What do you do when you’re invited to a fake-real dinner party by fun and interesting friends? You say “absolutely” and only then do you ask, “what does that mean?”
Paul S and Dan M are the current owners and stewards of the Margaret Esherick House in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia. Ms. Esherick commissioned well-known Philadelphia architect, Louis Kahn, to design her mid-century home and her uncle, Wharton Esherick, to design the kitchen. Kahn completed her home in 1961 – sadly Ms. Esherick only lived there a short while as she died in 1962. Paul and Dan purchased this iconic house in 2014 – one of only nine houses that Kahn designed and the one most studied. Paul and Dan are lovers of the mid-century modernism style evidenced by the furniture, art, and even plates on their dinner table. It all fits in this wonderful one-bedroom, 2500 square foot house.
For those of you paying close attention, the Wharton Eshierick that I mention above is the namesake of the Wharton Esherick Museum upon whose board both Paul and I serve.
Since this is such a well-known house to the art and architectural community, Paul and Dan often receive requests for tours as well as to participate in written articles about this house. That’s where this dinner party comes in. A local photographer approached Paul and Dan as he wanted to write an article on the Margaret Esherick House for Spain’s Openhouse magazine. The evening started out as a ‘fake dinner party’ so that the photographer could shoot using natural light (a requirement of all photographs in Openhouse). After that photography shoot, this event became a ‘real dinner party’ where we dined on Dan’s fabulous fare. When Dan isn’t co-stewarding the Margaret Esherick House, he’s a food stylist (check out his work at DantasticFood) in addition to being an amazing cook. I’ve had the opportunity to see Dan in action (and even assist) as we’ve been working on a cookbook for Radnor Hunt for the past year (yes, my worlds colliding – more on this in a future post).
For this special event, I volunteered to create a signature cocktail. Knowing that the Spanish love their gin and tonics, I thought that was a good place to start. I made a simple syrup and infused it with fresh flowers from our home’s lavender bush. I used Q Tonic’s Indian Tonic Water, which is a bit more bitter and sweeter than their traditional tonic water (any high quality tonic water will do), it worked well with the lavender. For gin, I’ve used both Tanqueray No 10 and Plymouth Original in this drink and I’ve been pleased with the results. This libation was a big hit at the party with Paul and Dan’s family and friends. It seemed fitting to lend Louis Kahn’s first name to this cocktail. And, how fun it was to make these in a kitchen designed by his long-time friend and collaborator, Wharton Esherick.
As you can see, there are lots of reasons to say “yes” before knowing the details – an evening spent in a great house, with good food (and drink) and fun and interesting people.
| Louis’ Lavender Gin and Tonic | Print |
- ½ cup (lightly packed) fresh lavender flowers (see Notes)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 ounces dry gin
- 1 ounce lavender syrup
- 4 ounces high-quality tonic water
- Garnish with a lemon wheel, a few juniper berries and a lavender flower
- Roughly chop lavender flowers. Rinse in a colander.
- In a saucepan set over medium-high heat add water and sugar. Stir until sugar completely dissolves and mixture comes to a simmer. Remove pan from heat. Add chopped lavender, cover and let steep for 15 minutes. (It can become bitter if steeped too long.) Pour syrup through a sieve into a clean jar and refrigerate. Syrup keeps two months or longer in the refrigerator. Makes 1-1/2 cups.
- In a highball glass filled with ice, add gin, lavender syrup and tonic water and stir.
- Garnish with a lemon wheel and lavender flower.
* If you are using dried lavender flowers, be sure that they are of a culinary quality. The rule of thumb is 1 tablespoon fresh to 1 teaspoon dried (this applies generally when replacing fresh herbs with dried herbs). ½ cup fresh lavender is 8 tablespoons, so if you're using dried lavender, use 8 teaspoons (or 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons).
* Syrup makes 12 cocktails.
That is a really great story, Nicole! Wow, I would love to see that house… Kahn’s work is amazing.
And the cocktail? Brilliant. I use a lot of lavender in making our homemade gin, and more would be better! I am sure we will be giving this a try soon!
David – Thank you for your kind comment. A special house deserves a special cocktail!