My Organic Life by Nora Pouillon

Author:Nora Pouillon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2015-04-20T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Tabard Inn

One evening, at the end of a cooking class, while we were finishing a glass of wine, I was cleaning up when one of my students approached me. She was a regular, an enthusiastic student who hadn’t been able to boil an egg when she first walked into my kitchen.

“Nora, I don’t know if you’d be interested, but I have a friend who just bought an officers’ service club near Dupont Circle who wants to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast,” she told me.

I wasn’t really paying attention; it was the end of the day, and I was tired from a full day of family life, followed by teaching class.

“Her name is Fritzi Cohen, and she and her husband, Edward, bought this place in Dupont Circle,” my student continued. “They’re looking for someone to open a restaurant there. I told her you’d be perfect. I want you to meet her.”

I put down the sponge and turned to her. “That’s very nice,” I said. “But I’m a housewife who teaches a couple of cooking classes out of my kitchen, that’s all. I have no professional experience. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

She shook her head. “You’d be great. Just talk to her.”

The next day, Fritzi called and explained that she hoped the new restaurant would be unusual and exciting. Everyone at the time was doing stiff, formal French cuisine, but she’d heard that I was cooking interesting Mediterranean food—Italian, Moroccan, and provincial French food. “I’ve heard wonderful things about your cooking classes,” she said. “You are just what I’m looking for.” She explained that she needed someone to install the kitchen and run the restaurant in the hotel; it would be my own business, giving her a percentage of the gross sales, so I’d be my own boss, but without any sort of significant capital up front. She already had someone who could help with the front of the house, as well as the bookkeeping; I was just going to be responsible for the food. “Would you be interested?” she asked.

“No thanks,” I replied. “That would be impossible.” Her enthusiasm was infectious, though, and the idea was intriguing. After hanging up, I wondered whether I’d said no too quickly. I admitted to myself that running a small restaurant actually sounded sort of appealing—an extension of what I’d been doing but in a more official capacity. But even though my boys were six and eight, already in school at this point, would I be able to take care of them if I took this position? I knew it would be more than a full-time job; it would consume my entire life. It would be crazy. With my cooking classes, I was able to manage things. I was with the children during the day after they came home from school, then Pierre took care of them during my classes a couple of nights a week. Running a restaurant would be a much, much bigger commitment—at least that much, I knew. Plus, I had no professional cooking or business experience whatsoever.

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