Feeling Good - The Story of Sam & Henry

Chapter 26 - Nona's gemberi alla busara

Have you ever been so full that you thought you might actually tear a hole in your stomach? That's how I felt sitting at the Chef's Table at Sam's restaurant at the end of the night. The meal had been unbelievable: far and away the best I had ever had in my life. It had also been great meeting Jen's boyfriend Andy and her other friends. But the best part was watching Sam work. I could not keep my eyes off her. She looked simultaneously like a drill sergeant and an infantry woman on the front lines.

I knew she had been taking extra time to come over to the table to tell us about what we were eating, and the flavors that we should notice, but I lost the ability to make cogent thought after she brought out her signature dish of the night, Nona's gemberi alla busara. These were enormous shrimp, with their legs and arms and heads still attached, cooked in a tomato sauce with spices and butter. It was out of this world delicious. But she left no time for us to savor it, because just as soon as we had finished, we were on to the trio of wild game, served with three sauces, one of which was her cherry balsamic reduction. The bison in particular was incredible. How did she eat like this everyday and stay so thin? Eventually all the detritus of the main meal was cleared away by Kevin, who, as she had promised, had been very attentive to us all night.

Then without much preamble, Kevin presented us with a selection of desserts, each cut into sixths so that we could sample all of them. Only Zack, who looked like he was 235 lbs of pure muscle had no problems eating each one. Everyone else just looked at the dessert plate with fear in their eyes. I knew there was no way I could put anything else in my mouth, even if it was something that Sam had made special just for me.

"Hey guys," Sam said, stopping by for a minute to check on us. "So, how was it?"

Everyone started talking at once telling her how amazing the meal had been, then she scooted over by me, but I couldn't think of anything to say that encapsulated how amazing the experience had been. I think she could tell that I was just totally overwhelmed, because she gave me this huge smile and nodded a little.

"Don't worry about finishing the desserts, no one ever does," she said, just as Zack was putting the last of the six dessert samples into his mouth, "except you my big man, YES!" and she bent over to give him a high favor which he enthusiastically returned.

"Just remember guys that dinner and wine was on me, but please do leave something for Kevin, ok?" We all nodded, and it looked like she was going to move back to the line, to plug back into the Matrix of the kitchen, but I wanted to tell her how amazing it had been. I reached out my hand to grab her wrist and pulled her to me.

"There are no words," I said, looking straight into her beautiful green eyes, "this was the most incredible thing you could have ever done for me."

She leaned forward and pecked me on the lips, "I'm glad you had fun. I've got to finish up the service, but I actually won't be that late tonight, because part of being Executive Chef is that I get to leave a lot of the grunt work to the others after service is over. Besides, we kind of killed it tonight, so I wouldn't be surprised if Chef Simon tells me to leave right at 10:30 as a bonus for not totally fucking it up."

"Do you want me to stay until you're done? It's 9:45 now, so that's only another 45 minutes, and I swear I could watch you all night in your element."

"You sure you're not too tired?"

"Are you kidding? I'm asleep right now, we're having this conversation in one of my dreams, but we're Ubering home right? So no big deal."

"Actually, I have my bike; I've got an extra helmet in my locker though, do you want to ride with me?"

"I've never been on the back of a motorcycle before," he said.

"On second thought, I'll leave my bike here and Mike can just pick me up tomorrow morning, he doesn't live too far from you."

While we had been talking, Kevin had packaged up the desserts for everyone except Zack, and the rest of them were all getting up and putting their coats on.

Zack came over and gave Sam a huge hug, picking her up 2.5 feet into the air. "You are my new favorite person," he said, "that Bitch Jen means nothing to me. It will never compare, but I'm taking you to breakfast sometime this weekend so that I can thank you properly." He set Sam down and kissed her lightly on the cheek, causing her to blush.

Sarah and Dave weren't quite so interactive with their praise, but they were equally effusive. Andy shook my hand and then gave Sam a huge hug, followed by Jen, who whispered something into Sam's ear, causing her to smile hugely.

"This was amazing Sam, thank you so much!" Jen said to the whole kitchen, and everyone agreed as they walked back out to the main seating area. I sat back down in the booth and gave Sam the nod to go back to work.

About 45 minutes later, when it was clear that things had slowed down considerably, Sam pulled off her apron. Suddenly, all the chefs working in the kitchen stopped what they were doing and gave her a much deserved round of applause.

She quieted them and moved to the middle of the kitchen to make a small announcement. "As you know, I'm only where I am tonight because of the kindness and humility of Chef Simon and Chef Karl, and believe me, I am so thankful for the opportunity. I promise I will sabotage the next round of oysters just so that I can get back here." A few people laughed. "But the real heroes of the night are each one of you who worked your assess off to help me succeed tonight, and I just want you to know that I saw what you did for me and I will never in a million years forget it. Miguel, Diego and Mike, you now know Nona's recipe. You take that shit to your graves, you hear?"

"Yes, Chef!" they shouted in unison.

"Ok, get back to work, I want to see my face shining on this floor by morning!"

More scattered laughs.

She walked over to where I was waiting for her and she smiled so big.

In the car ride home, neither of us had much to say, but it was the most comfortable silence I'd ever had with another human. It was like we were both cresting this amazing wave and we just wanted to ride it for a few more minutes before even speaking its name.

~~
"What would you call your first restaurant?" I asked.

We were laying inbed, five minutes post-coital from a very sweet and slow session that hadstarted after she emerged from her obligatory post-work bath. The tempo hadbeen slow out of necessity because I was convinced I was one thrust away from aMallory-Weiss tear.

"Nona Sara," she said immediately, "it would be an Italian-style steak house that would be high-end five nights a week, but on Thursdays, it would be family night and we'd cater to families and large parties only."

"Why Thursday?"

"That's all Nona. When we were growing up, it was so hard to coral everyone into one place, so Thursday night was the one night where we all HAD to have butts in seats around her table."

"She really made an impact on you, didn't she?"

"I think if she had lived a little bit longer my life would be very different. I'm not sure if that makes me happy or sad. I miss her so much, but I know she'd be proud of me, especially tonight."

"You were incredible Sam, seriously, I... I don't really think I can describe what tonight was like for me. You were right, when you said working in a kitchen is like being in an OR – there are so many similarities, it's astonishing. I promise you that I will never again think for a minute that what you do doesn't have incredible value and that you are anything short of an artist. Tonight was a masterpiece Sam."

"It's too bad I can't see you work," she said off-handedly.

"It's not impossible, surgeons do sometimes have audiences, but we don't exactly have a Surgeon's Table."

It would be kind of weird if you did," she agreed.

I yawned hugely. It was 11:30 pm and I had to wake up in five hours.

I pulled her into me, wrapping my arms around her.

"Can we have wake up sex again?" she asked.

"Shhhh," I said, "I'm sleeping."

Tonight had been a dream, and I didn't even want to think about waking up.