I would like to thank the entire staff at the Jefferson Hotel for their generous support, especially Pat Manning, Assistant General Manager and Food and Beverage Director; Joseph Longo, General Manager; and the staff of TJ’s, in particular my peeps Angel Fields, Charlie Peebles, and Marion Coe. Thanks also go to David Bunger, Amber Marchant, Jackie Chan for his enthusiasm about seitan, and Melanie Schoof for getting the ball rolling.
I would also like to thank my family: my sister Kyryn for planting the cookbook-writing seeds years ago, my brother Christian for our earliest experiments in the kitchen, my brothers Damian and Gregg, and my sisters Liane, Hilary, and Meaghan for being my first taste testers.
I am grateful to my friends: Laura Southerland for her vintage seventies cookbook collection and interest in all things edible, Cheryl Stockton for her unflagging hospitality and strong coffee, Lorraine Kendrick for her good spirit and for being a model of perseverance, Janet Dix and Sue Washko for tolerating my literary hibernation, and Bev and Jim Southerland for being my culinary tour guides to Washington, D.C, and environs.
In addition, I thank Larry Stone, publisher at Rutledge Hill Press, for initiating this project; Jennifer Greenstein for her patient editing; and Gordon Bennett for being my mentor and sharing his editorial insights.
I thank Villeroy and Boch for the use of china, Lois Bennett for her vintage serving pieces, and Susan Delgado and Nicolas Timmons for their props and good natures.
My thanks also go to my culinary mentors Sinath Phae and Sambeth Enn, the staff at Rococo’s in Charlottesville for their consistent warmth, Susan O’Reilly, Richard Kelsey for his enthusiastic forays into vegan baking, and all the wonderful cooks, dishwashers, owners, and servers I’ve had the pleasure of working with through the years.