From: Valerie Gardner

Two years ago, after sampling some delicious barbecue at Marianna's birthday party, I learned that Elmer was the cook. I complimented him on it and asked for the recipe. Shortly thereafter, I received an elaborately detailed recipe for "Our Version of Harry Grossman's 1938 'Treasure Chest' BBQ Sauce" and the following family lore: "In the late 1930s my parents built and ran a shop on the highway east of Los Angeles. Initially they sold Indian and Mexican art objects and other artifacts, but the shop rapidly developed into a quite successful barbecue restaurant. This recipe is a more complex version of the sauce they served. "

I was so impressed at how complicated the recipe was and the long history of evolution and testing that was involved, that I wrote back to thank him and, being the entrepreneur that I am, I suggested he consider bottling and selling it or licensing the recipe to a charitable group like Newman's Own, as a special Jewish BBQ entry in the somewhat dull barbecue sauce market. Whereupon, Elmer shared another wonderful bit of family history, which was wonderful to read: "Well, i think I’ll leave the sauce a family rather than a commercial product, but I do appreciate your nice letter. Your comment about my parents unusual history is accurate. My father was a lawyer, a business man, an inventor, a talented woodworker, a leader of the local Jewish community, and the family wise man and mediator or disputes. My mother was a solid and strong family person, calm and generous, and a wonderfully hard worker in the community, and in the family’s rather brief but intense period of running a restaurant. They were a fine and loving couple. She was so devoted to our families' history of Hungarian-Jewish cooking that she organized and published a cookbook for friends and family so the younger generations would not lose the traditions. Interesting and deeply decent people, I think."

It was a treat to be gifted with the recipe and it has been an honor to know him. Please give Elmer a hug from me and whisper my thanks for his warm generosity and wisdom over the years.