By Barbara Gookin

Buying and hiring on Nantucket when possible helps local businesses create jobs, benefits not-for-profits and keeps more dollars circulating on-island. It’s a sensible way to help the Island’s businesses, says Sustainable Nantucket, a local group devoted to boosting Nantucket’s economy and preserving
the Island’s traditional culture.

To that end, Sustainable has joined with other local non-profits and businesses in the new Think Local First program to promote local goods and services that employ island residents and to shop at Nantucket stores rather than going off-island or to the Internet.

The group already launched Nantucket Farmers and Artisans Market two years ago to create a local market with local suppliers for buyers. The open-air market observes it’s third season this year on Saturday mornings from 9 AM –1 PM at the Dreamland Theater lot between South Water and Easy streets,which has recently been covered with grassy sod. Construction on a replacement community arts building there is scheduled to begin later this year.

Nantucket Farmers and Artisans Market features locally grown vegetables, berries, herbs, plants and cut flowers, fresh eggs, baked goods and locally handcrafted pottery, jewelry and more. Think Local First tee shirts and bumper stickers are available at the weekly event. Trish Bridier, a co-manager of her family owned Murray’s Toggery Shop, is chairman of the Think Local First steering committee. Bridier, who sees the program as a potential catalyst for Nantucket’s economy, said “In these uncertain economic times, it is more imperative than ever to support our local businesses thereby supporting our friends, neighbors, ourselves and our community.”

Leaders of Sustainable Nantucket and Think Local partners would quickly agree, since the group’s mission is “to preserve the community character of Nantucket while sustaining its economic and environmental vitality.” Their focus is on the island’s economy, culture and, recently, environmental concerns, a mission that’s keeping them busy this summer. Sustainable led the way in urging the Town of Nantucket to endorse and join the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI),which would help reduce Nantucket’s greenhouse gas emissions. Several interns have been recruited to help formulate a local Climate Protection Plan, which Sustainable hopes to bring before the Nantucket Board of Selectmen for approval in August. They are also working with Nantucket Historic District Commission and the Nantucket Energy Study Committee to update local building guidelines to better incorporate energy conservation techniques and renewable energy.

Meanwhile, Sustainable Nantucket has launched a membership drive and a community-wide appeal for donations to their efforts. For a list of Think Local First members, which includes Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce as a lead partner, visit them at www.thinklocalfirstnantucket.org or call 508-228-3399 for more information.

Simon Says

By William Ferrall

Noted cookbook author and frequent Nantucket visitor Susan Simon first visited Marrakech in 1970. Thirty-five years later, she returned to Morocco to find a very different city. “The haze that I had attributed to hashish,” writes Simon in her new book “Shopping Marrakech,” “had come, it seems, partially from all the dust that was created from the unpaved derbs— alleys that create the labyrinth of streets of the Medina…”

Today, Simon finds that there has been a stunning transformation in Marrakech, with tile-paved city squares and an ever growing population. Yet, she writes, “The blinding colors, spicy fragrances, and grinning, friendly population” remain as she first remembered them.

For many of us who have never visited there, Marrakech remains the intriguing, exotic locale that we’ve seen only on film. Few movies or documentaries, though, can match the rich and knowing travel guide that Simon has written, with colorful, illustrative photos by Nally Bellati, from publishers The Little Book Room.

With images of multi-hued market stalls brimming with clothing, beads, rings, necklaces, spices, books and household accessories, Simon walks readers through the maze of streets, alleyways and hidden squares that distinguish Marrakech. The city is easy to navigate on foot, notes Simon, but for those who find the prospect daunting on their own, she recommends local tour guides, offers
buying tips and spells out commercial transaction practices to ease the way.

After spending a month in three Moroccan cities during the 1970s and through two subsequent  extended stays, Simon said, “I now feel very much at home there. It’s really a more unique place than most people think.”

Known primarily as the author of five cookbooks—Simon’s credits include The Nantucket Table and “Contorni: Authentic Italian Side Dishes for All Seasons”—Simon hopes the new book will be enjoyed by “armchair travelers” as well as tourists. Her lively narratives of the Marrakech marketplace, which capture enough detail to arouse all of the five senses for readers, should ensure that success.

This fall, Simon returns in print to her expertise as a cookbook writer, with publication scheduled in September of “Pasta Sfoglia,” her collaboration for John Wiley & Son publishers with Nantucket-New York restaurateurs Ron and Colleen Suhonosky.

Founders of the rustic Sfoglia Italian restaurants on Nantucket and on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the Suhonoskys have become luminaries in the restaurant business with glowing reviews for their eateries. In the past year, the couple has added to their expanding Italian dining business with the addition of a Tutto Sfoglia market and the new Civetta, both in Manhattan. A New York Times review of Sfoglia New York called its pasta “fantastic” and diners “very lucky” to enjoy a meal there. All of the establishments win raves especially for Colleen Suhonosky’s homemade bread and desserts as well as for the couple’s hand-wrought pastas.

Simon stressed that the recipes in “Pasta Sfoglia” were all tested in her tiny Lower East Side apartment in Manhattan, so they should be easily replicated in almost anyone’s home. Simon’s fans might get some inside preparation tips in person, along with her in-person reports on Morocco, when she signs copies of “Shopping Marrakech” on July 18 from 6 PM – 8 PM, upstairs at Mitchell’s Book Corner on Main Street, Nantucket. To learn more about Simon and her recent books, see www.susansimonsays.com.

Harbor & Home
By William Ferrall

You might see your great-great-great-great- grandparents’ furniture this summer at Nantucket Historical Association, in the current new exhibit “Harbor & Home,” an impressive collection of Early American Furniture from this region assembled by Winterthur Museum and Country Estate in Delaware. On display or included in the richly illustrated and documented hardbound catalog, from University Press of New England, are rarely seen clocks, chests, chairs, desks and other furniture from both private and public collections. Special attention goes to clockmakers. This artful and accomplished furniture, made from 1710 to 1850 in Southeastern Massachusetts, includes examples from Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. The exhibit continues through November 2 at the NHA’s Peter Foulger Gallery in the Nantucket Whaling Museum, Call 508-228-1894 or see www.nha.org for exhibit hours.

Have A Seat
By WilliamFerrall

We’re not sure how easily you could sit in this fantasic, musical-themed painted chair by Nantucket artist Gail Sharretts, but it’s a beauty to look at and would make an impressive one-of-a-kind addition to your art collection. For the second year in a row, Nantucket photographer Cary Hazlegrove turned to local artist friends in an effort to benefit Nantucket Lighthouse School, her daughter’s independent day school with children from preschool through sixth grade. Hazlegrove encouraged school administrators to “think outside the box” in fundraising efforts, leading to her instigating the chair project.With $10 tickets available at several island businesses, the drawing of winners happens at the Lighthouse School Hoedown on October 17, but the chairs can be seen this month at the first Nantucket Garden Festival on July 23-25 at the school. Besides Sharretts, contributing artists include David Lazarus, MJ Levy Dickson, Julie Gifford, Lou Guarnaccia, Robert McKee, Randy Hudson and Julija Mostykanova. Visit www.nantucketlighthouseschool.org to see all eight chairs online and find ticket locations on Nantucket.

Less Is More

The Memorial Day kick-off to this summer’s season will hopefully bring with it a sense of renewal after a long winter of both low temperatures and economic deep freeze.

Although we have all endured a great deal this winter, and there may be a sense of apprehension about the upcoming summer season, there might yet be a positive outcome for many Nantucketers to the current economic crisis. This season could bring with it a rediscovery by many of the value of simple pleasures to be found here, and the realization that material wealth can be fleeting but friends, family and nature are priceless.

Many of these thoughts were echoed in my interview with this month’s cover subject, “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams, whose down-to-earth nature, deep love of friends, family and country, and unapologetic gratefulness for his good fortune came through loud and clear.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Williams reflected on his experience of covering hurricane Katrina, his observations on the Obama inauguration, his thoughts on the lessons of the economic crisis and his deep emotional connection to the late NBC news leader Tim Russert, a beloved figure here on Nantucket.

In England they often refer to anchormen as “news readers,” but Williams is clearly a true journalist and a person committed to his craft. At a time when the survival of newspapers is so threatened, journalists like Williams have never been more important. His thoughts give us insight into who he is as a person and a professional, and to what we’ll miss most if journalists like him continue to fade away.

Williams’ strongest connections to Nantucket are through his many NBC colleagues who visit Nantucket or own homes on the island, and the 14-year-old Nantucket Film Festival, of which he now serves as a board member. The festival this year focuses on comedy and humor, and should be a welcomed antidote to the current times.
Peter Sutters offers a glance at this year’s offerings. Elsewhere in this issue, for our Nvited In feature we visit a Manhattan apartment, and for our Nvited Out, we go along as fans of the Club Car enjoy an evening there. Finally, photographer and writer Terry Pommett surveys holistic health providers on Nantucket—another sure relief to whatever apprehensions might ail you.

We hope your summer brings you both the fun and relaxation we all seek and a renewed appreciation for the true meaning of this special island.

Bruce A. Percelay
Chairman and Publisher

By William Ferrall
Photo by Jack Weinhold

“It’s like a community heirloom,” says Nantucket business leader Lucille Jordan in a recent Plum TV video about Nantucket’s historic Unitarian Meeting House on Orange Street.

The historical significance of what was originally known as Nantucket’s South Church makes an impressive list. The church’s Portuguese-made bell, a prominent part of Nantucket’s social fabric with its clear ringing tones marking the hours and heralding special occasions, has rung since 1812.

The organ was made by master organ builder Marcellus Goodrich in the early 19th century and is thought to be the only such organ remaining in its original site and in continuous use.

Swiss-born artistic painter Carl Wendte painted the impressive trompe l’oeil walls in 1844. The historic Holocaust Torah was a gift to the Shirat Ha’Yam congregation that shares worship space with the Unitarians.

Like many heirlooms of significant age—the building is 200 years old and has long served Nantucket as a public meeting place, concert hall and house of worship—wear and tear eventually take a toll. This month the South Church Preservation Fund launches its major effort to preserve the building inside and out, starting with a celebration of its bicentennial on Saturday, May 23.

That day promises to be a lively celebration of the site. Unitarian organist Marcia Hempel is slated to perform on the Goodrich organ. The project’s architectural historian Brian Pfeiffer will explain the work to be done. Michael May, Executive Director of Nantucket Preservation Trust will present his group’s new book about the history of the building by Betsey Tyler, and Ben Simons, Curator at Nantucket Historical Association will introduce the accompanying exhibit of artifacts and documents.

To protect its valuable architectural elements and artifacts, the South Church Preservation Fund hopes to raise $3.5 million for repairs to the building and bell-clock tower exterior, for interior repairs including preservation and restoration of the murals and to establish a maintenance fund.

“We’ve been in a quiet period so far,” said preservation fund leader Mary Beth Splaine, who credited Nantucket’s Community Preservation Committee and the MS Worthington Foundation with providing preliminary funding for the effort.

“Now we’re looking for nickels and dimes.” And more, of course. Splaine, owner of South Wharf Gallery, brings her influence with island artists to the project as well. Howard Fraker has created a limited-edition woodcut of the tower to be unveiled on May 23, and Splaine’s gallery will hold a benefit showing of works featuring the building by prominent Nantucket artists in late August.
“This is the people’s building,” stressed Splaine. “It’s almost like our town hall.” For more on the project or to donate time or money, visit www.scpf.org or call 508-228-1993.

By Peter Sutters

There’s a green wind a blowing across Nantucket and it’s keeping the lights on at Bartlett’s Farm. After three and a half years of planning, a nearly 100-foot wind turbine is fully functional and generating power by harnessing the ever-abundant winds that blanket the island on an almost daily basis.

“We are excited to have it and to be able to use it as an example of what wind power can do for Nantucket,” said John Bartlett, CEO of the farm. Bartlett said the turbine, built and run by the Dutch company Wind Energy Solutions, should be able to produce about 80,000 kilowatts of energy annually, enough to power about 80percent of the farm’s electric needs.

“They are still making adjustments,” said Bartlett. “It’s hooked up to the Internet so [Wind Energy Solutions] can monitor it from Holland and tweak how it runs.” Bartlett’s Farm paid for some of the turbine and also received various grants to help defray the costs. Bartlett said if all goes to plan, his investment would be paid off in as little as four and a half years.

Also hoping to do things the right way are people at Cape Wind, who could get the green light as early as this summer to start generating power with wind like Bartlett’s Farm, just on a much larger scale and in Nantucket Sound.

“We are very close to finalizing the permitting process,” said Cape Wind spokesman Mark Rodgers. Rodgers said that three more permits need to be secured, and they are on track to do so by the end of the summer, despite some stiff opposition and continued legal and procedural maneuvering by opponents of the project.

Construction could begin on the 130 turbines by late 2010 and be completed just two years later. Meanwhile, the Town of Nantucket continues looking into renewable energy for municipal use. The Nantucket Energy Study Committee, appointed by the Board of Selectman, has been working on wind energy and is doing feasibility studies for turbines at the DPW/Landfill.

In May, the committee secured a state grant of $65,000 from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s Renewable Energy Trust. Up to $50,000 of the grant will be used for feasibility studies, with $15,000 for financial modeling and ownership options.

By William Ferrall

Six youthful, budding businesswomen on Nantucket have revived the 18th-19th century tradition of women as business leaders on the Island. Their new Petticoat Row group harkens back to whaling days when women stayed behind and minded many of the businesses on Nantucket.

They officially launch their effort on Thursday, May 28, from 7 PM – 9 PM at The Chicken Box with a night of food, drinks and visual celebrations of the history of women in business on Nantucket.

That night, the group will display images of current prominent Nantucket women in business along with images of historic Nantucket businesswomen dating back to the 1800s. Becky Becker, advertising sales representative for N Magazine and a driving force behind the new group, cited the several new small business recently launched by her and other women in the group as providing impetus for this new networking effort.

For more information, visit
www.petticoatrow1.wordpress.com.

With Bruce Percelay

Brian Williams is the seventh anchor and managing editor in the history of “NBC Nightly News,” a position he has held since 1993. He has received four Edward R. Murrow awards, five Emmy awards, the du Pont-Columbia University award and the George Foster Peabody award.

Since 1997, he has served as emcee at Nantucket Film Festival’s Writer’s Tribute award and will again occupy the lectern for that event this year during the Film Festival run from Thursday, June 18 to Sunday, June 21.

N Magazine publisher Bruce A. Percelay talked recently with Williams about his Nantucket experience, our world today and the state of the news.

N: You are well known for your relationship with the Nantucket Film Festival, for which you are now a board member. Was your draw to the film festival a love of film or a love of Nantucket?

BW: Well, probably it started with a love of film and led to a love of Nantucket. I had never been exposed to Nantucket. Growing up, I was a kid from the Jersey shore and did not have any friends or family in that swirl, so I knew about the place by reputation and knew that they wore some kind of crazy red pants there. But that was it.

I had grown up reading about it, so except for one visit for a wedding with my wife years ago, it was an enigmatic place for me. I got involved because of the heavy personal involvement of Suzanne and Bob Wright, NBC’s sponsorship, and [because] it was a great exotic thing to do. It still is.

Our family gets treated so well there. When you consider that I have no ties with the place except for two or three days a year. When I walk up and down those cobblestone streets in the summer it’s an enormously welcoming, warm feeling to be greeted especially by the local folks, and especially by the local working class folks, who kind of watch ‘em come and watch ‘em go every summer. It’s an enormously warming feeling to be so welcome there.

N: You’ve generated rave reviews as a stand-up performer during the Writer’s Tribute at the Film Festival and that impression was reinforced by your performance on Saturday Night Live. Are you a comedian locked in an anchorman’s body?

BW: Well, I am an anchorman who loves my work, can’t imagine doing anything but my work, and has wanted to do this all of my life. Tests have shown traces of someone else, I guess, is the best way to put it. It’s why I accept an occasional invitation from Mr. Letterman, Mr. Stewart, Mr. O’Brien, Mr. Leno. We all have  different aspects to our personality, and it lets me be Walter Mitty, a kind of comedic dilettante.

The truth is my daughter has always said that she doesn’t recognize her dad on the news. It’s a very serious, sober representation of the day. In our post 9-11 world, it has to be. But she doesn’t know that guy. She knows a total goofball and that’s, I’m afraid, closer to who I am.

I’m the product of a taciturn New Englander. My father’s a lot like my reading tells me Calvin Coolidge was, and my mother was more like the late Bea Arthur. She was a loud, boisterous Irish Catholic from Chicago who was a stage performer and a singer in little theater. So, I probably turned out an exact reflection of them.

N: Speaking of humor, what do you find particularly amusing about Nantucket?

BW: Oh, where to begin? The whaling industry, an area where heretofore no one had found humor… I decided to boldly go. The counter-intuitive cobblestone street humor… coming in as a kind of Caddyshack character, making fun of them for not being able to afford actual, modern paved roads. There is so much of what the late, great “New York Times” columnist, Russell Baker called the “the quainting” of New England—downtown sections where all the signs are preceded by the words “ye” and “olde,” spelled “o-l-d-e.”

There’s a lot to make fun of. Thankfully, I thank my lucky stars, it’s all been taken in the good humor it was intended because of course the opposite is true. We’re so lucky. While we’re there, my wife and I always talk about how lucky we are in life to be able to stay in nice places and go to nice places. We’re both from modest roots so we never forget that.

N: Let’s move on to slightly more serious matters. Tell me your thoughts about the inauguration. What inspired you most and has anything changed in your view in the last hundred days?

BW: Well, I’d like to think that I have no measurable politics. What I do reflect on about the inauguration is a point I made inauguration night on the air, that this election changed forever the poster in the front of the classroom.

In virtually every elementary school in the country, oval cameos of our presidents going back through the years, those vignettes have been changed irreparably. So, it was history being made, and it is every day. I don’t know how many presidents I have known. I guess every one going back to President Ford, but it’s a fascinating business. It’s a fascinating business that I’m in, being able to see them up close. Eleanor Roosevelt had it right when she said, “This is no ordinary time.” The phrase works perfectly for a pretty sad set of reasons, right now.

N: The major newspapers around the country are fighting for survival in one form or another. If some of these papers disappear, what will emerge in their place to serve as watchdogs for government?

BW: We have more viewers this year than we did last, and we’re on an upward trend I’m happy to report. I need not remind you the obituaries have been written numerous times of network evening newscast, where [in fact] we are doing just splendidly right now. I love the tactile newspaper, but the thing I love more is news.

I read a lot of websites. I spend a good deal of time on the web. I read a lot of posts by a lot of web writers saying, in effect, “It’s our turn.” I just want to know that the journalism will be there and protected. I want to know that the Pentagon is going to get covered.

I want to know that city council meetings are going to get covered. And I want to know that enough people are classically trained, i.e, two confirmations, making your rounds of phone calls, that kind of thing. I want to know that there are enough good people at this craft because when it’s done right, it can cause social change.

N: As a dedicated blogger I assume that you are technologically savvy. What is your vision of news delivery in the future?

BW: Well I suppose since we’re having this conversation during the same week when the big screen Kindle was introduced, I suppose it’s already happening. I mean, as much as I like the tactile feeling of a newspaper, I get it. I go to the newsstand.

I go to the curb outside of our house. It’s there, but it’s old. It can’t be younger than the night before when I went to bed after checking the web. It’s often the case that I’ve read stuff on the web that is far and beyond ahead of the newspaper I’m holding in my hand, ‘cause on their website it’s been updated.

So, I suppose it’s going to be a Kindle-like model. I suppose it’s going to be electronically transmitted to our hands, to our refrigerator door, to our cabinets and countertops, our dashboards, our PDA’s, our watches. Information already is ubiquitous. So, I just care about the quality of it. Quantity we’ve got covered. The Internet means if you have an opinion and access to a modem, you’re it. It’s all about you. But, I just want to know that those above-mentioned things are getting taken care of.

N: You won an Emmy and much praise for your coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Some felt it was a major moment in your reporting career. Does the experience of seeing something like that so up-close have a lasting, perhaps traumatic, effect on you, and did it shake your feeling of and your confidence in our government?

BW: Sure it did. I watched my fellow citizens float past face down. I was there before the first-responders, and I saw how long it took them to get there. I saw our mechanism of government fail us. We had the President at his ranch in Texas. Some of his top aides were at a wedding in Europe. It took a while for the gravity of the situation to take hold. I think he was being told things that weren’t true. It was a frightening experience as an American citizen to see my fellow citizens in such duress.

If anyone drew political conclusions from any of the journalists complaining about conditions there and holding their government to account, they were mistaken.
This was a matter of life and death. These are our brothers and sisters and they were in dire straits. Some still are. We’ve taken the broadcast back fourteen times. That city is very dear to me. We have formed a strong relationship with the people of New Orleans, I am very proud to say.

The other night, I posted my blog, and I selected three articles on the [Supreme Court Justice] Souter departure to link to. I often link to other stuff and suggest people read it, and I can’t tell you right now what the publications were. I really went by content of the articles. I got home that night and saw that somebody on the web was attacking me for having linked to “three liberal publications.”

I mean, that kind of scary labeling, you know, “we caught you reading this kind of  publication or another”—the tone. We have enough politics in our lives now. People’s motives aren’t always political. I try so very hard to keep politics a mile away from my work. After all these many years—I guess 26 years in the business—my politics, if I had to sit down and think about them, would probably surprise people. I have just tried so hard to cleanse my life of it.

I don’t think it’s germane to my job, and I think there should be places where media consumers can go where they’re not going to get that kind of thing.

N: Changing gears a bit, there is a blog devoted just to the ties you wear on the air, which I assume you’ve seen, called “The Brian Williams Tie Report.” As light-hearted as this may be, does this level of personal scrutiny make you sympathetic to those who you as a media person may scrutinize from your perspective?

BW: There’s a great little piece in the Washington Post style section, maybe two days ago, about how [Supreme Court Justice] Scalia was the research project of a law school class in Washington.

They never released their findings, but they found out everything about his life – his wife’s e-mail address, his home phone number, bank account balance, what he paid for his house. He didn’t appreciate it. It was to counter a point he made about not being terribly worried about our modern electronic society.

Look, I have seen the website you mentioned. A lot of talk show hosts like to bring it up. My reaction has been that we have a lot of work to do out there as a society. I guess there is a calling for everybody. Isn’t that the great thing about the Internet? I’m going to, for my part, keep my head down and keep my eye on the ball and let others worry about what I wear around my neck.

N: Nantucket is the summer home to Bob Wright, former chairman of NBC; Jack Welch, former chairman of GE, which owns NBC; Chris Matthews and the late Tim Russert. Some say that there are even more peacocks running around Nantucket. Was there a memo sent around NBC about Nantucket?

BW: I can officially deny that ownership of a summer home on Nantucket is mandatory General Electric or NBC policy. I am the odd man out in this grouping. It is kind of an annex of 30 Rock, isn’t it?

N: Well, yeah, you know some people on Nantucket are talking about a hostile takeover by the Island’s many NBC personalities, maybe to be called Nantucket Broadcasting Corporation. But do you have any plans to establish summer residence there?

BW: No, I’m a Jersey shore guy. A lot of my favorite memories are wrapped up in a ten-mile stretch of Atlantic Ocean well to the south of Nantucket. So with all due respect, and given the price of entry, I think I will keep my sights to the south while continuing to enjoy brief snippets of what islanders have there every day.

N: Besides work and family, what are your passions?

BW: Music, books, auto racing, presidential history. You took a big weapon out of my arsenal in naming home and family, which are what make me happiest. I love popular culture. I watch way too much television. Anyone in our newsroom will tell you that.

It’s not uncommon to receive an e-mail from me at two in the morning if you’re a member of the staff, asking why another network has story X or story Y. I just try to go all day and all night. I’m a night owl so often my circadian rhythms are out of sync with others that I work with. I think between us all, the early birds and the night owls, we cover all shifts.

N: What were your thoughts on Bob Dylan’s latest creation?

BW: I think “Lonesome Heart” is my favorite song on the album. I blogged about it a couple days back and I said that those of you who haven’t listened to Dylan in a while, you’re going to hear an older Bob Dylan. One of the negative reviews said he’s basically going to croak his way out of existence. But I find that he’s still showing us new ways to make music.

N: Tim Russert was a beloved Nantucket figure and you were, from what I understand, very close to him both personally and professionally. What are the most important lessons or thoughts that you carry with you from Tim, that affect you at either work or in your personal life?

BW: To be excited on a Friday at the end of a long week, when you are landing in London to cover a G8 and you’ve got to get over your own tiredness and get your energy together to write and anchor a newscast. When you’re coming in from Beijing and you’re just jet-lagged and dog-tired. When you are covering a story you don’t like or interviewing a newsmaker you don’t prefer. My wife and I are big blessings-counters. Remember, we get to work in the toy department every day.

Tim was a kid from Buffalo, New York. I spent the first nine years of my life down the road in Elmira. We share an Irish Catholic background. We had a lot in common and we had a mutual understanding. I have never regarded this word to be a pejorative, and I only use it as a compliment: we were hustlers. We knew how to put our best foot forward. We were born with just enough EQ and IQ. Just enough intelligence, and we could muster just enough charm to convince people that we were indispensable.

I got that about him, and he got that about me. It was his enthusiasm that we didn’t know if we could live without. It was his enthusiasm that made him Tim Russert.

I’ve never been a Buffalo Bills fan, but when he said “Go Bills!” at the end of a broadcast, how could you not like Marv Levy and those Bills, even though I grew up a Giants fan? And we owned them. So, he was charming and he took attributes of so many prominent Irish Catholic politicians. There was some Moynihan in him. There was some Tip O’Neill in him. There was a great Italian Catholic, some Mario Cuomo, in him. You know we called each other “Monsignor,” “Father,” “Cardinal.” It was a great run. You know we all live with his loss every hour of every day.

I was in a Black Hawk helicopter hanger in Kabul, in Afghanistan. The producer came and got me and said that I had a phone call from New York. They wanted me to take the phone call alone. I went into the pilot’s ready room in the hangar.

I’ll never forget it. I had to use a Pentagon phone line. You just could have knocked me over. What was hard was it was two or three days getting back, and I couldn’t grieve with the members of my family. We were split between NBC-Washington and NBC-New York. As it was, we were grieving as two groups.

I knew he was a global figure when we flew as far as Dubai to change planes. We had a brief layover at the hotel. The man in full local headdress who brought my bags to the room, as he closed the door of my hotel room, said, “I’m sorry about Mr. Russert.”

N: Without being overly solicitous, you are an American icon and people rely on you, so keep it up because we need probing minds to keep everyone on their toes.

BW: Well thank you. I’m just a guy who turned 50 two days ago, who couldn’t even hack it in community college, and thinks he’s hit the lottery in life, so thank you.

By Peter Sutters

“Funny” is the catch word for the upcoming 14th annual Nantucket Film Festival, and the lineup of films and stars descending on the island should fulfill that promise.

Anchored by the festival’s screenwriter’s tribute to Harold Ramis, one of the biggest names behind the camera in some of the most successful and longest lasting cult classic comedy films of all time, the 2009 festival will begin with a chuckle and hopes to sweep across the island with roaring laughter.

“As a result of our tributee, and having the good fortune of having our old friend and board member Ben Stiller here, it’s going to be quite a comic celebration,” said Nantucket Film Festival executive director Colin Stanfield. “The tone of the festival starts with the screenwriter tribute, and from there it’s sort of a ripple effect throughout the rest of the weekend.”

Many are familiar with Ramis for his classic portrayal of a nerdy scientist turned hero as Egon Spengler in “Ghostbusters.” Since then, he has had more success as a director or with pen and paper as a writer of such classics as “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Animal House,” “Caddyshack,” “Groundhog Day” and this year’s closing film at the Nantucket Film Festival, “The Year One,” starring Jack Black and Michael Cera.

Plentiful laughs

Those laughs may turn out to be well needed because the Film Festival has not been immune to the downturn in the economy. The festival lost two major corporate sponsors when NBC Universal and Comcast decided not to renew their sponsorships

“It was pretty dire earlier in the year,” said Artistic Director Mystelle Brabbee. “We were going to be a weekend festival with no tribute award. That’s how drastic the cuts were going to be.”

The pursuit of Ramis as the screenwriter tribute award winner might have been the saving grace for the festival, extending its tradition of being a four-day event.

“I think when the tribute [award] was off the table and we were starting to cut all sorts of events, there was dissatisfaction all around,” said Brabbee. “So when Harold Ramis fell into place, we brought it back.”

In addition to Ramis’ “The Year One” being shown, “Ghostbusters” will be screened in honor of its 25th anniversary. Other comedy flavored favorites from year’s past will return to the festival this year with the ever popular Late Night Storytelling event.

While Brabbee and Stanfield remained mum on this year’s participants, those who have attended the event in the past can attest to its all-star casts including Peter Farrelly of “Something About Mary” and “Dumb and Dumber” fame and NBC news anchor Brian Williams, who easily peels off his seriousness of bringing the country often dire news to reveal his much lighter side as a stand-up comic.

Stiller will also keep the lighter tone of the festival when he hosts a new comedy roundtable, whose participants will remain a surprise until the end.

“We don’t have the complete sign off on either event,” said Brabbee. “It’s one of those things where as people are arriving for the festival, we’re asking them to participate. The late night storytelling, those guests always remain a complete surprise, even to us. It’s one of those truly organic events that happen on the fly.”

Local connections

The Nantucket Film Festival sets itself apart from other festivals by keeping its focus on the screenwriters of the industry. That unique aspect to this festival is underscored this year because a past winner of the festival’s Tony Cox Screenwriting Award had her script picked up and made into a movie to be shown here this year.

“Cold Souls,” starring festival veteran Paul Giamatti playing himself in the movie, was written by Sofie Barthes, who had a chance encounter with Giamatti at a festival party last year.

He agreed to read the script, which led to his participation in the film. “She came to the festival as a complete unknown screenwriter,” said Stanfield. “She happened to meet up with Paul, whom she had in mind when she wrote the script, showed it to him and the film got made. It’s really gratifying for us when something like this happens. It completes the circle from screenwriting, which is our focus, to showing the films once they are made.”

The story of “Cold Souls” is about Giamatti becoming frustrated by his part in a Russian play on Broadway. In his search to center himself, he has his soul removed, which is then traded around the world with other’s souls.

“It was shown at Sundance and was critically acclaimed,” said Stanfield. Another homegrown aspect of this year’s festival is the support of Nantucket’s business community.

“It’s like a partnership with the whole island,” said Stanfield. “It’s a recognition that in this economy, we’re all in this together. It’s in everybody’s best interest that we help each other during this slow down.”

“We are surviving through these partnerships,” said Brabbee. One of the major players to help not only with sponsorship, but with the major cost-cutting services was the Nantucket business Just Press Play Productions, Timothy MacDonald’s audio-visual company.

“We simply couldn’t afford to spend money on goods and services, and then a local company steps in to help,” said Stanfield. “It was a huge cost-saving measure for us to not have to ship in all the equipment and have Just Push Play handle it.”

Other local businesses to step up with support are Nantucket Island Resorts, the Beach Side Hotel, The Chanticleer and the Sconset Casino.

A film shot across the globe echoes the festival’s Nantucket setting with its focus on the sea and how humans use it to their financial gain. “The Cove,” a  documentary set in Japan, uses military type spying techniques to expose the slaughter of dolphins in a seaside resort. Local authorities, aware of the negative image the killings will bring to their town, do everything in their power to stop the film from being made. When it is shown to local residents, they gasp in horror, seemingly unaware what is going on in their own town.

One logistical change to this year’s festival will be a more manageable ticketing system. Day passes, good for all films being shown that day, can be purchased without the need to go to the box office for specific film tickets.

Stanfield said an agency was brought in to make that process more efficient so that moviegoers can spend more time in theaters and less time in line for tickets. For a complete lineup of public events and films being screened at the 14th Nantucket Film Festival, and to purchase passes, visit www.nantucketfilmfestival.org.

Written and Photographed By Terry Pommett

“There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. The most beautiful and most profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the source of all true science.”

—Albert Einstein

Although, there is no standard definition for “holistic health,” its practitioners generally approach health care with a philosophy that considers the interconnectedness of physical, mental and spiritual aspects of an individual. The well being of a person is considered as a sum of all the interdependent parts that make up one’s life. With this approach, a holistic practitioner focuses on more than one illness or a single area of the body when treating a patient.

When applied in health and medicine, holistic principles go beyond the simple treating of symptoms, which are often manifestations of other hidden issues. One overlying principal seems clear from the observation of holistic practices: The ability to correct imbalances, maintain equilibrium and promote harmony both within and without the individual determines the efficacy of treatment.

Although holism as a health concept has long been neglected by academia, the past quarter century has seen it gain more integration into mainstream medical practice and earn a reputation beyond simply ‘alternative medicine’.

Nantucket’s well-established and knowledgeable holistic community offers an extensive variety of disciplines. Many of the practitioners—most but not all are women—fly under the public radar while working primarily by word of- mouth and out of their homes. As a guide to local available “treatment” modalities, the following Nantucket practitioners describe their approach to treatment and their techniques.

Hatha Yoga
Sheri Perelman

Hatha Yoga is a system of yoga practiced especially for mental and physical health. Introduced by Yogi Swatmarama, a sage of 15th-century India, it includes asanas, or body postures, and pranayama, or breathing exercises, to physically purify the body in preparation for meditation.

Perelman began doing yoga while in her late teens, when she felt she was over weight. She picked up a grocery store pamphlet called “Slimming With Yoga” and began doing the “exercises.”

Although she had some success, she drifted away from it after getting married and having children. Then, during a stressful period of time, she recalled the feeling of being in the “flow of life” that had occurred when she had been practicing. In 1989, on the advice of a massage therapist she was seeing for relief, she spent a weekend at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health.

“It changed my life,” she recalled. “For the first time, I felt like I was at home. I vowed at that moment to study professionally. I felt I was meant to do this [called Dharma in Sanskrit].”

Perelman began teaching on Nantucket in 1990 after attending Yoga Teachers Training at Kripalu. She became certified in Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy, a method where the therapist supports the client in the posture for a deeper experience.

“Through yoga, I believe one can overcome many physical, and mental difficulties, including excess weight, joint stiffness, poor digestion, anxiety and depression to name a few. With meditation, yoga can take one to a place where one can gain knowledge of one’s true nature beyond time, space and suffering. It is a science of self realization.”

When not at Kripalu studying Ayurveda, a sister science to yoga, Perelman gives classes at different studios on Nantucket, as well as privately in people’s homes.

508 -221-7460
sheri.perelman@gmail.com

Jin Shin Jyutsu
Ann Laurilliard
Jin Shin Jyutsu, a physio-philosophy, is an ancient art of harmonizing the life energy in the body. In written records in the archives of the Imperial Palace in Japan, JSJ was known before the birth of Moses and Buddha. It fell into relative obscurity until it was revived in the 1900s by Master Jiro Murai. This knowledge was passed on to Mary Burmeister, who brought it to the United States in the 1950s.

Fifteen years ago, while recovering from an accident that left her in constant pain, Laurilliard was introduced to Jin Shin Jyutsu. After several treatments, she noticed a gradual diminishing of symptoms and a lifting of fatigue, followed by a resurgence of energy as her body healed. ‘I didn’t anticipate what was next, but I started studying JSJ within the year, traveling around the country taking classes with various instructors,” she said.

“I eventually became a practioner, a self help instructor and class organizer for instructors that inspired me.” One of Laurilliard’s mentors, with whom she is in periodic contact, is Philomena Dooley, one of only 3 instructors originally taught by Mary Burmeister.

JSJ treatments focus on 26 “safety energy locks” on the body that become activated like circuit breakers to protect one from distresses in life, whether it’s mental, emotional or physical in origin. The SELs are located along energy pathways that feed life into all the cells of the body. Through the gentle touching of a practioner’s hands, the pathways are cleared and tension is dissipated.

“We are each energy and matter. The energy flows throughout the body going through every organ and tissue. By holding the fingers or holding the body in different places we facilitate the energy moving in harmony,” explained Laurilliard.

“I have seen asthma attacks where the simple holding of two SELs helped stop the crisis and restore normal breathing. JSJ is particularly effective in conjunction with traditional medicine in that it can diminish the effects of toxicity from medications as well as eliminate unbearable symptoms altogether. JSJ is an ‘art of circulation reawakening’ that blends harmoniously with other holistic modalities.”

Laurilliard gives treatments in her studio and makes home visits.
508 221 5425
anniel@nantucket.net

Reflexography
Marsha Kotalac

Reflexology focuses on manipulation and body work with the extremities. The theory is that there are “reflex” areas on the feet and hands that correspond to specific organs, glands and other parts of the body. Dating back to ancient Egypt, reflexology employs a zone system, in which pressure may send signals to balance the nervous system or release chemicals such as endorphins that reduce pain and stress.

Kotalac was introduced to Reflexology in the early 1990s and began getting regular treatments in 1999 in Anguilla while on holiday.

“Reflexology took me out of my busy, thinking and planning head. I thought if it can make me feel this great, what a beneficial option to be able to offer it to other people,” she said. She later trained formally at the New England Institute of Reflexology.

Like other holistic disciplines, reflexology promotes relaxation, improves circulation, reduces stress and improves health and well being. Kotalac believes stimulating the reflexes properly can help many health projects in a natural way.

“Reflexology has helped me to become more relaxed and balanced and I think it has been a great preventive health measure.”

Kotalac takes clients at her home and makes outside visits.
508 2289023
kotalac@comcast.net

Massage Therapy
Roberta Scott

While there are over 80 different recognized massage modalities, the most cited reason it is recognized as a therapy is its high client demand and clinical effectiveness. It is basically the practice of soft tissue manipulation with physical, functional and psychological goals. It can be applied with the hands, fingers, elbows, forearm and feet.

Scott began thinking about massage a few years after her mother went to massage school. She left the island 10 years ago to study herself, spending a winter in Salt Lake City. She would like to dispel the myth that it is simply a luxury. “It may feel luxurious, but it greatly contributes to our health and improves the tempo of our lives.”

“Stress and our response to it can allow harmful chemicals to course through our bodies,” she noted. “They can cause dysfunctional immune response, arthritic pain, muscle aches and restless sleep. Massage therapy continues to be one of the safest, non drug treatments for an assortment of stress-related diseases and anxiety.

Added to a healthy diet, moderate exercise and some form of deep breathing, it can greatly assist the life long process of well being.”

Scott points out that getting a massage is the ultimate act of receiving. It is one of the only ways aside from sleeping that we are completely still. It may seem like self indulgence, but its therapeutic benefits are well documented. “It repairs our bodies, recharges our batteries and rejuvenates our spirits.”

Scott sees clients in her downtown office and makes homes visits.

508 221-5334
bertascott10@yahoo.com

Acupuncture
Eileen Ford

Acupuncture originated in ancient China, perhaps as far back as the Stone Age, as a technique of inserting and manipulating fine filiform needles into specific points on the body to relieve pain or for therapeutic purposes. According to traditional Chinese medical theory, acupuncture points are situated on meridians along which the vital energy of qi flows.

Ford was fascinated by her first acupuncture treatment in Korea 25 years ago. Upon returning to Nantucket, where she was working as a nurse at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, she began to research acupuncture as an adjunct to medications for pain management. She eventually completed a three-year program in Connecticut, but felt she needed to study in China as well.

“This was a turning point in my life,” she remembered. “I have since been back many times, learning new methodologies. I acquired great knowledge and worked in clinics observing many remarkable treatments.

“I once saw a man carried into the hospital after suffering a fall at a construction site. Although he couldn’t walk, the doctor stood him up against a wall and stuck a needle into his philtrum, the vertical groove between the upper lip and the base of the nose.

Almost in tears, the man submitted to the stimulation and within a short period was up and walking by himself. Three more treatments over a two-day period and the man was cured.”

Although not scientifically proven, the insertion of needles into acupoints which are on or near nerves, suggests that the central and autonomic nervous systems are being stimulated.

“Western and Eastern medicine share the observation that the body’s natural tendency is to heal itself to restore homeostasis, a relatively stable internal environment. There may be a bioelectrical process in the body, as an additional circulatory system, that accounts for the mechanism of acupuncture.”

Ford practices in her home and also makes out of office visits.

508 228-2332

Polarity
Laura Donnelly

Polarity therapy as a health system was developed by Randolph Stone in the 1940s. His ideas centered on the concept of a human energy field to balance and restore the natural flow of energy from the universe into the body through “chakras.”

Donnelly learned about Polarity in 1991 when she received her first treatment on Nantucket. She has since studied in Santa Fe for a degree as a registered Polarity Practioner.

“After my first treatment. I just laughed a lot,” she said. “I had never before had my personal energy system addressed. I felt like I had to pull in my aura just to pass through the doorway. It was unforgettable.”

She thinks of Polarity as the study of the laws of relationship, “As above, so below.”

“In my early days, I called it ‘connect the dots,’ because like acupuncture it follows meridian lines called ‘long line currents.’ The practice encompasses thoughts and attitudes, patterns of movement, diet, exercise and hands on bodywork.

Donnelly practices at her home and will travel for appointments.

508 228-5251
ldtouchstar@hotmail.com.

By Gene Mahon

This year’s new springtime Nantucket Restaurant Week runs from Monday, June 1 through Sunday, June 7, with 29 island restaurants taking part, the most in the event’s four-year history.

In addition to this new spring week, the celebration of eating and dining on Nantucket returns in the fall from Monday, September 28 through Sunday, October 4.

New this year, restaurants offer a variety of specials in a range of prices from $25 to $45. For details, visit www.nantucketrestaurantweek.com.

The 2009 Zagat ratings for Nantucket list Topper’s at the Wauwinet as the best restaurant on the island, with a combined score for food, decor, and service of 80 out of 90.

Company of the Cauldron at 7 India Street is second with 77, Cinco at 5 Amelia Drive is third with 75, followed by Straight Wharf Restaurant and Galley Beach at 74.

The highest food scores went to Company of the Cauldron with 28, Topper’s with 27, Cinco with 26, and American Seasons, Queequeg’s, Straight Wharf, and Sushi by Yoshi with 25.

Marc Orfaly, Executive Chef at the Summer House and 29 Fair last year, was a finalist for the 2009 James Beard Foundation Awards for Best Chef:Northeast for his artistry at Pigalle in Boston.

Orfaly returns for the 2009 season. Other nominees were Gabriel Frasca and Amanda Lydon of Straight Wharf Restaurant, and Michael La Scola of American Seasons.

Ehren Jordan was named 2008 Winemaker of the Year by the San Francisco Chronicle. Jordan, son of Nantucket realtor Lucille Jordan, is the winemaker for Turley Wine Cellars, and makes Pinot Noirs and Syrahs under the Failla label with his wife, Anne-Marie Failla.

From the article: “He and Anne- Marie have managed the near impossible - building their own winery from the ground up with no outside investors except their bank.”

The Nantucket High School Culinary Arts team repeated as Massachusetts state Prostart Culinary Gold Medal Winners at the Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Boston this past January.

The team members under Bob Buccino include Haley Cabre, Carl Johnsen, Eddie Moreau, Renee Printz and Brittany Watson. The Quiz Bowl team members included Jesse Davis, Melissa Holdgate, and Chelsea Bell. They finished 4th overall.

Danielle deBenedictis and Peter Karlson, owners of The Summer House and 29 Fair, have brought in celebrity chef Todd English to open what will now be called Figs at 29 Fair by Todd English.

Todd was recently named to the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America, and now has restaurants in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Palm Beach and Las Vegas. Todd will bring an “already tested menu with very reasonable prices,” said deBenedictis, and will feature traditional and eclectic pizzas with ultra-thin crusts, handmade pastas, salads and other entrees.

Cinco has a new Executive Chef this year. Jeffrey Marquise has worked directly with Jasper White at his eponymous restaurant in the north end of Boston. He was the chef at Old Drovers Inn in New York during which time it gained Relais et Chateaux status, four diamonds from AAA, and a superior rating from the New York Times. The basic menu at Cinco has remained the same, though some prices have been lowered. New items this year include sushi, steaks and chops, and big plates of poultry, salmon and steak frites.

Frederick Bisaillon is the new Executive Chef at the Brant Point Grill at the White Elephant. No stranger to Nantucket, Bisaillon worked as Sous Chef at the Brant Point Grill from 1995-98. He most recently was the Executive Chef at the Cable Beach Resorts & Crystal Palace Casino in the Bahamas and Executive Sous Chef at the Fairmont Southampton Resort in Bermuda.

Dante Benatti, formerly with the Atlantic Cafe, is the new head chef at Cambridge Street. Neil Hudson is the Executive Chef at both Queequeg’s and the new Town restaurant mentioned in the last issue, having previously worked at Bartlett’s Farm and the Brant Point Grill.

Lower prices, lighter fare

This is the summer to eat out more often—first, because our local restaurants need our support, and second, because for the first time in at least 40 years, nearly all island eateries have lowered their prices, and some have added lighter fare and low price appetizers.

Here is just a sampling: American Seasons has dropped tapas prices by $1 and lowered the cost of drinks by $1 to $1.50. Co-owner Orla Murphy-LaScola has added a new America’s Wine List for midweek dining, featuring wines from North America, Chile and Argentina. Five new items have been added to the $5 small plates menu, cupcakes at the bar, and a new cocktail, the American Seasons Hard Tea.

This year celebrates the 50th year that Arno’s has been on Main Street, now with new menu items and lower prices. Owner Chris Morris is also putting together free wine and food symposiums from 5:30 to 6:30 on Thursday nights. At the Boarding House, Chef-de-Cuisine Erin Zircher creates a $20.09 three course menu that changes nightly, showcasing the flavors of spring.

The Pearl will be adding smaller and shareable dishes, expanding their dumpling and salad offerings. Trish Gallen, owner-manager of Cambridge Street Victuals, says that this year’s menu has reduced prices “on absolutely everything, considering the current state of things.”

Owner Marshall Thompson says Even Keel Cafe will be “a little more light bite oriented at night.” The lunch menu will be available at dinner, as well, and omelets and pancakes available all day. New to the appetizer menu are lobster nachos and a crispy tuna basil roll.

Over at Oran Mor, chef-owner Chris Freeman has lowered prices by 10% to 20% for 2009, and added a small plate menu at the bar priced from $5 to $11. The four course prix fixe menu is now $39 instead of $45, and most desserts are now $9, down from $11. New items for the menu Grilled Octopus Nicoise, Sautéed Skate with Saffron Orzo, Soffrito Braised Monkfish, Sautéed Prawns with Nettle Risotto.

Queequeg’s has reduced prices this year, with no dish now above $30. Some of the new dishes on the menu are the Beet & Tangerine Salad, Fried Calamari & Pepper Salad, Marinated Grilled Quail, Braised Beef Short Rib, and Black Truffle Fettuccini.

By William Ferrall
Photography by Terry Pommett

It was dinner for eight this past winter when a group of diners who share a love of Nantucket met for great food and grand wines in an elegant Manhattan high-rise.

From their 19th-floor Upper West Side co-op, Dorothy Slover and Doug Kenward welcomed Nantucket friends and guests to a night of “just the right chemistry,” as Nantucket Wine Festival co-founder Denis Toner described it.

Toner, along with Nantucket and New York chef Matt Zadorozny, orchestrated the night’s medley to celebrate the “Nantucket- New York axis” epitomized by Slover and Kenward, who are devoted supporters and have been hosts to Wine Festival events in their Nantucket home. Playing along and enjoying this night’s culinary concert were Toner’s wife Susan, his son Denis Toner, Jr. and his wife Karen, Mark Donato and Beth English.

“It was like being in the middle of a Cole Porter song,” Toner swooned later. The characterization fit perfectly for the setting in this elegant and snug pre-war apartment with its high ceilings, crown moldings and a terrace view of the fading lights over Central Park and upper Manhattan.

Accompanied by wines representing that Toner called the “best of Burgundy,” Zadorozny commandeered the apartment’s galley kitchen to prepare and present examples from his most memorable professional kitchen experiences.

On this wintry night, Zadorozny with help from Steve Ripley warmed palates and hearts. In dishes intended “to bridge Nantucket and Manhattan,” the two served up a striking array of dishes using traditional methods one might expect in classic Nantucket restaurants and cutting-edge, science-based culinary techniques especially prevalent in New York City.

Those of us who joined the party early for hors d’oeuvres and cocktails encountered the chef’s tasty homemade hot dogs wrapped in puff pastry with mustard, a delightful twist on the classic Vienna sausages.

At the sit down meal, seafood would be an assumed link between two islands, so Zadorozny started with his creation of a cylinder-roll of pure lobster meat and bruniosed vegetables with just a speck of protein binder, deep-fried mayo and toasted brioche. A glass of Moet & Chandon Imperial accompanied the starter, which Zadorozny adapted from his stint at chef Wylie Dufresne’s WD-50 in New York.

A salad of shaved Brussels sprouts with ricotta salata, cranberries and fresh braised bacon followed. As his inspiration for that, Zadorozny credited his experience with braised pork bellies at Thomas Keller’s Per Se in Manhattan, along with a unique dish from a traditional Brooklyn Italian eatery.

Toner chose the Anglada-Deleger Chassagne-Montrachet Blanchots-Dessus 2006 as its companion. For the main course, Zadorozny returned to local roots to “cut and paste” a large cut of beef like those prepared at Company of the Cauldron on Nantucket, the place where he said he “grew up as a cook.”

In a modern twist, he prepared the meat sous vide in a plastic pouch. Vincent Girardin Chambolle Musigny Les Amoureuses 2002 enhanced the entrée. Drawing again from Manhattan’s Per Se and its sister Bouchon Bakery, Zadorozny filled the apartment late in the evening with the sweet aroma of the Bouchon chocolate chip brownie and a playful “Frosted Flakes” panna cotta, using the mixed-in sweetened cereal as a reminder of his youthful breakfasts.

A very adult beverage of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Demi-sec matured the desert past the age of majority. The spirit of the evening was the perfect expression of “our genuine shared love for Nantucket and New York,” summed up Slover. “Few areas have such an equally strong sense of ‘place,’ and that’s what the evening reminded us.’”