On April Fool's Day 1992 a piece about The Elephant Walk appeared on the cover of the Living Section of the New York Times that would alter the profile and trajectory of our small restaurant business forever.
Marian Burros authored the piece but I've always felt that Nancy Harmon Jenkins deserved at least half the credit for it.
Nancy is a gifted and accomplished food writer herself, expert in Italian cuisine and the Mediterranean diet. She’s also our guardian angel.
When we opened in Union Square Somerville in August 1991 Nancy was a part-time resident of Somerville, on Prospect Hill, behind the restaurant.
Nancy had been a writer and editor for the Times in her recent past and must have dropped a dime to call her friend Marian to let her know about this new restaurant she had discovered just a short walk from her doorstep.
This was just one of many blessings Nancy bestowed on us. Another was an impromptu, magical dinner-for-two she shared with Julia Child at the Somerville Elephant Walk on a quiet Tuesday night early in our first, uncertain autumn.
N.B. This Times article includes three recipes too: Loc Lac, Curry de Legumes, and Leah Chah, all classics and menu fixtures to this day.
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