R5 Editor's Memo, August 2012: Westchester Magazine's Dining Issue

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to eat out—a whole lot. If given a choice between a nice, quiet meal at home or a near-deafening meal at some restaurant just about anywhere, there’s no contest: Just give me the restaurant’s address. And you’re near certain to find me at said restaurant for a long, long time. I’ve been known to close many a restaurant (my sincere apologies to all waiters, managers, bartenders, etc., who have been kept from going home ’cause I so enjoy spending time where you all work).

“Are you ready to order?” How many times have I heard that question asked by a waiter, pen and pad in hand? My answer the first three or so times that it’s asked is, “No, not just yet.” My poor husband, who may be woozy from hunger, knows not to rush me. I want to prolong the restaurant experience. Why? What is it about restaurants that have me, well, in a spell?   

Photo by Cathy Pinsky

Adam Gopnik

A few months ago, at a Westchester Library System’s Book and Author Luncheon, New Yorker writer and essayist Adam Gopnik shed real light on the matter. Gopnik, a fellow restaurant lover and fellow Francophile, had come to talk about his latest book, The Table Comes First: France, Family, and the Meaning of Food, which traces the history of the modern restaurant. Restaurants first sprouted in France—where else?—but not until after the French Revolution. (Before then, taverns and inns served food and drink but overwhelmingly to travelers, not locals—and there were no menus or fancy dishes.) FYI: The word “restaurant” is derived from the French word “restaurer”—that is, “to restore.”

 And clearly people took to them. To be restored, that is, nourished? Yes, but also (and, get ready to be enlightened) to really, really connect. As Gopnik pointed out, when you are in a restaurant, you’re in a public space; there are people all around you, but you’re supremely focused on the one person sitting across the table. And who doesn’t want that kind of attention from a friend, a relative, a husband?  

 Which brings me to the issue you’re holding in your hands. It is our annual dining issue. We dedicate one issue a year to wine and food because we figure you love to eat out as much as we do. In this issue, we offer a list of 97 fabulous drinking and eating experiences. And here’s my advice: Enjoy as many of them as you can, taking your time and focusing on whomever is sitting across the table.

Esther Davidowitz
Editor-in-Chief