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Hello, everyone.

Ta-da!! After excessive badgering (and hauling at least one curious customer into Paul's kitchen to abet her cause) Cheryl has extracted menus for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve from our erstwhile chef. Said chef, Paul Parker, cautions that these menu items are subject to change "at whim and without explanation" but as of this moment, this is what he plans.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas, we will be offering a five-course prix-fixe menu. The first course will be your choice of raw oysters mignonette; or escargots en surprise with fennel and cream; or pear and foie gras tart; or cara cara orange and braised fennel salad. The second course will be exotic mushroom consommé with Christmas colors. Course 3 will be your choice of goose à la Bigarade (goose à l'orange with Seville oranges); or fresh baked ham with Tahitian flavors (vanilla, papaya, carambola, pineapple, star fruit and whatever); or whole branzini with blood orange and herbs; or forest mushroom and truffled salsify tart with barley risotto and brussel sprouts.
The fourth course will be a bejewelled pomegranate salad and the last course will be your choice of mincemeat pie, apple pie with English cheddar, walnut tart or chocolate mocha Yule log.

We will be taking reservations for this fabulous five-course feast from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. on December 24 and 25. (No à la carte menu will be offered.) The price will be $75 per person for food, plus beverages, tax and gratuity. Children under 12 eat for $25.

Hotel rooms at The Saratoga will be available to Chez Sophie customers at a steep discount. ($79 per night.)

The simple, non-revolutionary idea behind this menu, and the one Paul will offer seven days later on New Year's Eve, is celebration.
"I tend to think of Christmas as kind of less refined, more homely and feastlike," Paul said. "And New Year's Eve is more refined and more elegant and more delicate."

To that end, Paul has come up with two extraordinarily elegant menus for New Year's Eve, one a five-courser for early birds and the other an 9-course extravaganza for those who want to hang out until the wee hours. Our early seating, with tables available at 5, 5:30, 6 and 6:30 p.m., will feature the following five-course menu (with a glass of Champagne included) for $80 per person, plus tax and gratuity:
1.oysters and caviar
or terrine of foie gras
or terrine of squash and salsify
or quail with Serrano ham, grapes and wild rice
2. Good Luck New Year's soup (with ham and beans)
3. Sika venison with chocolate and pomegranate or fish (to be announced) or filet mignon à la ficelle truffée or soufflé aux champignons et Gruyère
4. pear and honeyed walnut salad
5. black and white mousses or baklava with pistachios, rosewater syrup and gold dust or pina colada Napoléon or almond pithiviers

The New Year's Eve all-night party starts at 8 p.m., with seatings available at 8, 8:30, 9 and 9:30 p.m. The 9-course menu will cost $130 per person, plus tax and gratuity and will feature:
1. escargots mille fenouille
2. oysters and caviar
or terrine of foie gras
3. terrine of squash and salsify
or quail with Serrano ham, grapes and wild rice
4. Good Luck New Year's soup (with ham and beans)
5. Sika venison with chocolate and pomegranate or fish (to be announced) or filet mignon à la ficelle truffée or soufflé aux champignons et Gruyère
6. pear and honeyed walnut salad
7. a selection of fine cheeses
8. black and white mousses or baklava with pistachios, rosewater syrup and gold dust or pina colada Napoléon or almond pithiviers
9. cookies, chocolates and coffee

An optional prix fixe wine menu selected to pair with the dishes being offered will be available, as well as our full wine list and bar.
The Saratoga has agreed to make double and king hotel rooms available to Chez Sophie customers for $219 per night. Book early, because the hotel is always sold out on New Year's Eve.
Reservations required with credit card confirmation, call 518.583.3538.

The Pink Plate Special this week will be moules et frites, a classic bistro dish that seems to remind everyone of some wonderful experience they had in France or Belgium or Quebec. We steam a generous portion of mussels in Belgian beer, herbs and butter and serve them with hand-cut potatoes fried crisply. The frites can be dipped in our homemade mayonnaise flavored with garlic.

The Pink Plate is a weekly prix fixe special we offer on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. For $32 per person, you get your choice of soup or salad, the featured entree, two selections from our cheese board or one of a couple of featured desserts and coffee, tea or espresso.

Chef Paul is planning to make stollen, a holiday yeast bread dense with dried fruit and nuts, powdered with confectioner's sugar and wrapped with cellophane and pretty ribbons, for the holidays. The breads keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks and work well as a sweet breakfast bread or as a snack item to keep on the sideboard throughout a holiday gathering. To place an order for stollen, call Cheryl at 518.583.3538. You can specify anytime throughout the holidays to pick up your stollen, but you must order it at least seven days before you expect to pick it up. A 1.5 pound loaf is $25, and an enormous 4 pound loaf is $50.
Shipping is available at an additional charge.

We offer a fun and elegant à la carte brunch on Saturday and Sunday.
Our artist-in-residence, jazz pianist Cole Broderick, plays the baby grand piano from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday

The brunch menu this Saturday and Sunday will feature parmesan- encrusted chicken breast over mixed greens with tomato-saffron
vinaigrette ($15); crawfish ravioli with basil cream sauce ($15);
wild mushroom risotto with seared scallops ($16) and roast pork loin with apricot and honey-mustard glaze ($15). Appetizer specials include a crabcake with lemon caper mayonnaise ($16); a salad of mixed baby greens tossed in a red wine vinaigrette ($7); mussels marinière ($11) and soup of the day ($8).

The brunch specials run from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The complete menu,
offered from 7 to 2 p.m., includes a Continental assortment of
muffins, pastries, fruit, yogurt, frittata etcetera for $9;
omelettes ($10 to $12); pancakes du jour ($10); the All in One, which includes 2 eggs any style, homefries, toast and sausage or bacon ($10); waffles with sweet cream butter and local maple syrup ($10); and Irish steel- cut oatmeal ($8).

Cole had a banner night Thursday. He played his electric keyboard for a small party for people associated with Skidmore, then popped over to the restaurant to tickle the ivories on our baby grand. The host of Christmas party we were serving had an extremely generous inspiration and decided to buy Cole's latest CD for everyone in his party. By the time this decision came up, Cole had already finished for the night and gone home to Saratoga Lake. Cheryl telephoned him because she didn't have enough CDs on hand to fill the order. Cole rushed the five miles back with a crate of CDs, and once his hands thawed out, started playing again.

This sale was enough to cover the licensing fees Cole paid through BMI and ASCAP for the right to record the 12 standards on the 16-cut "Chez Sophie Jazz" (four are original compositions by Cole) and effectively doubled the sales of the CD since it was released in late October. With a few more sales like this, Cole will be able to recoup what he invested in studio time and production and may eventually see a return on his investment. This CD is a departure for Cole, who won a Billboard Critic's Choice Award for his 4-CD set of jazz
compositions: "Seasons in Saratoga," because it's the first time he's recorded with a vocalist. (The singer is Cheryl Clark, co-owner of Chez Sophie, wife of Chef Paul, mother of the adorable Nico and Léo, and author of this weekly missive.) Some of the cuts of the CD are available at http://www.chezsophie.com/.
Copies are for sale for $16 at Chez Sophie and through Cole's secure PayPal-friendly website at https://s.p2.hostingprod.com/ @colebroderick.com/ssl/order-cole-broderick-cds.html

We are also selling Chez Sophie holiday gift certificates in any denomination, printed on gift cards and mailed to either the recipient or the sender (if you'd prefer to stuff the stocking
yourself.)

If a gift certificate for a specific dollar amount isn't quite right for your needs, you can also have us make up a gift certificate for a specific type of meal, so the value is not quite so blatant. For example, you could have us make up a certificate for "Two Pink Plate Specials," which would entitle your guests to the three-course prix fixe we offer Monday through Thursday, except during track season.
That would be $64, or $80 if you include tax and tip.

You could treat your friends to "Two seven-course chef's choice tasting menus" prepared especially to suit their dietary desires or restrictions, for $160, or $200 if you include tax and gratuity.
You can boost the gift to include wine pairings with a budget set by you. A gift certificate for "Two seven course chef's choice tasting menus with three wines, tax and tip" could be purchased for $280 (or more if you want to offer a larger budget for wine.)

The tasting menus are pretty neat, because unlike some restaurants, we don't come up with a one-size-fits-all menu and offer that and only that. We question our guests when they make their reservations about whether there are any foods they are allergic to or prefer to avoid, and if there are any foods that they are particularly fond of.

We'll personalize their menus with their names and the date, print them on pretty paper, roll them like scrolls and tie them with ribbons. The guests can either follow along so they know what is coming, or enjoy the surprises and wait until the end of the meal to unroll the scroll and see our descriptions of the foods and wines they enjoyed.
We will be happy to design tasting menus throughout the holidays for parties of one to 75.

To get a gift certificate, just call 518.583.3538 to order by phone, or stop into the restaurant to pick one up in person.

Live Piano Jazz
Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays the baby grand Tuesday and Friday night, and during Sunday brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.
(barring special events that preclude live music.)
Cost: No cover charge

Tasting menus
Chef's Choice seven-course tasting menu available each night. The
menus are designed based on the best and most creative dishes Chef Paul K. Parker is serving each evening. We will pair wines for you at an additional charge or you can order from our extensive wine list.
Cost: $80 to $200 per person for seven courses, plus tax and tip.
Everyone at the table must partake in the tasting menu.
If you're feeling less impromptu, you can call ahead to arrange a
special tasting menu with the number of courses and wine pairings
designed to suit your capacity, dietary restrictions and budget.
Tasting menus arranged in advance will be printed on commemorative vellum scrolls personalized with the name of the host or the reason for the event.
Cost: Depends on the number of courses and the wines selected; available for two to 75 guests. Call Cheryl to make arrangements at
518.583.3538

The Pink Plate Special
offered Monday, December 10, Tuesday, December 11, Wednesday, December 12 and Thursday, December 13

$32 per person
includes your choice of soup or salad, a special entree, selected desserts or a cheese course and coffee, tea or espresso.

This week's special entree:
moules et frites
(Prince Edward Island mussels steamed in Belgian beer, served with handcut fries)

Notes on Nico and Léo: Nico's nearly five and this is the first year he's been taken to see Santa because Cheryl has some very strange ideas about commercialism. Until the birth of the children and the advent of the Apple Computer store in Crossgates, she and Paul had almost managed to pretend that shopping malls do not exist. But it was really cold Monday, the kids were bored, and Léo needed a new pair of shoes, so Cheryl decided to take the kids to a holiday matinee movie at the little mall in Wilton. All went well until the movie ended, and Cheryl tried to maneuver the kids through all the distractions of the mall (carousel, coin rides, toy stores, candy shops, etc.) to a shoe store that purportedly existed on the far end.
She hadn't brought a stroller in, and Léo, who is not quite two, was starting to get tired and cranky.

"Santa" was set up in the middle of the mall, and the kids were both fascinated and repulsed. Cheryl realized that her mother in Arkansas would be thrilled to get the obligatory Santa photo from her middle daughter for the first time, so we went through the laborious process of trying to get both kids on the lap, not crying, looking towards the camera. After some prompting by the elves, Nico wracked his brains and told Santa: "Please would you bring me Jurassic Park -The Video Game? It's rated E for everyone."
That ritual performed, Cheryl began to drag the children on toward the shoe store, with Léo actually laying down in non-violent protest every time her mother tried to rush her past something interesting.

Our shoe problem is thus: the only pair of shoes Léo has that fits (and that she will wear without crying) are a hot pink pair of Rockport Mary Janes. They're cute, but the open tops won't keep her feet dry when it snows, and they look a little odd with red and black velvet holiday dresses. We went into the shoe store and Léo immediately spied a shelf of tiny pink ballet slippers. Adorable, but not the black boots Mom had in mind. Léo was allowed to try a pair on, nevertheless, and she pranced in them to the back of the store where the boots were kept. Unfortunately, on the shelf with the boots was a pair of hot pink, glitter-encrusted Mary Janes, and our little girl fell instantly in love. So much so, that she began to shriek when Mom tried to put the boots on her instead. She laid on the floor, clutching the glittery pink shoes and wailed until her face was swollen and covered with snot. Cheryl tried to wait it out, calmly removing the ballet slippers and trying to work on the boots, and Léo began to kick and make noises as if she were being flayed alive. After 10 minutes of shrieking, Léo was a puffy hysterical mess, and her brother kept trying to "help" by getting into her face and saying alternately "Boo!" "Poor baby" and "Léo, please lower your voice. This is unacceptable behavior."

Meanwhile, the mall-store employees were avoiding us like the plague, even going so far as to give us dirty looks for disturbing their milieu. This would never happen at The Shoe Depot in downtown Saratoga, where one employee gives you intelligent help, while another one entertains the kids with toys and games. Cheryl finally tucked a shoeless Léo under one arm and fled the store, unable to get even the Rockports back on. She paid a $5 rental fee for a stroller to get the kid to the other end of the complex where the car was parked and Léo was asleep within a few steps.

Léo rarely shows that kind of temper, and is usually remarkably charming. The next night, Nico was making Christmas presents with beads, and Léo was sitting at the table, moving the beads from one plastic bin to another. Beads began to fall on the floor, and since Nico was dropping nearly as many as his sister, he kept crawling under the table to retrieve them. Mom tried to redirect Léo's hands to limit the mess and admonished her daughter repeatedly not to drop the beads on the floor. That, of course, prompted Léo to take an entire pint of beads and experimentally tilt them on the wood floor, where they skittered like a disturbed nest of cockroaches.

Cheryl took a deep breath and tried to remind herself that they were doing this because it is fun. "Léo, I asked you not to throw the beads on the floor. You get under there and see how many of those you can pick up." Léo compliantly climbed under the table, and to Cheryl and Nico's surprise, they soon heard her quiet little baby voice
chanting: "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11..."

The Parker family
at Chez Sophie
518.583.3538

Chez Sophie was founded in 1969 by sculptor Joseph Parker and his French-born wife, the late Sophie. The business moved to a vintage stainless steel diner in Malta Ridge, New York, in 1995. It is owned today by Sophie and Joseph's son, Paul Parker, and his wife, Cheryl Clark. In June of 2006, they moved the restaurant into their current location in The Saratoga Hotel on Broadway..

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P.S. Each month we draw a name at random from our database of customers and send them a $50 gift certificate to Chez Sophie. If you would like to be added to this promotions database, which is owned by Chez Sophie, please send us an email with your name, address, telephone number, birthday and anniversary. People on the list will also receive a gift certificate by mail or email for a free glass of champagne or dessert on their birthdays or anniversaries. (You only need to enter once to be eligible every month.)

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