Dear Tamy and Felipe:

Thank you again for inviting Adam and me to the latest installment of your weekly dinner party, Thursdays at Worth Street. I suppose we invited ourselves, actually. So thank you for having us!

As I mentioned when we met for a drink a few days beforehand so you could vet me, I’m a bit jealous. Committing to hosting a different group of people every Thursday for a year, cooking them dinner and writing about the experience on your site—it’s such a great idea that I’m tempted to steal it. I love the project aspect, but also that you’re forcing yourselves to meet people, and what’s more, to do so in a way that’s far more intimate than going to a restaurant. (Adam and I manage to invite people over only once in a blue moon, and even then, they tend to be people we already know well.) You explained how you’re fairly new to New York, and how because you’re recently married you’ve been in what I call the “relationship bubble,” but trust me, it doesn’t get easier to meet people in this city, or perhaps in this life.

For that reason, we approached the party with some trepidation. I had met and liked you, but Adam hadn’t, and we had no idea who else would be there. I follow you on Twitter, so I saw that the guest list included “Banker, pregnancy, art, digital, writing,” which didn’t begin to tell us how entertaining everyone would be. (A tip of the hat to our charming dining companions, Joanne, Mireia, Lee, and Joe. Did you see how Lee and I realized we have a mutual friend? It’s a small world after all….)

Of course, when Adam and I do have people over—and I hope you’ll join us sometime soon—we tend to rely on a repertoire of dishes, ones we know will work out. I can’t imagine inventing a new menu every week, although judging from your tweets, coming up with the theme is part of the fun. We were excited when you landed on the idea of figs and balsamic vinegar, as that’s a favorite combination around our house. You don’t need us to tell you that Felipe is a terrific cook. We savored every bite: the arugula salad with a scrumptious prosciutto-wrapped fig; the stuffed rosemary chicken; that amazing cilantro pasta (we need that recipe!); and last but not least, the frozen figs stuffed with mascarpone and drizzled with a balsamic reduction.

For any party to work, everything has to gel, and yours certainly did—helped along, no doubt, by that magnum of Champagne that Joanne and Lee brought! You know the evening is going well when nobody minds that the entrées are delayed because somebody forgot to put the chicken in the oven. (There was no way I could let that go. But you handled it with grace and humor.) And you know the party is a hit when it lasts for four hours. I have a feeling—given your relative youth and your Latin backgrounds—that this party ended a bit earlier than usual. What can we say? We stay out past midnight about as often as Cinderella does.

Thank you for letting us into your lives for a night. We wish you all the best on Thursdays at Worth Street, that it succeeds on every possible level, and that you find many more interesting people to have over. I’m sure many readers of Tribeca Citizen will be tempted to email you about an invitation.

All best,
Erik and Adam