GARDINER — With a week to go before the start of Hanukkah on Sunday and nowhere to host her 12th annual latke party, Susan Montell of Gardiner had just finished a nice lunch at Goldfinch Creamery and was so impressed with the setting and dining experience that she approached owner Hope Olivencia to ask a favor.

Could Olivencia host the dinner featuring traditional Jewish food, which also serves as an annual gathering of friends and family, at the recently opened spot?

Despite having only been open for about a month, and never having made latkes, and not being Jewish, Olivencia said yes, just in time to mark the first day of Hanukkah.

“I’ve always had the attitude that if it is within the realm of being able to do it, I’m going to do it,” Olivencia said as she and her family members prepared and served a couple of dozen attendees of the annual gathering. “And I just love the idea of the event, so I really wanted to do it.”

Last year, the event, which has been held at different restaurants over the years, had to be canceled after The Blind Pig Tavern, also on Water Street, had a problem with a stove or other piece of kitchen equipment, said Montell.

After not being able to have it last year, Montell said having the latke party this year was a must, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

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“I just feel like this is what we need right now, with everything going on in the world,” she said of the gathering, which hosted several of her own family members, including her father, Jim, and son, Aaron, who came home from the University of Maine at Farmington for it. “You feel the love here, the warmth, the hospitality.”

All were welcome to stop by for the traditional Jewish holiday dish Sunday evening, regardless of their religion or where they were from. While Montell is Jewish, many attendees were not.

Abigail Stratton of Augusta saw a flyer that mentioned the latke party while she was volunteering at the Johnson Hall Festival of Trees a few doors down. She said she loves latkes, which her mom, who is Russian, would make for her.

“I like latkes and I haven’t had them in years,” Stratton said. “I tried making them, but it didn’t go well.”

Barbara Kaiser and her daughter, Heidi Worthing, said the Goldfinch Creamery’s latkes were delicious. Other diners agreed.

Kaiser and Worthing said they came because they love latkes and sometimes make them. Neither is Jewish, but Kaiser’s husband’s mother was in Germany during the Holocaust.

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The creamery’s normal offerings are more along the lines of ice cream, hot chocolate, coffee and tea, soup and sandwiches, pastries and other treats.

Latke potato pancakes were available Sunday in what the Water Street eatery called a Chanukah Lunch Box, which included salad, dessert and beverage. Inside dining was available or lunch boxes could also be ordered to go.

Olivencia said because she had never made latkes, she did what many cooks do when faced with making a dish they have never attempted. She Googled it.

Latkes are a traditional Jewish dish served at Hanukkah.  The Festival of Lights is an eight-day commemoration of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, a minor Jewish holiday.

It is the hot oil, not the fried potato cakes themselves, that honor the Jewish tradition because the festival celebrates the miracle of an oil supply that was to last a day but lasted eight days.

Latkes, which are made with shredded potato, eggs, flour and other ingredients, appear to have materialized as a Hanukkah food by the late 18th century.


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