover dinner the first two nights of the holiday (truly beshert, or “meant to be” in Yiddish, if anything ever was), and so we decided to celebrate there. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Mon Ami Gabi is truly one of my all-time favorite restaurants, and I’m a sucker for anything French. (If I could publish Sophisticated Living Paris, I’d do it in a heartbeat.) Passover lasts eight days, and Jews traditionally observe one or two Seder meals during the holiday. This year, like last year, we spent the first night at home with lots of friends and family—some Jewish, some not. Then we headed to Chicago for “part two.” I wondered if it would feel strange to have Passover dinner in a different city, in a restaurant (I imagined my late mother’s horror), but it couldn’t have been lovelier. The food was sublime, with the brisket even rivaling my wife’s. All the traditional favorites were there: matzo ball soup, chopped liver, gefilte fish (an acquired taste, admittedly), potato latkes with homemade applesauce, and a decadent flourless chocolate cake. We loved the meal (though I did miss my usual escargot with baguette, but that would have meant eating bread, which is forbidden during the holiday). In talking with the restaurant’s executive sous chef, Zach Sperber, we learned that he makes the gefilte fish, the latkes, everything, the way he remembers them from his childhood. And although we love entertaining and sharing our traditions with friends and family, it was delightful to settle into the classic bistro’s invitingly charming dining room for a carefree dinner, just the four of us. There’s something refreshing about establishing new traditions, and in realizing that while some things won’t stay the same as our children leave the nest, our family can still grow and evolve. We’re already looking forward to Passover in Chicago next year, and I’ve heard that Mon Ami Gabi is offering a Rosh Hashanah dinner too, so we’re planning to attend that as well. Now if we can only convince them to do a Chinese menu at Christmas…
Jeffrey Cohen jeff@slmag.net
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