Thirty Years Ago

September 25, 2013 – Thirty Years Ago

Today is a special day, for two reasons.  First of all, it’s the day Elliott turns 101&1/3 years old.  Secondly, it was on this day thirty years ago that a chance conversation with a handsome stranger in a Paris airport set my life on a completely new course.  Every year since 1983, Elliott and I have celebrated Orly Day to commemorate that fateful encounter and the chain of events it set in motion.  

Celebrating Orly Day at 2941 in Falls Church, Virginia

This year’s Orly Day celebration was a festive lunch at the local restaurant 2941.  While it isn’t specifically a French restaurant, the chef is French and the innovative cuisine has a certain French sensibility.  It’s one of our favorite “special occasion” restaurants and, as usual, we weren’t disappointed.  Two stellar small plates – mushroom tartine and zucchini fritters – got the meal off to a promising start.   

We both followed up with salads for the main course, a lobster Cobb for Elliott and grilled rockfish over mixed greens for me.   

For dessert, we decided to share a chocolate truffle tart with raspberry sorbet.  In addition, our server surprised us with a sweet anniversary treat.  (We had mentioned the special significance of the day.)  As if that weren’t enough, when our coffee arrived, it was accompanied by a couple of freshly made beignets.  

As we were finishing up our meal, Elliott jokingly told our server that we’d been debating whether to have lunch at the Tour d’Argent in Paris or at 2941.  I think we made the right decision.