Pauline & Pauline
I was “commissioned” to do this following story for a dear friend who is embroiled in a project that is becoming absolutely huge! It’s called The Pauline Project, and I am intrinsically involved. Check it out!
Pauline & Pauline
I don’t pretend to know every detail of this story. I extrapolated info from the faded memories of old people, included some second-hand restaurant folklore, and added my own foggy recollections to fill in a few gaps. In her quiet unassuming way, Pauline Hershenson became an integral part of the make-up and personality of our restaurant in Boston, she kept to herself but her presence was palpable. I vividly recall the day Pauline passed away. She had taken a bad fall down her stairs at home and did not recover. Radius was stunned and quieted and would never be the same for all of us who loved our Pauline. This is a story about her, and how a tiny piece of her existence continues to be shared across the world.
Radius restaurant lived on High Street near South Station in Boston from 1999 until 2013. Every single day we baked these crusty, chewy and wonderfully aromatic sourdough rolls. Tim Macklin, one of my outstanding pastry assistants at the time, was mostly responsible for that deliciousness, he was steadfast in perfecting the formula. He cultivated our starter with organic grapes purchased at the Bread and Circus on Westland Ave. In a few short weeks, we were producing tasty little orbs, redolent of wild yeast and artisan wheat flour for our guests. It was a special time in our kitchen when we formed those baby breads. The whole kitchen crew stopped every afternoon and everyone contributed to dividing, rolling, and traying up those extensible doughlets by hand. It was a time to stop, breath, and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a salty crew of sarcastic hard-working cooks to enjoy or resent one another’s company. It was a spiritual task, ask anyone who was there, as we affectionately abused and laughed at one another for about 15 minutes. It didn’t suck when those rolls came out of the oven either, fresh-baked bread is restaurant perfume! It was spiritual for another reason; Tim was not the only one to add magic to those beautifully blistered and buttery buns.
Pauline was living in New York when she met and married Sandy Hershenson. Together they relocated to East Charlotte, Vermont, near the banks of Lake Champlain, in the 1970’s. Sandy expanded his frame business in Vermont and Pauline loved to cook at home and collected recipes from The New York Times and countless other sources. She started baking for The Fresh Ground Coffee House in Burlington from her home kitchen, and from there a catering business took form. The business flourished and she soon had dreams of opening a restaurant.
A Greek restaurant, in South Burlington, previously a truck stop A Greek restaurant in South Burlington, previously a truck stop named Thelma’s, stood abandoned and Pauline bought the business. Rumor has it that Thelma’s failed because Thelma did all the work and her husband gambled their money away! Pauline operated Pauline’s Cafe, from sometime in the 1960’s until the early 1980’s. She was talked into the name, as she disliked drawing attention to herself. She did it all at the restaurant: cooked, cleaned, counted beans, served, put together the menus which varied every week, and created new recipes. In the late 1970’s, Pauline hired a couple, Janie and Chuck Kozlowski, to help her run the restaurant, around the time she filed for divorce from Sandy. The plan was for the Kozlowskis to learn the biz, and eventually take over the restaurant. I believe that transition took place in the late 70’s or early 80’s, and Pauline moved to Boston to start a new life as a professional bookkeeper. Unfortunately, about a year or so later, Chuck went out to start his car to run an errand, and died suddenly behind the steering wheel. As Pauline had a financial stake in Pauline’s Cafe, she moved back to Vermont and helped Janie run it for some time.
She eventually sold the restaurant to Robert Fuller in April of 1982, over a conversation at her kitchen table. He agreed to buy Pauline’s Cafe that day and Pauline moved back to Boston shortly after. Robert has some serious Pauline stories! He told me Pauline’s Cafe was famous for their popovers and still are. Robert had a relationship with those popovers; he said they were problematic and a pain in the ass! Be careful what you get famous for! With the cafe in safe hands, Pauline was able to move back to Boston to continue with the new life she chose.
I knew of Pauline, peripherally through Christopher Myers, who was co-owner of Rialto restaurant in Cambridge Massachusetts in the 1990’s. Pauline was the bookkeeper for both Rialto and Michela’s restaurants as well as for other Boston restaurant luminaries. I was the pastry chef at Cafe Louis at the time, collaborating with Chef Michael Schlow. When Christopher and Michael decided to open Radius, I became the pastry chef and Pauline decidedly became our bookkeeper. She was in her 70’s! She had a very close relationship with both Christopher, and especially our general manager, Esti Benson,. Pauline and Esti were kindred spirits, as Esti was able to multi-job as well as anyone. Esti recalled Pauline sipped a cup of very hot black coffee with every meal. She disliked cut flowers because they died. She loved to cook and create elaborate meals for herself. She loved her home and took great care of it. She disliked affection, except on holidays. I recall Pauline being no-bullshit, somewhat fierce, and very funny! Pauline told Christopher she thought we were all wimps for holding down just one job title! I have fond memories of Pauline at Radius, we developed a great friendship. When you got to know her, she was warm, friendly, and had this subtle yet hysterical sense of humor. She was an integral part of the personality of Radius.
About a week or so after Pauline’s death, we heard rumors about this sourdough starter that Pauline’s daughter Amy had recovered from Pauline’s refrigerator at home. She told us that the starter was used by Pauline for many years, as her last cooking passion was bread baking. Amy stopped in with it one day and asked if we had a use for it. Of course, we added Pauline’s starter to ours to not only enhance, but to keep the legend of Pauline alive and well! Our starter now had legitimacy, some folklore, and a name...Pauline! I cried that day and many others, thinking about my friend while caretaking her starter. If you ask anyone, our rolls were way better than pre-Pauline.
The reason why Pauline (the starter) exists today, is because of an unflagging effort to keep her alive and well, by one P.J. Waters. P.J. started with me in the pastry department as an unpaid apprentice sometime after Radius opened. Even before I left, P.J. was already making his presence known for his out of the box creativity and ingenuity. Because of his persistence, he not only took over as the pastry chef a few years later, he elevated the desserts to a whole new level, won numerous awards, and when Radius closed, P.J. single-handedly saved Pauline!
P.J. mailed me a gloppy portion of Pauline stuffed into an envelope a few years back. I was able to keep her alive for a year or two, until I left her in the hands of a colleague to care for while on vacation. That did not go well. No worries, I just received a dried portion of Pauline in the mail today from P.J.! He has initiated The Pauline Project, drying portions of Pauline, and sending her in the mail around the world! Pauline, in her present state, has now been sent, re-hydrated, proofed, kneaded, shaped and baked into glorious golden crustiness not only coast to coast, but to Poland and Slovakia so far. P.J. told me the stories and connections he has made are unbelievable. He asked me to write a story to accompany Pauline, as she makes her way around the globe. I am honored to be a part of his endeavor.
Is Pauline so much different than other sourdough starters in this world? Wild yeast and lactobacillus microbial combos have been around for a very long time and they usually differ somewhat in molecular makeup and flavor, but in this case, that is not the most important or distinguishing factor. Pauline will most likely morph into unique versions of herself, dependent upon where she resides, as microbes, wild yeast strains and terroir will contribute to her unique qualities. We all change, depending on where we are.
Pauline has achieved immortality, as her starter lives on. In this unique time of our existence, one can hope that the legacy of our special Pauline unites us in some homespun way and serves as an antidote for our collective wounded psyches. Each and every person who receives a portion of Pauline, will receive a copy of this story. Pretty cool. Well done P.J.! Well done.
PC
Pauline’s Cafe, 1834 Shelburne Road, South Burlington, Vermont, continues to operate today (takeout only at this viral moment). Robert sold the restaurant to Chef David Hoene in 2007 and he now runs Pauline’s Cafe. He makes those problematic popovers 50 years later. Special thanks to Robert Fuller, David Hoene, Chris Myers, Esti Benson, Tim Macklin, and of course P.J. for your recollections.
PC