Baltimore Eats - Getting' in the Spirit

Azafran -Spanish for saffron."It is an Arabic word," Irena explains, "One that comes from the Moors... from when the Moors lived in Spain. There are many gorgeous Spanish words that came from the Moors...beautiful words like albahaca, which is basil, azahar, the flower of the lemon tree." In Irena's delicate, hybrid French/Venezuelan accent these words are truly beautiful! Irena Stein hails from Caracas, Venezuela. With a Polish father and a Venezuelan mother, she spent her childhood in both South America and in Europe, primarily Paris and Brussels.

"My father always was nostalgic about Europe and we'd go -and then my mother would be nostalgic for Venezuela and we'd go back, and back and forth like that..." she laughs. "So we ended up doing our education in French schools because you can find a French school anywhere."

Irena came to the US in 1980 on a Fulbright scholarship to Stanford to pursue a Masters Degree in Cultural Anthropology. "Then I stayed on, got married, and had a child." Due to personal circumstances, she took a job working with a jewelry designer out in California.

"I had never worked with my hands before. This was new to me and it was exciting to become involved in the arts. I was always the social scientist, so this was a great opportunity for me to develop my own sense of aesthetic, my own expression. Often now, when I work with the food, I find myself arranging things in just this way or that and I think: I'm still designing jewelry but now working with this lovely food!"

Eventually she built up a strong reputation as a designer/craftsperson in her own right and after 18 years in California she found herself well established as a nationally known player in the art crafts marketplace.

"I moved to the east coast because all my business was over here. I was doing craft shows -the Smithsonian shows and the shows in Boston, New York and Chicago. And I also wanted my daughter to see life on the east coast -to see a different part of the United States."

After the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11, her jewelry business dropped off radically. "People became less interested in purchasing luxury things. I knew I was going to have to re-think everything and find another way to make a living!" she exclaims.

"I have always had a great passion for food and loved cooking beautiful food. All my friends said I should go in that direction at this point in my life, so I thought I would try it. I started a catering business in 2002."

Two years ago John Shields was approached by staff at the Space Telescope Science Institute on San Martin Drive with a proposal to take over the management and re-design of the cafeteria there. John was too busy with his own restaurant, Gertrude's, to consider it, but he suggested that they talk with his friend Irena.

"John thought that my cooking style would be a good match for an International environment such as this one. When I came to talk with them I presented my food. A bite is worth a thousand words. I said: 'Maybe they like it - Maybe they don't.' This is the kind of food I do. And they liked it!"

It was a very big step for her to take -designing her own professional kitchen, creating a full menu, doing the interior decorating and hiring staff. "John, Gerard Billebault, from Brasserie Tatin, and other friends in the food industry came to help me design this open kitchen. We put all the plans and ideas together, working on it for eight or nine months."

Today the once dismal cafeteria has been completely transformed. A warm and lively Spanish-leaning dÈcor is balanced by the serenity of the dense little forest viewed through the wide windows that form one long wall of the space. World Beat music, an orange and gold color scheme and real fresh roses on every table fill out a mood that is inviting, comfortable, contemporary and stylish.

The Institute wanted to bring in an alternative to the usual University cafeteria fare by offering really homemade, healthy food, so perhaps an even greater transformation came in the form of the new menu Irena created. "Before, this was a really lousy place for the food," Irena laments. She built her menu around quality, fresh ingredients combined with a multi-cultural approach to recipe development. Her patrons come from all over the world and Irena offers them healthy food prepared with a sophistication that is unique for this type of venue. "The Astrophysics Institute at Harvard came to us and wanted to see how we were having success with a healthy and elaborate approach to food within an institutional setting."

Irena also enjoys celebrating foods in their different cultural backgrounds. This year the celebration of the Mexican Day of the Dead ran from October 23rd to the 28th and featured a special menu that included Yucatecan soup, albondigas, quesadillas with cactus and mushrooms; shrimp tacos; chicken enchiladas with green sauce San Luis style, tamales with chicken picadillo, flautas, Flan, rice pudding, Vanilla Ice cream with roasted pineapple and rose petal sauce. Wow!

Azafr·n serves breakfast and lunch on weekdays, and offers a good selection of vegetarian items as well as weekly soup, entrÈe and dessert specials. The cafÈ is not open nights or weekends but Irena operates a growing catering business from her kitchen on the campus. Use of the dining room for special functions is restricted to people or organizations affiliated with Hopkins and the Association of Universities for Research and Astronomy, but she also does a thriving off-site business. "We go out for a lot of private parties. We often go the American Visionary Museum -which I love because you can be so creative there!"

She explains, "We don't often go in for a lot of huge, hot meals. We are known for our multi-cultural approach to menus -mainly of hors d'oeuvre, tapas, etc. What we do is very international. There's a Latin touch, obviously, but the flavors are from everywhere -North African, Mediterranean, Asian, French, everything and everywhere... We are known for that and for our creative use of flavor. We do nothing bland; everything is highly flavored."

In all of this Irena continually credits her staff: "Without them I would have no business!" As she introduces the chef Ted Gowrie and the other workers in her kitchen, the pride she has in them, the esteem she has for them, is nearly a visible glow. Describing her catering staff she explains that: "I try to always hire people that I know because it is important to me that my staff be lovely, lovely people... that they have a beautiful smile, elegance and a kindly concern with making the guests happy and pleasing them. I think that is the most important thing."

A practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism for more than 30 years, she calls her success in this new environment a reflection of what she calls Good Fortune. "In my spiritual practice we don't talk of 'Luck.' When you practice everyday, this form of practice leads to incredible transformations in your life and you come to really, really want to do your best, to be the best, kindest person you can be, to live the best life that you can, to contribute to humanity," she insists, "And that will attract Good Fortune to your life."

-Bonnie North

Azafran Cafe and Catering
3700 San Martin Drive
410.338.4757