Therapeutic Dinners with Octavio and Susan M

Summer's omnipresent pickle and relish tray.

(Unrelated to the Southern U.S. menu but wanting to represent for our dear neighbors, Cafe Drake adorned the table with red and white maple leaves in honor of Canada Day).

Initially reluctant and (slightly) adverse to freshwater fish, Octavio ended up savoring southern-style fried catfish.

Old Bay seasoned and fried catfish with a twist on the ordinary, quartered limes.

Cafe Drake has had our fair share of stresses lately, like the rest of you, compounded with personal and professional issues. How healing dinners with two of our oldest and dearest friends can be! Our medical advice: Throw away your 'scripts for Xanax, friends, and self-prescribe a couple of evenings with loyal and supportive pals and call us in the morning!

Wednesday we eagerly bit at Susan M's coveted invite to a members-only picnic night at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, and no sooner had we showed up with our trusty basket had Susan and adorable daughter Sloane led us to a secluded glade straight out of a paperback Penguin edition Emily Bronte novel. In the unusual and craved cool of the night (note: NYC has sweltered for days with 90 degrees + Fahrenheit temps worsened by our legendary and swampy humidity levels) Susan, Sloane and Cafe Drake sipped good Chardonnay (Sloane got water) and knoshed through a spread of Red Pepper and Mozzarella Sandwiches, Israeli Couscous and Parsley Salad, Cabbage and Dill Salad, two types of dry sausages (smoked Polish and spicy Italian), hummus, prosciutto bread, olives, pickles and sweet Maryland cherries.

The next night we were happy to cook for our resident graphic designer and kemo sabe Octavio Fenech, who in addition to supplying elegant Russian cigarettes sparked our ailing spirits with his typical lively conversation combo of topics ranging from neuro-linguistics to mid-century direct sales techniques to small business support and advice and finally (a subject dear to Cafe Drake's heart) Golden Era MGM Hollywood. If we could only have recorded and transcribed our fiery debates over the merits of early 60's Natalie Wood vs. late 50's Ava Gardner or Henry Fonda vs. James Mason in the 1940s cinema!! The menu for Octavio drew inspiration from our Southern heritage: Cornmeal Crusted Catfish, Corn with Chilies, Sweet Vinegar Coleslaw, Creamy Cuke Salad and Pickled Beets and Okra. It all began with Gin Gimlets and (after a dry California Chardonnay) ended with aged whiskey barrel honey liqueur.