Seven Onions and Jan

While living in Columbus, I made a lot of interesting friends from all walks of life. Jan, who happens to be a priest, became a good friend of mine- someone I could count on and I probably, was not the best friend a priest could have, let's face it. Somehow, it worked and I learned a lot from him.

After dozens of fantastic art history classes, it was a delight to have someone to talk with about early Italian artists and masterpieces created for so many Catholic churches. Later, while living in Santa Fe, I got to show Jan some incredible pieces of art in some of the most unique, desert churches. We compared Our Lady of Guadalupe paintings and we each had our preference for what we thought must be the authentic costume for such a famous figure in New Mexico. He would visit Rome almost annually and would bring back all sorts of postcards, books and pictures for me to go through.

Back in Ohio, Jan showed me so many great things about the Midwest- namely fine dining. I was at a point in my life where my budget allowed for an occasional cafe-purchased coffee and perhaps a small order of fries. I have many ways of dealing with things I cannot afford and the most common is to ignore them. I pretend they are not there so the temptation will slowly fade away. Jan used to pick me up and whisk me to one of Cameron Mitchell's hot spots, the North Market, Barcelona and most often, the classic Lindey's in German Village.

Jan knew even the valet guys at Lindey's because he frequented the restaurant so often and he would always order something that I always thought made his taste quite exquisite. Something like Beef Carpaccio or Tartare. He consistently ordered the same thing wherever he went and I would harp that he should begin to branch out and try something new. No such luck. Each restaurant on his list had a dish that he would order every time he ate there- and if they stopped making the dish, he would probably have no reason to visit anymore. At the time, I couldn't understand this habitual ordering and now I find myself doing the same thing.

The one item at Lindey's that Jan would always order was a martini with seven cocktail onions. Every single time the waiter approached the table, he would say, "SEVEN, there must be SEVEN onions." When the waiter returned with his drink, he would count to be sure there were seven onions. I remember commenting in a young, snotty kind of way, "Jan, isn't that a BIT excessive?!" I also remember thinking that they can hardly fit a full drink's worth of alcohol into the glass if it is stuffed with so many onions. He replied, "It is incredibly excessive, perhaps, but it is what I want." And he truly did want that drink- he would send it back if there was an onion less or an onion more- I have seen it happen.

I haven't spoken to Jan in quite some time- but I do wonder often if he still visits Lindey's all of these years later and if he orders the Seven Onion Martini.