Week 2 of our 41st Anniversary Celebration

Featuring an excerpt from Chef Brach, Chez News 86 (June 2007)

At Chez Nous, every dish we prepare carries a story—sometimes a memory, sometimes a mentor. As we celebrate 41 years this month, I’ve been revisiting some of the newsletters written by our founder, Chef Brach. His words still ring true today—witty, wise, and so very him.

In his 2007 piece, “The Secrets of Great Food,” he posed a simple question:

What makes food taste great, as opposed to merely good?

The answer? Nostalgia.

“Great food often contains one additional element – nostalgia. Like flipping through an old photo album, food has the power to arouse memories and bring us back to special moments in time.”

This idea struck a chord with me. We often chase perfection in our ingredients, our technique, our plating—but the dishes that linger in memory are the ones that make us feel something. Sometimes it’s a soup that reminds you of your grandmother. Other times it’s a dessert that conjures a family celebration or a dish from a trip you never forgot. Nostalgia, as Chef Brach put it, is cooking’s secret ingredient.

Here’s another excerpt that captures Chef Brach’s brilliance:

“To anyone else, my grandmother’s cabbage sausages are probably not the best in the world. But they are the best to me, because of the memories I associate with them.”

That’s the magic of food. It doesn’t just fill us—it connects us.

Join Us in Week Two of Our Anniversary Celebration

Whether you’re dining with us for the first time or the forty-first, we hope this week’s menu rekindles something familiar in you. A flavor. A feeling. A forgotten story.

We’ll be sharing another of Chef Brach’s classic newsletters next week, so stay tuned. His lessons are as relevant today as ever—and they continue to shape who we are, 41 years later.

Bon Appétit et Merci Beaucoup,

Chef Stacy