Ann Abor, Les Dames d'Escoffier

Les Dames d'Escoffier, Ann Arbor Founded 2015
	Les Dames d'Escoffier International is the only organization its kind: a world-wide philanthropic society of professional women leaders in the fields of food, fine beverage, and hospitality.

Chapter Formation History: pre-2015

Founders

Alma Lach, was a great Chicago Chef, holding the ‘Grande Diplôme’ of Le Cordon Bleu in Paris France (awarded June 24, 1956), as well as numerous honors in the culinary worlds of food and wine (including ‘Dame of Distinction’ from the Chicago Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, Chevaliers du Tastevin, Chaine des Rotisseurs, Association des Anysetiers du Roy, and so forth). She was an early member of the Chicago Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, a cookbook author, a newspaper Food Editor, and a food consultant (among other things). In 2006, six years after the death of her husband, Donald F. Lach (Bernadotte Schmitt Professor of History, University of Chicago), Alma moved to Ann Arbor, while still retaining her large apartment in Chicago, to be near her daughter, Sandy Lach Arlinghaus. As she became accustomed to her new apartment on the top floor of Nature Cove Condominiums, she thought about what she missed in Chicago: both Les Dames d’Escoffier and the Quadrangle Club came to mind!

Replacing the Quadrangle Club membership was easy; she joined the Ann Arbor City Club. One day she said to Sandy, “let’s start an Ann Arbor Chapter of Les Dames with the City Club as its home base.” Shortly, the City Club Newsletter, The Beacon, did a feature story on us as a mother-daughter pair, including a prominent mention of our project in working together to try to build a Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier in Ann Arbor. Alma already knew a few folks around town she thought might be interested. So, she and Sandy brought our friend with whom we had frequently talked about culinary matters, Donna Tope M.S., J.D., into our serious discussions about this idea. It wasn’t long before I wanted to include my neighbor and friend, Chef Ricky Agranoff, partner and co-owner of the Moveable Feast, for many years Ann Arbor’s premier fine dining establishment. Alma had met Ricky on several occasions and told me “that girl knows food.” Donna was equally enthusiastic! The die was cast; the four of us were set to move forward, as co-founders, of Les Dames d’Escoffier Ann Arbor.

Sadly, Alma died suddenly in 2013 before she could see the work we all began earlier come to fruition. Further, Ricky died in 2020 before she could see our chapter emerge from the doldrums of the global pandemic. Although of course they are both greatly missed, their influence lives on and their memories are cherished.

Charter Request for Chapter Formation: 2015

Signed by Sandra Lach Arlinghaus

Charter Members: 2015

We invited a group that we hoped represented the diversity in interest that was present in our community. Ann Arbor is (and was in 2015) heavily academic in its orientation—a fine fit with the educational interests of Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI). It is (and was in 2015) also a town with heavy emphasis on environmental matters—another fine fit with elements, such as Green Tables, of the stated LDEI mission! These were the women whose names were submitted to LDEI in support of our Charter request. They supplied credentials that were evaluated directly by a panel of LDEI members. Subsequent LDEAA members were not subject to direct LDEI scrutiny (but to LDEAA Board approval). They are listed here with only the briefest indications of their full credential sets.

1. Raquel B. Agranoff, Retired Chef and Restaurant Co-Owner, C.C.P.

2. Antoinette Benjamin, CCP, Chef, Owner Food For All Seasons, Cooking School and Catering, 1998 International Catering Excellence Award.

3. Lizzie Burt, R.N., I.A.C.P. Health Educator, M Healthy Community Nutrition Culinary School, University of Michigan. Studied with Jacques Pepin and Simone Beck.

4. Carol Deinzer, B.A., Pastry Chef. Chef Educator, Professional Faculty, and Department Chair, Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management, Washtenaw Community College

5. Katherine Farrell, B.A., M.B.A., Grand Diploma La Varenne Ecole de Cuisine, Paris. President and Co-Founder of Katherine’s Catering and Special Events, Inc.

6. Cecilia Fileti, M.S., R.D., F.A.N.D., F.A.D.A. President and Owner, C. P. Fileti Associates, Inc., a food and health communications and regulatory response firm.

7. Lisa Howard, B.A. Cookbook author, Cooking Instructor, Culinary Speaker, and Food Educator.

8. Mercy Kasle, B.A. Restaurant owner.

9. Jan Longone, B.A. Curator of American Culinary History at Special Collections, Hatcher Library, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)

10. Alice Boehnke Lyders, Pastry Chef, Farmer

11. Mary Ann Nisley, Marketing Specialist, Whole Foods

12. Tierney Orfgen, Ph.D. (Michigan State University), Grande Diplôme (honors), Le Cordon Bleu, Paris. Assistant Professor, Eastern Michigan University, Hotel and Restaurant Management

13. Sharyl Politi, B.S., Professional Faculty, Culinary Arts & Hospitality Management, Washtenaw Community College

14. Ann Schriber, B.A. Ann Arbor News, Food Writer; Cookbook author; event planner.

15. Cindy Straub, Ph.D., Events and Volunteer Manager, University Musical Society, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor).

16. Sandy Lach Arlinghaus, Ph.D. Adjunct Professor, School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). President, Arlinghaus Enterprises, L.L.C. Expertise in specialized large-scale event planning sporadically over 40 years.

17. Donna K. Tope, M.S., J.D. Attorney and Owner, Cambridge Legal Services. As owner of Pen in Hand, I was a professional event planner for ten years. I grow food. I was a recipe tester for a published cookbook.

On September 14, 2015, LDEI issued approval for a new Chapter, Les Dames d’Escoffier Ann Arbor.

Co-Founders: Ann Arbor Chapter of LDEI

(written by Sandra Lach Arlinghaus)

My mother, Alma Lach, was a great Chicago Chef, holding the ‘Grande Diplôme’ of Le Cordon Bleu in Paris France (awarded June 29, 1956), as well as numerous honors in the culinary worlds of food and wine (including ‘Dame of Distinction’ from the Chicago Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, Chevaliers du Tastevin, Chaine des Rotisseurs, Association des Anysetiers du Roy, and so forth). Our Chicago Chapter Mentor, Toria Emas, notes:

Alma was in the first group of new members. 15 charter members were inducted on May 23, 1982 at L’Escargot and the second induction (18 members) was held at Maxim’s on November 1, 1982 which happened to be my birthday. Alma and I were in the second induction. Each of the charter members was asked to invite one or two women to join in fall. [Click here for a link to Chicago Chapter History as recounted on the Chicago Chapter website]

Alma wore a number of different hats, as a culinary multi-tasker ahead of her time: a cookbook author, a newspaper Food Editor, a food consultant, and a professional food photographer (among other things). Alma died suddenly in 2013 at the age of 99; she was skillful with a computer and continued to work until the day she died. Her unfinished works as well as all of her career documentation are housed in the Alma Lach Special Collection of the Joseph Regenstein Library of the University of Chicago. A project that she and I had been working on together, during the final years of her life, was to create a Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Much of Mom’s adult life had been spent in Chicago. In 2007, several years after the death of my father (in 2000), my husband Bill Arlinghaus and I persuaded her to get a ‘second’ home (of totally independent living) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, about 5 minutes away from us. She believed when she embarked on her trip to Ann Arbor on a lovely autumn day in late September of 2007 that she would be in Ann Arbor only a short time before she returned to Chicago and she could have done so at any time (she drove her own car until she died). However, when she arrived in Ann Arbor and saw her new Nature Cove Condominium apartment for the first time—she loved it—the beautiful view and the well-arranged interior suited her tastes very well. She never left; she lived in Ann Arbor for six years. She also made many new friends, especially Bob and Bea Kahn, while she continued to embrace her many friends from Chicago and elsewhere in her heart.

In about 2010, Mom decided that she would like to join the Ann Arbor City Club in order to play poker in their downstairs bar; she also wanted me and Bill to join, too. Soon we were all members and Mom loved going there to play poker, drink Scotch, and eat appetizers brought right to the circular poker table. She and I were the only two women in the game. Some of the men loved coming to try to beat her…but generally they left shaking their heads. She made them happy by buying them an occasional drink! Shortly after we all joined, the City Club Newsletter, The Beacon, did a feature story on us as a mother-daughter pair, including a prominent mention of our project in working together to try to build a Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier in Ann Arbor.

As she became accustomed to the City Club, Alma thought about founding the new Ann Arbor Chapter of Les Dames with a base at the City Club. She already knew a few folks around town she thought might be interested. So, she and I brought our friend with whom we had frequently talked about culinary matters, Donna K. Tope M.S., J.D., into our serious discussions about this idea. It wasn’t long before I wanted to include my neighbor and friend, Chef Ricky Agranoff, partner and co-owner of the Moveable Feast, for many years Ann Arbor’s premier fine dining establishment. Alma had met Ricky on several occasions and told me “that girl knows food.” If you knew Alma at all, you would know that that comment represented very high praise! Ricky introduced us to her long-time friend and advisor, Patricia Pooley (her business partner at the Moveable Feast)—several years ago, we enjoyed some pleasant conversation about the Ann Arbor food/wine scene. In subsequent discussions, Donna and I discovered that Ricky had thought earlier about founding a Chapter of Les Dames here in Ann Arbor, an effort of the late 1990s that somehow did not come to fruition. Naturally, it seemed a fine idea to pool our efforts and creativity.

The result of this four-way collaboration produced the Ann Arbor Chapter of LDEI: Four original co-founders of the Ann Arbor Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier: Alma Lach, Sandra Lach Arlinghaus, Donna K. Tope, and Raquel B. Agranoff.

WHAT DID WE MISS? PLEASE LET US KNOW! WEBMASTER: Sandy Arlinghaus, sarhaus@umich.edu

Image credits: Floral images, Alma S. Lach, copyright 1998, and Sandra Lach Arlinghaus. Burgundy/green LDE logo created by Alma Lach for the Chicago Chapter (of which she was an original first-year member) and used here with their permission. LDEI logo used here, in both original and modified form, with LDEI permission. Globe image, Google Earth (TM).