As sophisticated as we are becoming, we’re still missing big city dinner and theater cabaret acts in Orange County.
We have to import talent like that to complete a grand evening. What a shame it’s not something regular for us.
Recently, I lucked out with a special food and wine dinner, complete with & #252;ber entertainment as the grand finale.
It was an evening when the private chef of Princess Diana, Carolyn Robb-Hootkins, in her first restaurant chefing experience in America, cooked a magnificent meal for about 160 of us.
A singer with a magical style and voice from New York, Jessica Laulhere, enthralled us afterward.
We’ve long gotten past being surprised by the unique and remarkable talent that Bruno Serato and his restaurant, Anaheim White House, brings to us via famous guest chefs and one-of-a-kind dining adventures.
So, when he announced that Ms. Robb-Hootkins would debut her cooking stints here in OC at Bruno’s restaurant, I remarked that, “He’s outfoxed the other restaurants again.”
We found out that Bruno didn’t go through an agent or manager to request that Ms. Robb-Hootkins share her tales and her cuisine of royalty with us before anyone else. He merely did what he does best and called her personally and set things up.
While he was at it, he managed to woo Ms. Laulhere from New York to really cap off an interesting evening.
It turned out that I and others felt quite comfortable during the evening, calling Ms. Robb-Hootkins by her first name. Carolyn is warm and charming and quite humble. She imparts a great sense of grace.
To fill in the curiosity factor here, she cooked with a staff of three for Prince Charles and Princess Diana, continuing on with Diana. Carolyn has held dinners for Princess Margaret, Princess and Prince Michael of Kent, the duke and duchess of Gloucester, Lord Frederick Windsor and many other royals.
For this dinner, she cooked first and chatted later.
Her menu consisted of four courses, naturally elegant in their presentation. They were favorite dishes of Charles, Diana, their boys and the queen.
The dinner began with a Prince Charles favorite: hot-roasted salmon flakes with cr & #269;me fra & #238;che, stacked tian style and wrapped with Scottish smoked salmon.
Princess Diana’s favorite was an intriguing blue cheese souffl & #233;. It was a double-baked affair, a puffy cloud of exploding flavor in the middle of the plate with a top hat of crisp phyllo dough. The audience was practically swooning over the charms of those dishes.
Seems the two young princes loved beef and vegetables, thus the main course of the evening was a filet strewn with seared wild mushrooms, wilted baby spinach, crushed new potatoes with a sprinkling of mint and a light morel mushroom cream sauce.
Dessert continued to impress everyone. Queen Elizabeth loves pavlova with berries and so that was our sweet ending. Not quite the crunchy egg white affair we’ve heretofore found,this one reached a higher plateau.
It was rounds of brown sugar meringues that could have been crispy discs, but they were retrieved from the oven early enough to allow them their suave simplicity elicited through a new texture in their softer state.
These genteel rounds were stacked and laced with a m & #233;lange of summer berries and clouds of mascarpone cr & #269;me. International wines were matched with each course.
Carolyn came out and chatted with the audience and visited each table, spending ample time talking personally and signing autographs. She is such a treat as a chef and a person.
I hope that we can have her as a guest chef again in OC. If that happens, you, my readers, should scramble for a place at the table.
It was then Jessica’s turn. Actually, Jessica was raised here, though she was born in the state of New York and she now resides in Manhattan where she performs her unique cabaret show each week.
Her act showcases a voluminous and gorgeous voice, a playful stage presence par excellence and a basket full of tunes recounting the loves and losses of the young at heart. She did the entire act for this audience, along with the usual five backup musicians. To say that we were all genuinely enthralled is not an exaggeration.
As a child, a family that loved good music surrounded Jessica. Sister Becky egged her on by helping to stage “shows” when they were both very young.
Jessica began belting out her own tunes in her pre-teens. Dreams of performing professionally were taking shape.
With the musical desire building, she began to hone her style via children’s theater, high school performances and many vocal competitions.
She trained for years with voice coaches and then at New York University’s CAP 21, Tisch School of the Arts.
In New York, the tools of Jessica’s success have been nurtured by fabulous people such as Scott Barnes, David Brunetti, Candace Goetz and Steven Lutvak. With their musical genius and Jessica’s unique voice, a sound distinctively her own has been created.
Taking full advantage of New York’s remarkable opportunities, Jessica has performed on stage with Phylicia Rashad, Liz Calloway and Linda Lavin; originated characters in original musicals with Alix Korey, Brent Barrett, Nancy Anderson and Nancy Opal and provided voices for a children’s cartoon pilot.
This year, she’s achieved great success with her debut performance on the New York cabaret circuit.
Jessica seems to have found the stage she was destined for.
I have been chatting since this performance with a few hotels here, hoping that we could entice Jessica to come “home” to Orange County and perform more for us.
This girl forges an incredible connection with the audience as she puts her heart, soul and empathy into each song with her beautiful and powerful voice, and an adorable stage presence.
She combines the glamour of New York style entertainment with sleek and fun renditions of unique songs.
Remember the name Jessica Laulhere. She’s entertainment incarnate and I hope that she finds a stage for her talents more often in OC.
For my part, I feel it’s appropriate to thank Carolyn and Jessica once again for providing such a memorable experience.
Double-Take: Rouge Now French 75
Just to save you a double-take, Rouge in Fashion Island has become French 75.
Same owner, same French bistro-style food. It simply makes for uniform recognition for David Wilhelm’s stable of French 75 restaurants that now are popping up in Los Angeles County and soon in Scottsdale.
Keeping the restaurant’s food up to date, a prime steak category has been added to the menu. Several cuts are cooked “Parisian-style” in 17th century-designed blue steel pans.
Offerings include a signature prime flat-iron steak au poivre, American Kobe culotte steak, New York sirloin, c & #244;te de boeuf (prime rib chop), Porterhouse and “petit” or “grand cut” filet mignon,all served with choice of peppercorn, b & #233;arnaise, cabernet, chimichurri or Roquefort sauce.
Signature side dishes include French double-baked potatoes (casserole style), macaroni and three cheeses, creamed petit white corn, pommes puree, ragout of forest mushrooms with thyme, duck-roasted Lyonnaise potatoes, champagne-battered onion rings, pommes frites, steamed asparagus and creamed spinach with bacon and parmesan.
Australian lobster tail and king crab legs are on the menu and may be added to any steak entree.
The popular French specialties on the menu include the halibut with picholine olives, two-way duck with sun-dried cherries and their signature Belgian chocolate souffl & #233; for two.
The menu features a dandy selection of other French bistro favorites as well.
While the restaurant is airy and light during the day, the nightly live jazz emanating from the centrally located piano adds an extra touch of romance to the luxurious red highlights of the decor.
The cocktail lounges at all French 75 locations are seductive places where I love having pre- or post-meal drinks.
Should you wish to stay in that atmosphere of French conviviality for your meal, as I sometimes do, there’s a shortened version of the a la carte menu served there.
Of course, I must also tell you that each of the restaurants has bubbly hours, a better version of happy hour with all champagne cocktails half off.
In addition, several wines are served in a carafe at the price you’d pay for a glass otherwise and complimentary hors d’oeuvres also are served.
Lunch and dinner are served every day at the Fashion Island location, plus Sunday brunch. French 75 in Laguna is open for dinner only, while the Irvine location serves lunch Monday through Friday and dinner nightly.
French 75 in Fashion Island is at 327 Newport Center Drive; phone (949) 640-2700. In Laguna Beach: 1464 S. Coast Highway; phone (949) 494-8444. And in Irvine: 13290 Jamboree Road (in the Irvine side of the Market Place); phone (714) 573-7600.
