SHERBURNE – When George Lewis joined the monastery, it wasn’t necessarily to devote himself to God. He’d already answered the call to his life-long ministry – food.
Lewis, a native of Sherburne and veteran of the restaurant trade, spent many years as a chef/major domo at Christ The King Retreat House and Conference Center in Syracuse. While there, in addition to honing his culinary skills, Lewis began weaving together stories from his Chenango childhood, his experiences at the retreat and the recipes he was perfecting ... it seemed only logical that “there was a book in there somewhere.”
And indeed there was. At the urging of longtime friend Bill Craine, Lewis, whose family operates Lewis’ Restaurant in Sherburne (that of the iconic lighthouse fame) tapped into his Lebanese cultural background and started banging out one recipe a week, along with a story to relate to it.
The result is “Cooking at the Monastery: Hommous to Tabouleh in the Garden of Allah,” a self-published tome that’s part cookbook, part history of his upbringing in Sherburne. Lewis will be signing copies of his book tonight at the family restaurant in Sherburne, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Lewis dedicates the book to Craine and his late sister, June Lewis Schieffer (also tied to local restaurant lore through Ossie’s restaurants), but the real impetus behind getting it published was his niece and editor, Karen Lewis Jackson.
While Lewis jokingly alleges there may be charges pending against Jackson, he’s actually grateful that she “stole” the manuscript. Although Lewis had painstakingly put together the recipes and tied in his stories, he never really thought of publishing it. That is, until niece Karen came to visit and wound up cooking and elaborate meal with him. Wanting hard copies of the recipes, Karen was told to access her uncle’s computer for the files. There, she found not only the recipes, but the nearly-finished manuscript for “Cooking at the Monastery.” A quick e-mail of the file to herself, and the rest is, or will be, culinary history.
Many of the stories in the book relate to the Sherburne of Lewis’ youth in the 1940s and 50s. “We had quite the ethnic melting pot up there,” Lewis recalls, with the Utica Knitting Mill drawing immigrants of Lebanese, Polish and Italian families. “We converged on the Irish who were already there,” Lewis joked. “It was like living in a little city.”
Lewis says Sherburne residents will find much to enjoy his book – in both food and memories. Many of the tales came to him through his sister, June. “When she was having dialysis in Syracuse, I’d sit with her and say, ‘Tell me a story,’” he said.
A special book-signing and open house celebrating the publishing of “Cooking at the Monastery” will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. tonight at Lewis’ Restaurant in Sherburne. In addition to the traditional fare, there will be light hors d’oeuvres and refreshments. The book sells for $22. For more information, visit georgescooking.com.