Attention to Detail

"Nothing is more pleasant than to see a pretty woman, her napkin well placed under her arms, one of her hands on the table, while the other carries to her mouth, the choice piece so elegantly carved."
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

The last week or so I’ve begun, in earnest, to look for holiday gifts. I say in earnest, because it’s something I do all year, but as summer heat hits its crescendo, I find that thoughts of the cooler holidays help ease the pain of near triple-digit heat. One item on my list for the wife is a collection of high-quality, monogrammed, cloth cocktail napkins.

The idea has been in the back of my mind since I had drinks in the spring at the Oak Bar at the wonderful Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee. They have mastered the art of the elegant cocktail hour with wonderful snacks served in charming hotel-silver, three-compartment servers with tall central handle (desperately looking if anyone has run across one), a quality drinks menu at a time when so many are generic and cheesy, and the aforementioned cloth cocktail napkins.

I have found several choices for readily available napkins, but keep coming back to something bespoke. The maker I’m leaning towards is Leontine Linens as they have both a store and in-home consultation service here in Atlanta. I’m sure if they end up at our home we’ll be purchasing far more than cocktail napkins, so a trip to the store is probably the smarter option.

I’m leaning toward a single initial for our last name, though both of our first names begin with the same letter, so a three-letter palendromic monogram might be fun.

Here are pictures of a few monogrammed cocktail napkins to inspire.