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Tea & Sympathy
There is this New Yorker cartoon. A man walks past a shop. Inside there's a glum store clerk wiping a counter in front of a seated customer. The shop sign reads, "COFFEE and a KICK IN THE PANTS (FORMERLY TEA and SYMPATHY)." This was an amusing spoof of the unofficial New York embassy in Greenwich Village for the British expatriate community, Tea & Sympathy, an authentic English teashop exuberantly and eccentrically run and owned by expatriate Nicola ("Nicky") Perry.
Our story begins with Nicky Perry getting hit by a bicycle in her native London 13 years ago. She was then a tea lady at the London Stock Exchange. The accident struck her as a sign. It was time for her to hang up her "pinny" and go for her dream of owning a teashop created in her own unique image.
Tea shop, Mum's home cookery, and workingman's cafe -- that's what Perry wanted -- and all that in the heart of New York. And, "most important," she says, "a place where you could sit and gossip over a proper cup of Rosie Lee (that's Britspeak for a cuppa tea)."
And so began Perry's tea saga. Since then, a shop that seats 22 has served not only famous Brits living in the States (David Bowie, Hayley Mills, Tina Brown, Rupert Everett) but also rabid anglophile New Yorkers -- plus a rich assortment of eccentrics, characters and just regular folks.
Waitress Anita Naughton, an aspiring novelist, decided it was time to write a tell-all book about Tea & Sympathy, including the wonderful recipes regulars have inquired about for years.
Her Tea & Sympathy is a funny, delicious, compassionate look at the staff, customers and characters who have made Perry's dream come true. Like the cross-dressing Lady Bunny, or the local Episcopalian priest Chip the Vicar. Or Peter, the expert on military uniforms (there's a book photo of him dressed in Napoleonic splendor). Or Smitty, an octogenarian widower who hobbles in for scones, coffee and chats with the "girls," as the waitresses are known to the regulars. And let's not leave out Libby and Amanda -- the "Breakfast Twins."
The recipes in the cook book were praised by a New York Times food critic. The usual suspects -- Bubble and Squeak, Toad in the Hole, Shepherd's Pie, Cornish Pasty -- are joined by many less familiar dishes, including Nicola's Fish Cakes with Parsley Sauce. Those seem to be her take on an old and popular Cockney dish that uses eels.
Whether you love drinking tea or wish to eat English boarding school favorites -- or just delight in a good read -- Tea & Sympathy could be your "cuppa tea."
As author Naughton told the Times: "Nicky cares so much. She's in here every single day, even when she doesn't have to be. This is her love, her great love."
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