Sustenance for Body & Soul
Recently, my beautiful niece Aliya and her lovely daughters Zehra and Saira arrived for a four-day visit. Our days were unstructured. The visit was about relaxing and sharing time together. Over morning coffees, we had wonderful conversations about the Brontë sisters, Jane Austen, books I recommended they read, and cookbooks Zehra pulled from my culinary library.
I was eager to get to know Zehra (21) and Saira (17) who I had not seen since they were children. After a visit to Nevada City’s Saturday Farmers’ Market, we explored Broad Street shops and had a delicious lunch at Three Forks café. When I learned that they both loved exploring the racks in vintage clothing stores, I took them to Enid and Edgar Vintage. That same evening, they dressed for dinner at Lola—a world class restaurant in Nevada City—in their newly acquired vintage outfits.
Located on historic Broad Street in Nevada City, the old National Exchange hotel/bar was a communication and transportation hub in the late 1800s. It housed the town telegraph office and had a stagecoach stop just steps away from the barroom that has been a gathering spot since the Gold Rush. Today the historic National Bar and hotel’s gourmet restaurant Lola serve hand-crafted cocktails and contemporary cuisine in a beautifully renovated setting. Named after and inspired by Lola Montez, the restaurant’s cuisine is advertised as “high spirited and modern, sparked by the great wild west and a shine of European finesse—a dedication to beautiful ingredients, locally sourced, sustainable, and seasonally inspired.” Sustenance for body and soul…just what we needed.
We ate in an intimate dining room adjacent to the hotel’s old western bar—the perfect location for conversation and lively interaction with our server, Pascal. After being seated in an L-shaped banquette booth on plush burgundy velvet upholstery, the four of us were greeted by Pascal—our delightful server who spoke in a commanding voice punctuated by a subtle French accent. To say the evening was delicious doesn’t begin to describe our experience.
We began with cocktails. I ordered a Bourbon and Ginger with a Luxardo Maraschino cherry and a sliver of orange. Zehra ordered a Whiskey Sour. Unable to resist the name, Aliya ordered one of the bartender’s house specials named “I’d Rather Be Dead in California that Alive in Arizona”—St. George Dry Rye Reposado Gin, Lo-Fi Gentian Amaro, and Grapefruit Juice. After perusing the list of tempting appetizers, Zehra and I each ordered an Oyster on the half shell with cranberry mignonette and a tiny white edible pearl. “What do you think zee pearl is?” Pascal asked. I guessed water chestnut or apple. “Non,” Pascal replied. “It is pearl without the L.” A perfect pear pearl scooped with a tiny culinary implement made for that sole purpose.
Soon, the serious business of selecting entrees and individual cooking preferenced began. Medium for Aliya’s 10 oz Strip Loin served with herbed butter, crispy garlic fingerlings, and broccolini. She also ordered a side of Steak Frites that we happily shared. Zehra and Saira split a medium rare 16 oz Ribeye. When I ordered Lamb Shank Risotto with pea, mint, and marinated feta, I asked Pascal how it will be prepared. With dramatic French delivery, he replied with relish, “Zee lamb will fall off zee bone and zee taste will wrap around you and caress your heart (or something to that affect).” As Jane Eyre would say, “Reader, I ordered the lamb.”
The following evening, Zehra (chef) and Saira (sous chef) prepared dinner in our galley kitchen while Aliya and I enjoyed a lovely glass of chilled “7 Colores” Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. The menu was Salmon fillets for three of us and a Ribeye Steak for Aliya served with Zehra’s spicy mashed potatoes and sautéed broccolini as our sides. Growing up in San Diego and being exposed to fine dining experiences in Paris, London, and cities around the Italian peninsula, my grandnieces have developed epicurious tastes and favor peppery spices.
Both the salmon and the mashed potatoes were cooked with chopped garlic, Spanish paprika, red pepper flakes, red pepper, and chili powder. And there was an abundance of butter and cream in the mashies. The Salmon filets were seared on both sides in a cast iron skillet and cooked to flakey perfection by Zehra. While that was happening at the stove, Saira rubbed Aliya’s Ribeye with olive oil and butter and topped it with fresh rosemary and thyme. It was then seared in a second cast iron pan and based with the butter and olive oil. When she asked her sister how long it should be cooked, Zehra pressed the palm of her hand opposite her thumb and said, “Until it springs back like this.” The meal was served with a Caprese Salad—alternating slices of tomato, mozzarella, and fresh basil leaves drizzled with virgin olive oil and aged cherry balsamic.
On Father’s Day, I cooked a Ribeye steak for Kit and served it on the patio at the Lodge—Kit’s residence while he is rehabbing. Raising a toast to the occasion and to meals shared with my nieces over the past week, a quote from Virginia Woolf came to mind—
You cannot think well, love well, or sleep well if one has not dined well.