During NYCxDesign Week, I attended a showroom opening in the design building at 200 Lexington Avenue for Astek, a company that makes designer wall coverings. I had met the company at one of the design fairs, and they are from California. This new showroom is the first one they've opened in New York City, and I was excited to have been invited to join in the celebration.
On the night of the event I had two other parties that were scheduled out in DUMBO, one for another showroom opening and the other the closing party of NYCxDesign Week, and so I thought that I'd go to Astek early and then go to the other parties afterward. When I arrived at Astek, they were just getting ready for the evening's event, and they were so cordial and kind that I was glad to be there and have time to really see their designs and to meet with the staff that had come from California and also the staff who would now be in the New York showroom.
At one point when I was walking around and looking at a few different things, someone who looked familiar said hello to me. In the same instant when he asked me, "Did you used to go to Antique?" I thought immediately that I thought I knew him from that restaurant where a favorite Chef had been the Executive Chef. I saw him in that instant in the kitchen at Antique Bar & Bakery when he was working with the marvelous Chef Paul Gerard who I have written about in these pages before. I have photographs of Brandon, the young man who said hello to me in the showroom, with him too in one of my posts from a few years ago.
Brandon had gone to California, and I didn't know at first why or how he had arrived in that showroom until he explained that he was the Chef for the night and that he'd flown out from California just for this event. It was all I could do not to hug him all night I was so happy to see him, and as it was I hugged him a number of times until I thought it was important to let him go and get the food ready for the evening.
Moments like that are times when it feels like God is just smiling over me, when I see someone I didn't know if I'd ever see again when I am somewhere that I never imagined I see them. The project that I've been in the process of developing in Massachusetts need a Chef with his specific experience and knowledge base, and I told him a bit about it as we talked. He told me he'd go to Massachusetts for me and that made me so happy, to think of him there in this very special place, helping me to create the kitchen and farm to table restaurant of my dreams.
It was so lovely to see Brandon again, and such a wonderful way to start the evening that I didn't want to leave at all. When I finally did, after staying much longer that I had originally planned because the food an company were so wonderful, I found my way to DUMBO and what were wonderful parities of their own with wonderful food and wonderfully designed environments, but the start of my evening was the star because of the loveliness of seeing Brandon again, enjoying the wonderful food he created for the event, and having the opportunity to speak with him about this project.
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