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Hello, everyone!

Fair warning to both romantics and cynics. Valentine's Day is coming.

There are many who dismiss this holiday as a Hallmark gimmick designed to sell greeting cards, flowers and chocolates. We at Chez Sophie, who indulge in a bit of lighthearted cynicism from time to time, wholly embrace this holiday. It is a wonderful excuse to serve romantic fare and fill the restaurant in the dark and cold of winter.
And even better this year, February 14 falls on a Wednesday, a day when we might not normally be serving a big crowd.

The historical basis of Valentine's Day is cloudy but it does predate American marketing by a fair stretch. It has little to do with the activities of any Christian saint (there are several named Valentine) or any person who ever lived, but there are dozens of legends and theories.

The Norwegians had a god named Vali for which a month between January and February was named. It was designated on calendars by the sign of the bow because Vali was a skillful archer. Early Christians, in attempt to stamp out Germanic pagan festivals, dedicated February to St. Valentine, who was also a skillful archer, and was said, like Vali, to be the harbinger of brighter days, the awakener of tender sentiments, and the patron of all lovers.

In Ancient Rome, February 13 and 14 was the festival of Juno Februa, with means "Juno the purifier" or "the chaste Juno" and February 15 was Lupercalia, during which the noble youths and the magistrates ran through the city naked, laughing and hitting people who got in their way with shaggy thongs. Women of rank purposely got in their way, believing that the pregnant would be helped in delivery, and the barren would be helped to conceive, according to Plutarch. The Festival of Lupercalia, the name of which might be connected to the legendary wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus, was abolished by Pope Gelasius I late in the Fifth century. He declared in 496 that the feast of St. Valentine would be on February 14.

There was more than one man named Valentine. The most historically prominent St. Valentine was Valentinius of Alexandria (c. 100 - c. 153). He was an influential Gnostic teacher and a candidate for Bishop of Rome in 143. In his teachings, the marriage bed assumed a central place in his version of Christian love, an emphasis sharply contrasting with the asceticism of mainstream Christianity.
The earliest association for Valentine's Day being about romantic love was in Geoffrey Chaucer's "Parlement of Foules" in 1382: "For this was on seynt Volantynys day, Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make." ("For this was sent on Valentine's day, when every bird comes to choose his mate.")

By then, the association between Lupercalia and Valentine's Day was being bandied about fairly uncritically and most people in Europe assumed Chaucer was talking about February 14. But the poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia on May 2, 1381. (They were
13 or 14 years old). May 3 was the saints' day for a Valentine who was the first bishop of Genoa in Italy, who died around 307 AD. This is more likely the date Chaucer was talking about, since birds seldom mate in England in mid-February.

May 3rd was also the last day of the Roman "Floralia." This festival honored goddess Flora, who was raped by the god Zephyr, but later married him. She is the goddess of fertility in the fields and bestows honey by calling winged creatures (birds and insects) to the flowers. She also presides over youths whose bodies are flourishing.
The Floralia festivities were characterized by flowers, frolics and flirtations. Prostitutes were welcome.

Nevertheless, the February 14 date continued to be associated with romantic love. A "High Court of Love" was established in Paris on Valentine's Day in 1400. The court dealt with love contracts, betrayals, and violence against women. Judges were selected by women on the basis of a poetry reading. Fifteen years later, the earliest surviving Valentine was written by Charles, Duke of Orleans to his wife, while he was being held in the Tower of London following his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.

It was probably during this period that several romantic legends about St. Valentines surfaced; that when Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for all young men. A priest named Valentine defied the decree, and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be beheaded on February 14, 270. Some versions of this story suggest that this Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons or for preaching that the Romans' gods were false or for performing a miracle, and that a different Valentine who was living about the same time was the one who was marrying people in secret.

Part of the legend is that the imprisoned Valentine fell in love with a young girl, his jailer's daughter, who visited him during his confinement. He may have even miraculously cured her of blindness.
Before his death, he allegedly wrote her an affectionate letter, which he signed "From your Valentine."

In 1969, as part of a larger effort to pare down the number of saint days, the Church removed St. Valentine's Day as an official holiday from its calendar. February 14 is now dedicated only to Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius.

Chez Sophie is filling up on Valentine's Day, but we still have seats available at 5 and 5:30 before the rush and at 9, 9:30 and 10 p.m.
The menu that Paul put together for this special night is five courses, not counting a mystery amuse gueule to tickle your palates.

The first course is your choice of BeauSoleil oysters on the halfshell with Yuzu vinegar mignonette, garnished with ginger and daikon or

a grilled U-10 prawn with linguine, tossed with crushed almonds and golden raisins in an Amontillado cream or carpaccio of beef with shallots, capers, chopped egg, single vineyard olive oil and coarse cracked pepper or exotic mushroom strudel

The second course is a cauliflower purée with maple-glazed lardons and truffle butter, inspired by a soup Cheryl and Paul had at Les Bookinistes in Paris about five years ago.

The third course is your choice of lobster molé or Chateaubriand Bordelaise or veal chop, sauce au Diable (crabmeat and Hollandaise flavored with
cayenne)
or
roast chicken with fresh truffles
or
vegetarian sticky rice timbale with curry sauce The fourth course is an arugula and frisée salad with a blood-orange vinaigrette and the fifth course is your choice of Aztec chocolate torte or chocolate soup and sandwich or raspberry shortcake or pear fritter with pear syrup and pear sorbet Valentine's Day falls on Wednesday this year. The prix fixe menu is $70 per person plus tax and tip, and Cole Broderick will play jazz piano.

If all of this is too rich for your blood, we will be serving one of Paul's favorites dishes as our Pink Plate Special on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday: Fried Smelts Frites or as Paul refers to them: Mispelt smelts fried in spelt with frites. He who smelt it dealt it. Enough Paul, go away.
Smelts are delicious little fishies that grow no longer than 6 inches. Smelts are a traditional New England winter meal caught by ice fishermen and flash-frozen by leaving them on the ice. They were gutted, heads and tails removed and rinsed in cold water then dipped in flour mixed with salt and pepper and fried in butter. and usually served with boiled potatoes and pickled beets.

The Pink Plate is a weekly prix fixe special we offer on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. For $30 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.

Our Sunday Jazz Brunch this week will feature sautéed chicken breast with wild mushroom cream sauce and basmati rice ($14); cornflake- encrusted French toast with your choice of bacon or sausage ($11); eggs Benedict in a puff pastry shell ($12); grilled center cut pork loin chop served with a caramelized onion & apricot compote and praline mashed sweet potato ($14).

The brunch specials run from 10 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, quiche etcetera for $9; omelettes
($9 to $11); pancakes du jour ($9); 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).
Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Live Piano Jazz
Jazz pianist Cole Broderick plays the baby grand Tuesday through
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 or you can order from our extensive wine list.
Cost: $75 per person, 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: $50 to $200, depending on the number of courses and the wines
selected; available for two to 75 guests. Call Cheryl to make
arrangements 518.583.3538

The Pink Plate Special
offered Monday, February 12, Tuesday, february 13 and Thursday, February 15.

$30 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:

fried smelt frites

Notes on Nico and Léo:
There are ways in which a mother is totally incapable of protecting her offspring from ridicule. We have a fabulous server who is roughly
15 years younger than the erstwhile parents of our two young heroes, who, in a moment of exasperation, suggested to Nico that he bite his own ears. Now, Cheryl is a bit old to be the mother of two very small children and also from the South, so this idiom was completely lost upon her. It was not lost upon her, however, that her not quite 4- year-old son was earnestly trying to put his own ear into his mouth, with extremely limited success. Finally, the offending server confessed in a spasm of giggles that she had set the impressionable youngster to this useless and impossible task. The mother looked at her with utter blankness. "What is this ear biting thing?" she asked.
At which point, every young upstate New Yorker in the room looked at her if she'd been born on Saturn, rather than the backwoods of Arkansas. Suspecting a group joke, Mom Googled "bite your ears" and discovered a single reference (barely literate, badly spelled and phrased, in the Urban Dictionary) to the expression, defined as an "idiom, usually used to describe someone who acts stupid or retarded.
Also used to describe something stupid or retarded." Go figure.
Sudden realization that in about four years Nico, and soon after Léo, are going to be totally embarrassed by their completely clueless parents.

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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