Remembering Jean-Claude Baker
In Ralph Blumenthal’s New York Times tribute to the late Manhattan restaurateur of Chez Josephine, I relished the following paragraph about Blumenthal’s final encounters with Jean-Claude: ‘Mr. Baker raved about his godson Devin, his caretaker’s autistic 7-year-old son he was supporting. And he shared photos he had recently unearthed of his birth mother, a former nun who left the convent in 1940, fleeing the Germans and suffering prison before starting a family.’ I had a small birthday celebration at Chez Josephine in October, and when Jean-Claude came to our table he enthused about that godson. He didn’t mention the nun.
