Despite the light drizzle outside, it was as razzle dazzle as a Hollywood red carpet event inside the private dining room of Mt. Airy’s Töska Restaurant & Brewery.

On Saturday evening, Sept. 27, owner-brothers Leo, Jim, and Pep Osmanollaj, along with a substantial group of Philadelphia’s Albanian American community, welcomed Her Excellency, Dr. Vjosa Osmani-Sadriu, the sixth president of the Republic of Kosovo.

Following her appearance at the U.N. General Assembly earlier in the week. Osmani-Sadriu spent Saturday afternoon visiting the Kosovan and Albanian immigrant communities in Northeast Philadelphia before her evening in Mt. Airy. It was Osmani-Sadriu’s first visit to Philadelphia and part of her national tour to strengthen the bond between Kosovo and the United States.

The Greater Philadelphia area is one of the key regions for people of Albanian descent in the U.S., along with areas including New York City, Boston, and Detroit.

‘An honor’ for Töska

“It is an incredible honor for us to welcome President Osmani and her team to Töska,” Jim Osmanollaj said. “This visit is not only a proud moment for our restaurant, but also for the entire Albanian American community here in Philadelphia.”

As part of the Töska ceremony, Philip Dawson, executive director of the Mt. Airy CDC, presented Osmani-Sadriu with an assortment of handmade and local gifts reflecting the diversity and vibrancy of the Mt. Airy community.

Osmani-Sadriu accepted an arrangement of flowers from Rothe Florists and a patchwork cloth bag of fabrics from Needles & Bolts quilt shop, that, he proudly explained, “represent Mt. Airy’s many ethnicities and religions. The bag was hand-stitched by one of our CDC staff members.” Inside was a candle from Mt. Airy Candle and a bar of Airy Soap.

Reciprocating the kindness, Osmani-Sadriu presented Dawson with a commemorative plaque expressing her heartfelt gratitude to the United States, stating, “Here in Philadelphia, you’ve opened your hearts and your doors during some of the hardest times for our people. And now, in turn, they not only contribute to this beautiful country, to this amazing country, economically, but they make it stronger by the day.”

Her words were particularly poignant because the Osmanollaj brothers are refugees from the notorious Kosovo War. The brothers and other members of their family escaped from the Kosovo region of the former Yugoslavia, where Serbian militias carried out “ethnic cleansing” against ethnic Albanians in 1998 and 1999. Now, 25 years later with Töska, the brothers have opened eight restaurants in the Philadelphia area.

After the ceremony, Dawson told the Local he believed that Osmani-Sadriu’s visit “might be the first for any head of state to Mt. Airy.”

Distinguished career with U.S. credentials

As part of a distinguished career in public service, Osmani-Sadriu served as acting president of Kosovo from November 2020 to March 2021 before being elected to her current five-year term. She previously served as an elected member of Parliament, and was the government body’s speaker, in addition to chairing the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on European Integration, and serving as the deputy chair of the Committee on Constitutional Reform. She earned a law degree from the University of Prishtina and received her master’s and doctorate degrees in international law from the University of Pittsburgh.

Postscript

As the evening wound down, Jim Osmanollaj escorted a dashing fellow to the rear of the second-floor private dining room where the president’s Albanian bodyguards – who looked like they came straight out of central casting — sat during dinner. This reporter asked his role in the evening’s events.

At that very moment, the president exited the ladies room as the assembled bodyguards surrounded her. Grinning broadly and taking her arm, the dashing fellow announced, “I’m with my wife.” He was First Gentleman Prindon Sadriu. He introduced the president, who exclaimed what a wonderful evening she had in Mt. Airy.