Rewind the Times: Retro Cocktails, Decor and Food

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PICK UP "REAL SIMPLE" magazine or flip on the Food Network and ultra-contemporary, Flash Gordon-quick entertaining ideas appear faster than you can say "Rachael Ray." Sure, foam appetizers and locavore lunches are hip, but sometimes looking to the past, not the future, makes for a more welcoming, warm party. Donna Reed, June Cleaver and Grandma: Can we please see your recipe card boxes?

In the days before Evite and Trader Joe's microwaveable crab cakes, folks entertained in grand — and sometimes goofy — style. Think finger bowls on the table, gin fizzes in highball glasses and Beef Wellington on the menu. And while you may not want to resurrect Great-Aunt Ethel's recipe for Eggs in Aspic, partying like Lucy and Ricky (or F. Scott and Zelda) can be both retro and scrumptious.

"Dinner parties are a lost art," says chef Gillian Clark of Colorado Kitchen (5515 Colorado Ave. NW), whose homey Brightwood Park restaurant puts new twists on throwback dishes like fried chicken and pineapple upside-down cake.

For a fete that would rival a Kennedy-era White House dinner, start by digging through vintage cookbooks or visiting sites like Retro-housewife.com for how-tos on elegant chocolate soufflés and lobster thermidor. Or go for kitschy comfort foods like meatloaf or that pu-pu platter fave, crab rangoon dumplings. "Visit the library or used bookstore for books," says Bonnie Slotnick, owner of an antique cookbook shop bearing her name in New York City. "They can take you on a little trip. Look for one that speaks to you."

For a personal touch, trot out family recipes and heirloom serving pieces. Grandma's chocolate icebox cake just tastes better when served from one of her treasured china dessert platters.

Walking down culinary memory lane doesn't have to mean sticking with the same techniques found in decades-old issues of Better Homes and Gardens. "Retro can taste great when you use good ingredients," says Clark. That means canning the canned cream of mushroom soup in that green bean casserole and substituting a homemade stock.

Or take mac and cheese from TV-dinner boring to dinner-party glam by replacing Velveeta with Emmenthal and Gruyere, and adding bits of chopped pancetta or shaved black truffles. Toasted brown-and-serve rolls can be gussied up with herbed butter or olive tapenade.

Need past-perfect finger foods? Try caviar-topped deviled eggs, or put a modern spin on pigs in a blanket by wrapping good sausages in filo dough and baking at 450 F for about 10 minutes.

And since downing cocktails was a big part of 20th-century parties, make like a "Thin Man" character and greet pals at the door with a drink. "It was good form to have beverages waiting when guests arrived. A fun martini would be perfect," says Anna Post, great-great-granddaughter of etiquette goddess Emily Post and author of several manners books.

Seattle mixologist Ryan Magarian, who runs a "cocktail consulting" business, recommends mixing a Brown Derby, a potion created at Hollywood's ritzy Vendome Club in the '30s. "It is a fantastic, retro drink. I make it with Wild Turkey 101 Rye 101, clover honey syrup and fresh grapefruit juice," he says.

Old-school food and drink go hand-in-hand with old customs like sending out — gasp! — snail-mail invites. "When the mailbox is filled with bills and junk mail, receiving a real party invitation can be exciting," says Post. She likes Kate Spade's mod notes, and Hello! Lucky's letterpress cards set the tone with flappers or what seem to be 1960s debutants.

For a retro bash, dressing yourself up is almost as important as setting up your pad. That means a cocktail frock (maybe something black and lacy from the 1950s?) for gals — and at least a blazer for guys. "In the '50s, most women would be dressed long before the guests got there," says Post. "Wear your evening attire, but put on an apron to avoid splashing in the kitchen." For aprons that evoke "Leave It to Beaver," try Kitchenglam.com or Carolynskitchenonline.com.

If you have an old cocktail shaker or Fiestaware pitcher, now's the time to show it off. Or hit a vintage store like Millennium Decorative Arts (1528 U St. NW; 202-483-1218) or Good Eye (4918 Wisconsin Ave. NW; 202-244-8516) for kitschy highball glasses.
For tunes, if you don't have an old-fashioned record player and some vintage vinyl, put your iPod on a shuffle of Frank, Dean-O and other Rat Packers.

Throwing a sit-down shindig? "By all means, use place cards," Post recommends. "If you want to be more formal, use people's last names with their titles on them and arrange them boy, girl, boy, girl, with couples separated." A bonus: As the host, you can sit next to your crush or avoid spending dinner next to your pal's dull-as-tapioca girlfriend.

And, of course, if you're trying to summon the time of Rockwell and "Rock Around the Clock," desserts can provide a sweet, sentimental finale. According to "The Emily Post Cookbook" (Funk & Wagnalls, 1951), "the usual formal dinner party dessert is ice cream, but it may equally well be meringues ... or a lattice-topped fruit pie." Whip up a pie yourself, or buy one from Baked & Wired (1052 Thomas Jefferson St. NW; 202-333-2500).

Or, be like Clark, and take a cue from childhood. At her restaurant, she re-creates old-timey cupcakes some nights. "My favorite thing growing up was Drake's Ring Dings," she says. "I make mini chocolate cakes and fill them with ganache." If that's too Julia Child-ish for you, fill a silver tray with Twinkies or other store-bought sweets Mom would've forbidden.

Reviving dishes and dictates of the past is a little like settling in for a night of Turner Classic Movie flicks or old sitcom reruns — it's just tastier and more tangible. "Tradition in food is lost to trends," says Clark. "What can really wow are smells, flavors and textures that bring it back."

Written by Express contributor Erin Hartigan
Photos by Marge Ely/Express