The picturesque nature of Clifton’s Main Street drew Warrenton plein air artist Palmer Smith to the town around 2008, when he set up his easel to paint town landmarks, including the antique buggy in front the Heart in Hand restaurant. Smith belongs to the recently formed Art Guild of Clifton. Photo by Marti Moore
A quaint village in Western Fairfax County enjoyed anonymity until the day former first lady Nancy Reagan came to town. It was the mid-1980s and Clifton hasn’t been the same since.
Northern Virginia native Donna Netschert, 65, remembers Reagan’s first visit like it was yesterday.
She was an invited guest of the owner of the Heart in Hand restaurant and tearoom — where Mrs. Reagan and conservative opinion writer George F. Will had a lunch reservation one Monday in December 1985.
Netschert said it was the only day of the week the restaurant ordinarily was closed. Heart in Hand owner Suzi Worsham had little time to prepare for her honored guests and didn’t want them to feel like they were dining in a ghost town.
So Worsham did what every good business woman would do in this situation.
“She packed the restaurant with locals,” Netschert declared.
“Every seat was filled.”
Netschert said Worsham instructed everyone to be on their best behavior.
“I missed the announcement about ‘please no photos’ and was reprimanded by the Secret Service for using my camera,” Netschert admits.
“Remember this was back in the day before cell phones!”
NETSCHERT refreshed her memory by skimming through old newspaper clippings of the visits and confirmed her recollection that Reagan wore her signature red.
“It must have been a Christmas tradition,” Donna realized, for Reagan and Will to eat at the Heart in Hand. A Dec. 22, 1988 story in local community newspaper the CentreView reports diners serenaded the highly esteemed guests with a cheerful carol “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” as Reagan and Will departed from their third and last visit to Clifton.
At the time, Will ate the Kentucky Hot Brown sandwich, “a chicken breast sautéed, and topped with a Mornay sauce and cheese over toast,” as described by the restaurant menu.
Reagan ate a chef salad that wasn’t offered to diners. They did not have dessert.
It wasn’t unusual for the first lady to request something out of the ordinary. Fairfax Station resident Roland Mesnier, 71, was executive pastry chef in the White House from 1979 to 2010 and knew Reagan’s penchant for perfection.
“I learned a lot from her how to navigate preparing desserts for the heads of state around the world.”
Mesnier — a classically trained French chef and food chemist — went as far as learning the art of glassblowing during Reagan’s reign so he could create dessert sculptures out of sugar for a special event.
He said Reagan had a very good eye for how tables should look. She knew food and how it should taste. She disliked the color gray in her food.
“It should be pretty and happy,” Mesnier noted.
Although he strived to achieve his best work for every president, Mesnier believes Reagan’s high standards definitely helped him maintain that premium level of quality for the next administration.
He understands the general public’s devotion to Reagan’s taste and style, and sees how Heart in Hand customers were drawn to Clifton because the first lady ate there a few times.
The 1988 CentreView article also stated Will purchased four complete place settings of the Heart in Hand stoneware as a Christmas gift for Reagan.
Since then, visitors far and wide were drawn for nearly two more decades to the Heart in Hand restaurant at 7145 Main St.
The late actor Don DeFore — who played George Baxter in the popular 1960s television show “Hazel” — came all the way from Hollywood to eat there.
According to his son, Ron, the actor was a long-time friend of President Ronald Reagan and his wife. Both actors appeared together in the 1952 Warner Brothers movie “She’s Working Her Way Through College.” Ron said his father performed more work for the Republican Party than he did for Hollywood and “garnered more respect in the political world that surpassed his acting career.”
Ron, 65, said “My parents are the ones who suggested we eat at the Heart in Hand because Nancy really liked it.”
Although his father had access to the finest restaurants in the world, the Heart in Hand appealed to the actor because he was a conservative country boy from Iowa.
The building itself — the Buckley Brothers Store built around 1900 — spoke volumes to the DeFore family, which owned a family restaurant in Frontierland.
“My dad was the only person in history to have his name on a restaurant in Disneyland,” Ron claims. Don DeFore’s Silver Banjo Barbeque fed visitors between 1957 and 1960 with a 19th-century Western theme, according to the fan website Ron maintains in memory of his father at www.defore.net and on Facebook.
The restaurant’s common denominator with Heart in Hand is both dining establishments had “the ambiance of America in an earlier time,” DeFore recalls.
WORSHAM, a conservative country girl from Tennessee, is well-regarded for her interior design taste in antiques and rustic charm. She and her husband, Travis, restored at least five historic homes in Clifton that were featured in various lifestyle magazines throughout the years.
Suzi added her personal touch to the Heart in Hand and filled it with antique furniture, old pottery and vintage quilts. Decorating for Christmas was a production on the first Monday of December, when the restaurant was closed. She garnered help from close friends by rewarding them with a home-cooked meal.
Part of the Heart in Hand allure that drew the DeFore family to Clifton is the huge red landmark bore a strong resemblance to Ron’s beloved childhood home in California, where his father built a red and white house with a barn and silo.
“It was like going back to the old Mandeville House,” in the heart of Brentwood. Ron said his parents looked forward to their dining experience in Clifton.
Ron said he came to Washington, D.C., in 1982 to work as a Reagan appointee to the Peace Corps., for which he was the officer and acting director of public affairs until 1984. He stayed in the area and continued visiting the Heart in Hand with his wife, Laurie, when they lived in Fairfax Station. Of course, their favorite spot was the same as most restaurant patrons — the best table in the house:
In the Quilt Room.
By the fireplace.
Especially in winter.
Ron’s favorite dish was the roast breast of duck served with gingered brown sauce. Laurie loved the Chicken Suzanne, a sautéed boneless breast of chicken served with a dollop of herb butter.
At their home in Haymarket, Laurie refers to a recipe in “Cooking with the Heart in Hand” by Suzanne Winningham Worsham as she makes the restaurant’s bleu cheese salad – but substitutes pecans with walnuts.
Although locals would state Clifton’s success stands on nearly 40 years worth of hard work from public servants on the Town Council, business owners, employees and residents, they must agree the Nancy Reagan visits add value to its cachet as a historic destination.
Years ago, when Netschert considered putting her Chestnut Street residence up for sale, her real estate agent advised her to showcase all artifacts of the first lady’s visits because they may help sell the house sooner at a higher price.
THESE DAYS, thousands of visitors are drawn to Clifton each year through annual homes tours in the spring and winter, a summer wine festival, a Labor Day antique car show, Haunted Trail and several local businesses plus a recently-formed arts guild.
The town is vintage yet quirky with nearly five watering holes licensed to sell alcoholic beverages and four churches within walking distance on Main Street.
Although the Heart in Hand closed its doors in 2011, the memories of Reagan’s visits are alive and well.
People still can savor the flavor of the eponymous Chicken Suzanne but must go to Leesburg to the Worshams 80-acre farm on the Potomac River, where Suzi continues to put the love in her heart through the work of her hands at her new venture: Riverside on the Potomac, a scenic venue for weddings and other events. Call 703-669-3961 or visit their website at riversideotp@aol.com.
Marti Moore is a freelance writer and former Heart in Hand employee who listened to guests between 2004 and 2009 share their personal stories of the special meaning this restaurant held in cherished memories —from the first lady’s visit to marriage proposals, baby showers and anniversary parties.