‘Tis The Season
Some of Fifi’s Favorite Eateries Prepare for Holiday Festivities
Because the holiday season sneaks up on us not long after this is printed, I have chosen to share some of the things restaurants will be doing beginning at Thanksgiving and continuing until the New Year arrives.
I thought that my readers could peruse the possibilities for private and group dining presented here as the season unfolds, not to mention the ideas for celebrating the major holidays and their eves in a restaurant.
Many of the restaurants, of course, will have carolers. Decorations are often spectacular, and in the stressful age that is the present, it soothes the spirit to encounter this seasonal and nostalgic beauty in surroundings and food. I have endeavored to include a variety of restaurants from the best of family style to opulent and places that represent a variety of cuisines.
In several cases, the restaurants have not yet decided on the price of their “night before” dinners, and many of them will have two seatings for bringing in the New Year, in which the later seating is usually more elegant and geared to toasting and merriment at midnight. Many restaurants also will offer dancing on New Year’s Eve. Some of the prices quoted are all-inclusive and others do not include tax, gratuity or alcoholic beverages. Prices quoted are for adults; children’s prices also might be available.
Given all these variables, at this early date I am only able to guide you toward what might suit your fancy. Full details on all these aspects will come from the restaurants when you call for further information or to make your reservations. I must admonish you to make reservations as soon as possible for any of these festive dining opportunities, since we all know that practically everything sells out as the season arrives.
It is my hope that after reading this, those of you who need space for larger gatherings of friends, family or associates also will inquire what prices and menus are available at these restaurants. I think every one of them has banquet space of some kind. I know the food in these establishments, so you should dine well and make a good impression by using their private dining rooms. Alternately, several of the restaurants do outside catering and can provide you with all the amenities in your home or workplace. All you need to do is ask.
Do make an early resolution to see more of these memorable holiday scenes this year; at the very least go out to an extra restaurant or two with your family amidst the shopping and gaiety that are part of it all. Patrick and I, as part of our present to ourselves during the holidays, go out to dine more often than we do the rest of the year. Just taking in the holiday spirit as displayed in various restaurants serves as a scrapbook of memories to last until another winter holiday season rolls around.
Finally, for gift giving, why not provide some dining certificates from these restaurants to those on your gift list. It’s easy, it’s useful and it’s a fine way to provide anyone with a flavorful dining adventure amidst fine surroundings.
Accents
Sutton Place Hotel
4500 MacArthur Blvd.
Newport Beach
(949) 476-2001
Do not miss seeing, especially with your children, the Teddy Bear Holiday Village in the Accents dining room that’s inhabited until Christmas Day by a remarkable collection of bears adorned in every style of dressy and workday clothing. Absolutely adorable. For the past eight years, personalized Teddy Bears of all shapes and sizes have set the theme for the holidays. Individuals, local and national corporations, as well as the Sutton Place staff, donate the bears before they are delivered to the children of Orangewood Children’s Home at Christmas. The restaurant always likes to have as many unique and creatively decorated bears of all sizes as possible. If you would like to donate a bear to enhance this magical village and make some child happy, please deliver it to the restaurant by Dec. 1.
Let’s talk first of the Thanksgiving Day brunch that will feature all the traditional favorites: roasted free-range turkey, chestnut and sage dressing, fresh cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and all the trimmings, plus a wide selection of entrees and side dishes and a big dessert display. Entertainment by the Gerard Barbut Trio and a magician enhance the experience. Cost: $46 per adult, $16 per child. Champagne is not included.
Then there’s dinner on Thanksgiving Day. A traditional four-course prix fixe meal will be prepared by Accents’ chef, Tony Zervas, for $49 per person.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners are comprised of a four-course prix fixe menu at $58 per person. If you prefer to have your big meal in the middle of the day, the Christmas Day brunch will offer a spectacular buffet of holiday favorites, plus a special visit from Santa, live music by a trio and magic tricks by a magician. Price is $55 per adult, $16 per child.
A special New Year’s Eve celebration is being formulated. There will be an elegant five-course gourmet menu, midnight champagne toast and dancing to the romantic music of the Gerard Barbut Trio. The price of the New Year’s Eve dinner and gala has not yet been determined.
Anaheim White House
887 South Anaheim Blvd.
Anaheim
(714) 772-1381
We always have one of our holiday season meals with friends here because this restaurant turns into such a decorated wonderland for the whole season each year and the food is always remarkable. Additionally, the gorgeous amenities extend outdoors. You see, they put up a huge tree on the vast rolling front lawn and they have snow,real snow,on the lawn on Christmas Eve and every weekend in December, with the exception of the weekend following Christmas. About the time Thanksgiving rolls around, the garlands go up inside. And even though the restaurant is resplendent all year around with tiny lights, more seasonal sparkle emerges with the elegant trees, ribbons and bows throughout.
For New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve, owner Bruno Serato prefers to allow his guests to select from the regular menu and make reservations throughout the evening. They are closed on Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Special banquet menus for the season are available for parties of 20 or more. Delicious menu suggestions that seem to suit the time of year include rack of lamb, filet mignon and an awesome preparation of salmon. For dessert, a delicate Grand Marnier souffl & #233; will keep the chill off those winter nights.
This restaurant has such a sense of place and understated elegance about it, as if you just stepped into a little dream across the seas somewhere. But it is not little, nor a dream. It’s a large house that does look like our nation’s capitol on the outside, and it has various rooms inside, all with a serene prettiness. Mix that with food that awes first-timers with its presentation, creativity and taste, and a wine list that takes us around the world in a most flavorful way and you know why I have seduced many South County gourmets into making it a regular destination.
Antonello’s
3800 Plaza Drive
Santa Ana
(714) 751-7153
The holiday decor that goes into glamorizing this already beautiful restaurant costs several thousand dollars each year.
Owner Antonio Cagnolo says that he wants the restaurant to have every nuance of the wonderful season he remembers from his childhood in Italy. By Thanksgiving, the charming street-scene look of the interior becomes a vision of a village ready for holiday shoppers to gather up gifts in the shops and visit with friends along the streets.
The restaurant was designed as a replica of the town square of Antonio’s little hometown in Italy anyway, so the charming basics are there all year; it just gets more special from mid-November to the New Year. Besides all this, the restaurant houses the single largest collection of paintings by artist Aldo Luongo.
There’s no way I would miss having a lunch or dinner here during the coming season. It’s handy when I’ve been shopping at South Coast Plaza, just across the street, but I also use this restaurant for business entertaining because everyone appreciates its good looks, and we all know the food is centered on Tuscan specialties.
Antonio prefers to allow his customers to enjoy the holiday decor without putting in place prix fixe menus and special seating times. He says that he wants everyone to experience his whole restaurant the same way all the time. Therefore, it’s your familiar restaurant on even Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Order as you please from the menu all through the holidays and,in this particular season,just let the surroundings convince you that you are in a dreamy little community in Europe that’s all primed for the holidays.
When I drop in to soak up this holiday image again this year, I have some longtime favorites to consider. The Ravioletti di Mamma Pina, homemade miniature ravioli stuffed with veal that emanate from Antonio’s mom’s recipe book, are superb. Saltimbocca alla Romana, with the tender scaloppine of veal getting more aromatic from the imported Parma prosciutto and age, is also a great entr & #233;e. However, Antonio’s avowed favorite might also be mine: Filetto al Piatto finds thin marinated medallions of filet mignon cooked in a clay pot with lemon, oregano and virgin olive oil over potato puree. It is scrumptious.
Aqua
St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa
One Monarch Beach Resort
Dana Point
(949) 234-3316
This restaurant, a sibling to the famous Aqua restaurants in San Francisco and Las Vegas, ensconced a new chef, Bruno Chemel, a few months ago. Not only is the food scrumptious for the eye and the palate, it’s extraordinary in presentation. And, considering that chef Chemel arguably has the most prestigious culinary background ever to land in this county, why would it not be all of these things?
Given its stature in the land of good food and the chef at the helm, Aqua will be upscale dining for us this holiday season. After the touches of seasonal decorating appear, the Thanksgiving affair begins. The chef will honor his family traditions with selections to reflect the best of the season, including one that he shared with his family on holidays while growing up. It’s called Filet de Loup de Mer Farci, which is a whole roasted white striped bass stuffed with vegetables of the season. Sounds yummy.
Herb roasted turkey with accompaniments also will be offered. Both entr & #233;es are part of four-course prix fixe menus priced at $75 per person. You might want to pop into this dining room the day after Thanksgiving when bits of all the tastes of the day before are part of the menu. The day after lunch special is only $15.
In one of the most innovative ways to celebrate the holiday season, Aqua at the St. Regis will offer nightly specials based on the holiday song, “The 12 Days of Christmas.” I was told that while “A Partridge in a Pear Tree” might not be a culinary challenge, the nights representing “Eight Maids a Milking” and “Eleven Drummers Drumming” are going to garner great surprises for guests. What fun to follow the holidays in this manner.
Being in a hotel, the restaurant will be open on the major holidays. Special menus will be offered on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, the latter having two seatings. First seating price is $125 and the late seating $175. For luxury dining and surroundings, this is the place to make special memories.
Bayside
900 Bayside Drive
Newport Beach
(949) 721-1222
On Nov. 22, the staff will be participating in decking this already superb restaurant with the very festive and elegant decorations that were so impressive last year. The striking, modern interiors here play well on the American holiday mood. Owner Marc Ghoukassian is certainly giving us value-priced meals for the special holidays and nobody is arguing that Bayside truly represents the art of dining, even in casual circumstances (like eating at the bar, which I love doing).
The restaurant will cater to families and couples on Thanksgiving Day with a prix-fixe dinner menu priced at $29.75. On Christmas Day, there will be one seating, with a meal comprised of four courses for $42, or you can order & #341; la carte from the full menu. Bayside will close on both Christmas and New Year’s Day.
There will be two seatings on New Year’s Eve. The first seating will have a prix fixe menu at $48 per person. The second seating will accommodate the ringing in of the New Year and is priced at $98.
Over the years, I have had so many marvelous meals prepared by chef Paul Gstrein. Many things on the winter menu are so meaningful to me personally and bring back memories of growing up where hunting wild game was common. Con-sequently, Patrick and I are planning to have a meal or two here during the holidays so that I can eat Gstrein’s version of Muscovy duck with orange/ginger glaze and venison with apples and loganberries. I also will happily delve into his navarin of spring lamb from Australia (it is spring down there, you know).
As an appetizer, seared foie gras with butterflied quail alongside is as festive as the season and satisfies like a comforting soup; sweetbreads of veal fill a special craving. Pork tenderloin stroganoff is so perfect for the cooler weather. After recently having the chef’s risotto with tiger prawns wrapped in pancetta, it is now noted on my list of 10 best entrees tasted in the last year.
Bistango
19100 Von Karman Ave.
Irvine
(949) 752-5222
This restaurant defines the real meaning of midday power dining. Fashionably dressed business people are making and talking deals. People like me take friends and business associates to Bistango because there’s an unsurpassed artistic beauty in this combination of sophisticated restaurant and art gallery. Add terrific food and it’s a winner all the way.
The day after Thanksgiving is when their holiday decorations, heavy into the mood and befitting the chic room, add a nostalgic seasonal dimension to it all.
Here are the holiday plans. Thanksgiving dinner is a prix fixe meal for $29.75. Christmas Eve dinner is a one-seating affair with a three-course meal that is nicely priced at only $39.75. The restaurant will not be open on Christmas or New Year’s Day. Some people prefer to dine early on New Year’s Eve and then go to some social event or simply celebrate quietly at home. For those, there’s a $48 prix fixe menu. The later seating is $98 and that group of diners can enjoy dancing throughout the evening and be part of the energy that finds everyone saluting the New Year at midnight.
During the holidays, certain & #341; la carte items beckon. Deeply flavorful confit of duck is a traditional winter dish. The gusto of braised lamb shank or veal osso buco is appropriate to the cooler season. Other dishes on the seasonal menu that will renew your spirits include tiger shrimp salad with arugula and hoisin vinaigrette and a wonderful soy-marinated salmon salad. Prime culotte steak on risotto of wheat berries with red wine reduction makes for an extra fine meat presentation and mushroom-crusted Alaskan halibut is a swell combination of flavors for a fish entr & #233;e.
Cannery
3010 LaFayette Ave.
Newport Beach
(949) 566-0060
The Cannery will be adorning the restaurant right after Thanksgiving with special holiday table decor, plenty of lights and holiday trees decorated with nostalgic ornaments.
It will feature game dishes throughout the holiday season with selections such as venison, wild boar, duck and Christmas goose. These are impressive menu items. And let’s not forget that they have a now-acclaimed sushi bar upstairs for something different.
I like the unpretentiousness of this restaurant with its water views, the clever beauty of the interiors featuring wood, a wall of water and the lovely handcrafted glass chandeliers. Combine this with the holiday embellishments and it fits nicely for so many occasions. While they will close on Christmas and New Year’s Day, customers will be able to order from the regular menu of seafood and meats, with those special game entr & #233;es, as well, on both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Regular prices will prevail. A pianist will play special music Thursday through Sunday evenings all during the season.
Some regular menu items particularly catch my fancy as the weather cools. Butternut squash soup and the creamy clam chowder, along with scallop ceviche are good winter beginnings. Colorado “KL Ranch” rack of lamb with natural jus, rib eye steak with crispy onions and mahi mahi with coconut curry sauce and jasmine rice have been on my plate and will be there again. Then, there’s the enchilada de mariscos that enfolds lobster, shrimp, scallops, spinach and shiitake mushrooms in an ancho chile-infused lobster sauce that I like anytime.
This restaurant has a long history and symbiotic relationship with Newport Beach, and it’s on my list of favorite places to relax, especially during the busy holidays.
Cat & The Custard Cup
800 E. Whittier Blvd.
La Habra
(562) 694-3812
Want to see a beautiful restaurant that’s dripping in nostalgia during the coming season? Make a reservation at The Cat, as it’s affectionately called.
It is, first of all, fashioned after a cosmopolitan English manor house, so there’s a special kind of beauty here all year long. However, as Thanksgiving nears, the staff participates in putting up the very extensive holiday decor that turns it into a place where fancies of a Dickens-style season take over. It’s like a friend’s invitation to a rather elegant country abode for a meal befitting the evocative time of year.
The Cat will be closed on Christmas Day and perhaps on New Year’s Day, but they are considering offering a Pink Champagne Brunch to start the New Year. Christmas Eve will feature a menu of six items to choose from in appetizer, entr & #233;e and dessert courses. Price will be between $45 and $50. There also will be a set menu with six choices within various courses on New Year’s Eve (probably priced between $50 and $60). There will be some seasonal specialties within the above menus.
I highly admire the cooking of proprietor and chef Creed Salisbury who gives classic dishes a new life through his understanding of herbs and spices that enhance the foods of many countries. He also is passionate but unpretentious about the presentation of dishes. I have had some of the following that you will find on the special seasonal menus: pumpkin ravioli with beurre rouge sauce, scallops with Dijon and maple mustard sauce and panko-crusted crab cake with ruby grapefruit and pink peppercorn beurre blanc.
Throughout the whole season,or even now,enjoy these items from the regular menu: seared red deer with Montmorency dried cherry sauce, Muscovy duck breast in four-peppercorn Port wine sauce, grilled Northern Atlantic salmon and rack of lamb with fresh rosemary and roasted garlic demi glace.
First Cabin
Balboa Bay Club & Resort
1221 W. Coast Highway
Newport Beach
(949) 645-5000
Earlier this year, the private club debuted its first public resort hotel. There, the First Cabin restaurant, serving California cuisine with a bit of Continental panache, and Duke’s Bar are available to the general public. In this, the club’s first holiday season we nonmembers can enjoy, they are offering some intriguing stuff. To begin, let’s not forget that this is Newport Beach’s only luxury waterfront hotel. Then, consider that they plan to decorate the place to the nines with everything that sets the mood for a very sentimental holiday spirit. I certainly can envision the beauty and magic in such surroundings during the holidays.
The chef, Josef Lageder, is Austrian, and I have sampled a lot of his food already. He’s extremely talented. In Austria, the romance of the holidays winds its way from the home through the markets and to the streets of picturesque villages. It even conjures images of castles atop majestic mountains with windows ablaze as nighttime falls.
The restaurant is launching a new tradition in deference to this romance of old Europe,part of the cultural background also reinforced by the resort’s president and general manager, Munich native Henry Schielein, and food and beverage director, Dieter Hissin, who’s from the Black Forest region,by serving the perfect Austrian holiday meal on selected days. You also can opt to get the recipes so you can prepare the same meal in your own home. This multicourse Austrian meal will be served in the First Cabin every Sunday from Nov. 29 through Christmas Day, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. The cost is $75 per person or $110 including wine pairings.
Here’s the rest of the public holiday schedule. For First Cabin: prix fixe $52.50 menu with choices on Thanksgiving and on Christmas Day. For New Year’s Day, there’s a breakfast brunch at $23.50 that includes either a Bloody Mary or Bullshot cocktail. Christmas Eve in First Cabin is priced at $54. On New Year’s Eve, First Cabin will have continuous seating and a $90 multicourse menu with several choices, while in the Grand Ballroom, the price is yet to be set for the multicourse dinner, dancing and midnight partying. There will be a big band for entertainment. The ballroom also will be used on Thanksgiving Day for a buffet at $55. Duke’s Lounge will serve a light menu and have continuous live entertainment on New Year’s Eve.
Five Crowns
3801 E. Coast Highway
Corona del Mar
(949) 760-0331
This is one of our legends in the county. It is such a lovely and inviting English inn atmosphere at all times, and when they decorate it the day after Thanksgiving with a tree in each of the private rooms, it’s like Charles Dickens stepped in and took over.
You are met by twinkling lights outside and a magical wonderland opens as you go through the door. All during the month of December, the stroll-ing carolers sing each evening. Our own holiday season is incomplete without our Five Crowns fix.
They adhere to a strict reservation policy here. Reservations are available one month in advance to the day of the reservation. Christmas Eve reservations will be available starting Monday morning, Nov. 24 at 9 a.m. They will open on Christmas Eve at 3 p.m., but the restaurant will be closed on Christmas Day.
One of the most unique holiday experiences is that of the Dickens dinner on Friday, Nov. 28 and Sunday, Nov. 30. This, my friends, is an absolute must. Nowhere will you find such a sense of what Christmas should really mean. In costume, the Cratchit Family (from Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”) and the carolers will welcome diners to celebrate a Victorian Christmas experience. Reservations now are available. Due to limited seating, all seating will be family-style.
The festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. each night and the cost is $79 per person, with entertainment, tax and gratuity included. Reservations must be paid in advance. The Dickens menu will include Cratchit holiday salad with cranberry vinaigrette, a choice of entrees,roast prime ribs of beef, roast goose or fresh salmon,and traditional English trifle for dessert, with a choice of coffee or tea as well. Five Crowns Dickens dinners are a magnificent way for people of all ages to experience the spirit of the holidays.
The holiday menus will have traditional prime ribs of beef, potato-crusted salmon and broiled Nova Scotia lobster tails, along with delectable specials from their acclaimed chef, Dennis Brask. He will feature holiday goose starting late November and through all of December.
Florence Italian Cusine
14210 Culver Drive
Irvine
(949) 857-8265
Have you ever dreamed of being in the glory of Tuscany for the holidays? Even if you haven’t, perhaps you should get this new view on beautiful holiday traditions and surroundings. Florence is always a grand surprise to those who’ve not seen it before. It’s special. High ceilings, elegant arches, beautiful Italian columns, mahogany windows and doors and chic furnishings are complemented by a fabulous exhibition kitchen. I just want to soak up these surroundings, time after time, even before ordering food.
Everything is fresh. Breads are baked daily. Tuscan specialties are prepared with the freshest of ingredients for your dining pleasure. They also offer an extensive wine list to complete your dining experience. And, you will be thrilled with the value-oriented prices.
As Thanksgiving rolls around, the plentiful decorations for the holiday season are up. Long and beautiful garlands, covered with Christmas flowers and glowing holiday ribbons and lights, dress the bar and each column, archway and window. Enjoy a candlelit dinner in front of the traditional tree with soft holiday music in the background.
On Christmas Eve, have a fine dinner with selections from the regular dinner menu or from the special prix fixe holiday menu. The restaurant will close on Christmas Day.
For New Year’s Eve, a four-course menu is included, and there will be a five-piece band for dancing away the night. A toast will be offered at midnight. Party favors and added decor will make this a lovely experience. Price is $89 per person. The restaurant will be open on New Year’s day from 5 p.m.
A trio of seasonal dishes that I am very familiar with: Florentine-style chicken (richly stuffed and topped with a lemon cream sauce), salmon in a Parmesan crust and fabulous lobster ravioli. There are menus from $19.95 to $49.95 per person for family groups all season.
Golden Truffle
1767 Newport Blvd.
Costa Mesa
(949) 645-9858
Who in our midst is not familiar with the cooking of genius chef Alan Greeley? Nobody, I hope. The sweet but unpretentious restaurant that is the backdrop for this extraordinary food gets a colorful dose of poinsettias and holiday-colored candles everywhere as the holidays approach. I especially love the combination of those glimmering candles and the holiday decor against the drama of all the wine bottles in the wine room.
For the holidays, the restaurant is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. This is one restaurant that does not even stay open on Christmas Eve in order for employees to have this important time with family.
So that leaves the fun New Year’s Eve party that Alan is planning. The restaurant has not yet decided whether there will one or two seatings. The tentative price is $78 per person. Alan tells me he is working on a four-course menu that will be as meaningful as going forward into a new year. Since memorable dishes are the mainstay of his reputation with his loyal customers and restaurant critics as well, it will be exciting for sure.
All during the season, this is where you can surely divest yourself of some shopping and planning stress. Order one of the eclectic boutique wines from the marvelous wine list and forget the world outside. Two of my food recommendations for starters: Vitello Tonnato with black truffles and blue crab and avocado quesadilla. For entr & #233;es: open-faced lamb burger with fries, eggplant and cucumber; crispy roast duck with red cabbage and potatoes; roasted Canadian halibut with tomato bread pudding; Dixie fried chicken; troll-caught King salmon with carrot mashed potatoes and lemon balm salad and the rather divine baked leek ravioli. A spa menu and some prix fixe menus also are always available.
Granville’s Steak House
Disneyland Hotel
1150 Magic Way
Anaheim
(714) 778-6600
A few years ago, even before the launch of their Napa Rose restaurant that has brought a lot of high-caliber publicity to Disney dining, Anaheim’s Disneyland Resort took a look at the unfolding cultural dining scene in Orange County and rededicated itself to having equivalent or better food. It took some time, but we tried various restaurants, and then we did it again and again. What we were eating was on an upscale par with anything else in this region. Granville’s, named after the original owner’s wife, actress Bonita Granville, really impressed us.
All of the resort turns into even more of a fairyland with the onset of the winter holidays, so it’s an eye-popping extravaganza of flowers, garlands, lights, trees, landscape scenes and more everywhere you go. Because of this “everywhere” holiday mood, Granville’s remains as is, without specific added decor, as an oasis for anytime upscale dining. It features comfortable booths separated by etched glass partitions with soothing mauve and burgundy overtones predominating. I feel compelled to include it here inasmuch as the food is so good, served with a certain panache,and they have a superior wine list.
Because it is in the resort, Granville’s is open on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. On Christmas Eve, this is the place to just be yourself and not have to worry about eating a preset menu of foods. The regular & #341; la carte menu of meats and fresh seafood will be served. On New Year’s Eve, there will be a four-course set-menu dinner. Cost is yet to be determined, but there will be an early and a late seating with separate pricing. The late seating also includes a bottle of champagne per couple, a live band and dancing.
It’s easy to select some favorites from Granville’s & #341; la carte menu. French onion soup is so classic and deep with flavor. They do an excellent herb-crusted prime rib, while steaks and a baked two-pound Maine lobster are traditional. Try rack of lamb in merlot sauce and Shelton free-range chicken. Do not miss the au gratin sweet potatoes as a side dish. For dessert, the chocolate-covered 21-layer cake is a most divine decadence.
Gustaf Anders
3851 S. Bear St.
Santa Ana
(714) 668-1737
Bill Magnuson and Ulf Anders Strandberg have given OC a singularly interesting, unique, lovely and meaningful restaurant.
It has been named by Cond & #233; Nast Traveler magazine as one of the 50 best restaurants in America. As our only true Swedish restaurant, there’s culture at the table and the serene surroundings with fine art on the walls also puts artistic culture into our environment. The food here sings with the passion of Sweden, with a bit of the small countries that make up Scandinavia and with Continental dishes that find a new presentation.
It’s a seasonal food-rich setting when they present the peerless holiday smorgasbord from Dec. 2 through Dec. 30 in the main dining room. This extravaganza of everything that is paramount on the holiday table in the home country is almost impossible to describe. First and foremost are the many versions of herring, which I could turn into a complete meal because they are so delicious. But there also are dozens of wonderful potato, rice and vegetable dishes that are not the mainstay of any other menus.
There’s the wintertime game and the very European casseroles that have kept the countrymen robust over the ages. There are the house-baked breads that have gained their own fame and the desserts that are a culinary musical unto themselves. That’s why when this grand stage of food appears, we rush to make a reservation. The smorgasbord is $39.50 for lunch and $49.50 for dinner.
As for holiday hours and style, aside from the aforementioned, the traditional decorations will enhance the dining rooms for all of December. The restaurant does serve lunch and dinner seven days a week, and they serve nonstop on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day from 11:30 a.m. until 8 p.m. On New Year’s Eve, there will be a big smorgasbord with lobster, oysters and crab, as well as many of the goodies from the Christmas smorgasbord. Cost is $75 per person, not including tax, tip or beverage. Gustaf Anders will be closed on New Year’s Day.
Il Fornaio
18051 Von Karman Ave.
Irvine
(949) 261-1444
This is one of our favorite drop-in restaurants during the holidays. It’s so easy to stop by for some especially reassuring food and friendly smiles when the busy times of the season wear me down. Realistically, that’s true all year long for me. It’s actually all about the friendliness, the monthly menus that feature regional specialties and take you on a culinary tour throughout the year, and mostly about the excellent and authentic Italian food that chef Marcello Apollonio oversees in the kitchen.
Thanksgiving gives way to a more celebratory decor, but it is by way of wreaths and subliminal holiday stylishness, like a sophisticated home that’s understated but eloquent in its holiday garb. During the month of December, carolers stroll about and sing.
They are closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, but customers have a full & #341; la carte menu on Christmas Eve. For New Year’s Eve, there will be a multicourse menu, probably five courses at a fixed price; however, the final price has not been determined, so that will be your bit of research when you call.
What I particularly like about dining here is that core items stay on the menu, always providing a comfort level, but there are also dishes I keep discovering on those regional menus or as specials of the day that I never find this side of Italy.
My husband is a discerning diner and he relishes their risotto dishes that often take him back to someplace abroad. On our most recent visit, he was remembering just such a seafood risotto at the original Locanda Cipriani restaurant on the island of Torcello in the Venetian lagoon. It’s more than a meal at Il Fornaio; it’s a walk down a culinary memory lane.
I suggest you put yourself in the chef’s hands and after telling him what kinds of foods in the Italian genre you like, allowing him to cook whatever he’s passionate about at the time. One entr & #233;e I would not miss is the center cut pork chop (Braciola) that’s stuffed with winter vegetables and served with a lemon and Trebbiano wine sauce or the housemaid ravioli filled with butternut squash and walnuts wading in a pool of brown butter sage sauce.
La Vie En Rose
240 S. State College Blvd.
Brea
(714) 529-8333
This restaurant is Brea’s gift to the culinary world and beyond that to the travelers who relish their memories of special inns, homes and unique places visited abroad and never forgotten. It drips with the warmth and friendliness of a well-loved home and is a true replica of a Normandy-style abode complete with period furnishings, roaring fireplace and serene colors. While it is always so pretty, so smartly dressed in the proper linens and tabletop settings, it is never more beautiful than when the abundant and graceful lights, garlands and nostalgic decorations herald in the holiday season. The towering tree is always one of the most beautiful that I see in restaurants. Carolers will serenade diners with beloved songs.
The restaurant will be closed on Christmas and New Year’s Day and will be open only for lunch on Christmas Eve day so that employees can be with their families during the evening. However, it will be open on New Year’s Eve for earlier diners, with the & #341; la carte menu available. The entire restaurant has been taken over for a private New Year’s Eve party later in the evening.
During the whole holiday season, there are prix fixe menus for both lunch and dinner. There are a group of holiday party menus for those wishing to book a larger function. If you happen to be shopping in the nearby Brea Mall and find yourself in need of physical replenishment, there is a fine selection of foods and one of the most interesting wine lists around to help with the relaxation.
The most classic presentation of escargot comes from this kitchen, thus I always order them. I relish the lobster bisque and the intensive onion soup. Saut & #233;ed veal medallions with Calvados glaze is a superb dish. Grilled salmon on a bed of wilted spinach speaks for itself, and the rack of lamb flavored with fresh marjoram is exemplary. Steak with perfect B & #233;arnaise sauce and roasted pork tenderloin also happen upon my plate on occasion. Finish with fresh fruit cr & #281;pes, a souffl & #233; or something from the decadent pastry cart.
Maggiano’s Little Italy
3333 Bristol St.
Costa Mesa
(714) 546-9550
This restaurant already leans on the nostalgia of yesteryear with its look of familial friendliness from a time when a good restaurant was one where you knew the minute you walked in the door that you were going to be fed plenty of good food. Italian restaurants were big in pre-World War II, and the love of this cuisine in America still endures.
Maggiano’s captured it all when the chain was launched in 1991. I love the energy of this restaurant, the fact that there’s still a place where photos of the Rat Pack era of Sinatra and true movie stars feel at home on the walls, a place where the closely spaced tables always are packed with people who love to eat. There’s even Sinatra serenading you in the background.
They decorate in a manner that harks back to a more introspective era, when the upcoming holidays held great importance for families and friends who really did make every effort to be together, to eat and share traditions at the home table. It was an important family affair to decorate. Here, the “staff family” puts up the greenery, garlands and lights of the season that remind us of wonderful Christmases past. You won’t find neon ornaments and 21st century high-tech baubles that speak more of cleverness than sentimentality. Thank goodness for that.
They will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day but open from noon until 9 p.m. on New Year’s Day. There will be not two but three seatings on New Year’s Eve, at 5 p.m., 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. The last seating carries through the rest of the evening with live music and the amenities that help ring in a brand-new year, so there’s a slight extra charge for that. The & #341; la carte menu will be available for ordering all evening.
We eat quite a few meals a year at Maggiano’s and for holiday season comfort, I am looking forward to having more of the authentic Italian fare that I grew up with in our world that was filled with French and Italian immigrant families. I know for sure that I will be having their seasonal pumpkin cheesecake and taking home some tins (for gift-giving) of Vera’s lemon cookies.
Mr. Stox
1105 E. Katella Ave.
Anaheim
(714) 634-2994
At Mr. Stox, the holiday season officially begins the day after Thanksgiving when the entire Marshall clan gathers under Debbie Marshall’s supervision to put up the elaborate decorations. I love the togetherness and mood that is set on this day. There are usually about 20 people who converge early in the morning. It seems as though they decorate every inch of the 11,000-square-foot building. The Chateau Room turns into a wreath factory while sentimental wreaths of years past are refurbished and new ones are assembled. One group decorates the exterior, another does trees for various rooms and yet another team works on the lobby. Midmorning, the big noble pine tree arrives and another small group starts the tedious task of lighting and decorating, amid many debates about how it should look. Debbie usually prevails; the result always is stunning. It’s almost as remarkable to see this day unfold as it is to savor the finished results the rest of the holiday season.
During the holidays, they make B & #369;che de No & #235;l and holiday tins of Mahogany brittle for the restaurant and customer purchases. We sample from the platter of brittle in the lobby throughout the season. Loaves of their fresh artisanal breads seem to go home with a lot of the customers,and they are splendid. In addition to the regular winter menu, they offer venison and other heartier specials to warm the soul on chilly nights. Starting in early December, there are Dickens carolers performing every night in the dining areas.
Christmas Eve has become a very popular time to dine at Mr. Stox. There’s a full seasonal menu available & #341; la carte. Two years ago, the restaurant began a new tradition for New Year’s Eve. In addition to offering the regular menu, along with some special holiday appetizers and entr & #233;es, the owners,brothers Chick and Ron Marshall and Ron’s wife Debbie,use two of their dining rooms for a winery dinner that begins at 8 p.m. This year, they are featuring wines from Chateau Montelena with Veuve Clicquot Champagne as the festive bubbly. The cost is $195 per person, which includes dancing in the lounge after dinner. Mr. Stox is closed on Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Special & #341; la carte menu items that are favorites: Maryland crab cakes are almost pure blue crab meat and probably the best in the area, duck and osso buco dishes are seriously comforting and Colorado rack of lamb is marvelous, as well as the lobster tail nestled in risotto. I recently had the lobster bisque and admonish that you should not miss that. Desserts are scrumptious.
Napa Rose
Grand Californian Hotel
1600 S. Disneyland Drive
Anaheim
(714) 300-7170
The extravagant holiday decor of the whole Disneyland Resort properties,inside and outside of buildings and hotels, on landscapes and in the theme parks,is like a wonderland unto itself. Given that, as you walk through the Grand Californian’s gorgeous Arts and Crafts architecture to get to Napa Rose restaurant, you already are privy to a generous dose of the holiday decorating spirit. But the restaurant itself remains sedate, without extra embellishment in the dining room. Indeed, the purposefully dignified restaurant is meant to soothe the senses and encourages concentration on the food, inasmuch as it is designed around a very visible open kitchen.
Be assured, the spirit of the season is not left outside the doors. Napa Rose’s chef, Andrew Sutton, is known for his California wine country cuisine fashioned from the bounty of fine California products. On Christmas Eve, he will feature a menu that will have the mood and nostalgia of dining in the beautiful wine country during the holidays. He’s planning a four-course prix fixe dinner at $65. Because the restaurant is part of the hotel, meals will be served on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. On Christmas Day, there will be a $65 prix fixe menu.
For New Year’s Eve at Napa Rose, I am informed that the chef will create a spectacular six-course menu. The first seating will be dinner only; price is $85. The late seating includes the dinner, music and dancing and a Champagne toast to ring in the New Year and is $175. A world-class flight of four wines is $55 extra per person.
The cool weather menu will offer plenty of foods that enhance the winter mood at the table when you just drop in. Grilled pork rack chop with fava beans, short ribs of prime beef braised in cabernet, grilled red deer with root vegetables and spiced duck breast with foie gras mousse might be in your future. If your holiday spirit is really shining, perhaps the warm apple-almond crisp with Jack Daniels ice cream might even make an appearance.
Pascal Restaurant & Epicerie
1000 N. Bristol St.
Newport Beach
(949) 752-0107
This is our charming auberge-like restaurant and combination culinary-wine shop next door that takes care of all our cravings. Even before you eat, it’s a place that beckons you to settle in and take your time perusing the menu and wine list and smelling the flowers. In fact, no other restaurant has gotten so much publicity for flowers. Mimi Olhats, co-owner of the restaurant with her husband, chef Pascal Olhats, fills the restaurant year-round with dozens of huge bouquets of roses. We’ve stayed in so many small hotels and inns in Europe that had exactly this intimate, lovely, comforting ambiance, so there’s a great tug at our heartstrings here.
On Thanksgiving weekend, they ready the restaurant and shop for the holidays by decorating with swags and strips of tiny lights, lots of vines and garlands and a big tree. It seems ready for presents to arrive in anticipation of the big day.
Certain holiday dishes that are brimming with nostalgia always are offered by Pascal during December, among them roasted goose and Yule log for dessert. I like that he will have on the menu my favorite lobster bisque, because its richness and warmth seem to fit the feelings of this particular season. On Christmas Eve, there will be two prix fixe menus, and there will be early and late seatings on New Year’s Eve. Prices are still to be determined on these, so please inquire. Complete holiday take-out dinners also are available at the Epicure.
There are more ways to enjoy the essence of Pascal’s food. First of all, during the holidays, Pascal conducts private workshops: In one of them, you arrive,with friends if desired,and set about making cookies of all sorts with him. You get a book to go along with the baking spree. Call for prices on this. The Epicerie is our gem of a gourmet shop. Everything from Pascal’s signature items from the restaurant menu are ready to take home and finish in your own oven and a plethora of cheeses, breads, condiments, pastries, salads and sandwiches and wines are available. Between this and the light, creative cuisine with a Proven & #231;al edge that Pascal has honed at the restaurant, it’s no wonder it keeps getting top honors in the most prestigious surveys.
Ritz-Carlton
Laguna Niguel
One Ritz-Carlton Drive
Dana Point
(949) 240-2000
Every year, a 55-foot tree decorated with 30,000 lights welcomes us as we approach the hotel. Inside, halls will again be decked out in lots of burgundy and gold, and literally dozens of decorated trees make you stop at every turn. There’s also a life-size gingerbread house. This is a place that can only be described as elegantly festooned for the season. How can anyone not want to see all this added beauty?
From Nov. 28 through Christmas Day, carolers will sing for guests as they dine.
On the first three Saturdays and Sundays in December, there will be a Teddy Bear Tea and Puppet Show, a wonderful thing to experience with the children. Cost is $48 and includes one unwrapped teddy bear for Children’s Hospital.
Between Nov. 28 and Dec. 30, there’s a high tea served three times a day at $38 per person.
There will be very extensive Thanksgiving Day buffets in both the Lobby Lounge ($60 for adults) and the Terrace Restaurant and ocean view Pavilions at $80. Multicourse Thanksgiving dinners will be served in both the Club Grill & Bar and The Dining Room at $110 and $120 respectively (half-price for children 3 to 12 at all these meals).
Christmas Eve will be celebrated with buffets and extensive sit-down dinners in all the restaurants and in the Grand Ballroom. Princes range from $80 to $160. The hotel restaurants also are open on Christmas and New Year’s Day.
For New Year’s Eve, there’s a lot to choose from, as well. In the Terrace Restaurant, the theme will be Havana Nights and the festivities are priced at $275. The New Year’s party in the Club Grill & Bar is the same price. First seating in The Dining Room is $125, second seating that includes welcoming in the New Year is $275. In the Grand Ballroom, the elegant all-evening affair is $350.
There will be dancing at various venues and the hotel has several packages for the holidays that include rooms, meals, celebrations in various combinations. You might as well soak up as much of this beauty and good food as possible.
Ritz Restaurant & Garden
880 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach
(949) 720-1800
For over two decades, the Ritz has kept us enthralled with its very sophisticated San Francisco-like demeanor and its consistently fine food and service. It’s special all the time, but when the holidays come around, it is imperative that you see how the sense of elegance here takes to the added decorative embellishments of the season. By mid-November, the decorations,which must have cost an original small fortune,are taken out and new ones readied. It takes three full days to put up all the decorations.
I’m ready for a candied apple holiday martini or a hot toddy and,in December,maybe some roast goose and their hazelnut souffl & #233;.
They will be open on Thanksgiving, with a prix fixe meal at $45, served from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. On Christmas Eve, dinner is served from 4 p.m., with a prix fixe menu at $85. It begins with their classic seafood martini that has lobster, crab and shrimp and continues with a choice of soup or salad, choice of entr & #233;e (free-range turkey is one of them) along with the ever-famous Ritz creamed corn and it ends with a sampler tray of desserts. The Ritz will be closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. For New Year’s Eve, even more gorgeous decor is added for this auspicious evening. There are two seatings. The first begins at 5 p.m. and there’s a multicourse dinner at $85 that starts with the Ritz caviar egg and includes a choice of entr & #233;es.
For those dining at the late seating, which begins at 9 p.m., a reception in the romantic garden room launches the festivities. A caviar bar is part of the highlight. Perhaps the impressive ice carving featuring Ketel One Vodka flowing luge-style through the channels, as it was last year, will be redone this time. At 10 p.m. the special holiday meal commences. It includes a choice of entr & #233;es: Maine lobster tail, roast goose, rack of lamb, Dover sole or Piero’s famous osso buco (this hails from owner Fred Glusman’s well-known Las Vegas restaurant). There will be live music and dancing during the evening. Party favors and a special midnight toast will herald in the New Year. Cost for this is $175.
Meanwhile, I know that the stone crabs from Florida begin to arrive mid-October, so I’ll be having them along with other tidbits from the winter menu, like chateaubriand, sirloin of Colorado lamb, Atlantic salmon poached in chardonnay or a filet with b & #233;arnaise sauce.
Salt Creek Grille
32802 Pacific Coast Highway
Dana Point
(949) 661-7799
Salt Creek Grille has been one of Orange County’s most beautifully decorated restaurants, a “must see” experience, during the holidays for the past seven years.
The restaurant is so Americana comfortable all year long, with its Craftsman-style architecture. When it gets dressed up in its holiday decor, the wonderful feeling it emotes is almost unsurpassed. It’s like going home to a place that exudes comfort and safety. Indeed, a lot of homes can’t coax out this kind of holiday ambiance.
Beginning Dec. 1, the restaurant is transformed into a cozy holiday wonderland with festive lights and beautiful garlands, as well as the smell of pine trees. And even the big patio, which is heated and covered, is filled with that same holiday magic. In the days preceding Christmas, carolers will be strolling through the dining room.
Salt Creek Grille is open Thanksgiving Day from noon to 8 p.m. They will serve a special Thanksgiving buffet with all the traditional trimmings. Salt Creek Grille will serve a special menu on Christmas Eve, beginning at 2 p.m.
The restaurant will be closed on Christmas Day but open on New Year’s Day. There will be two seatings on New Year’s Eve to accommodate those on their way to another social gathering or tucking in early and those who want to party more and ring in the New Year in an energetic and friendly setting. Early seating begins with reservations as early as 4 p.m., when there will be a special & #341; la carte menu. Late seating for an all-inclusive gala is at 9 p.m. The $95 per person tab includes a four-course dinner, two glasses of wine, live jazz music, dancing, party favors, Champagne toast at midnight and tax and gratuity. Black tie is optional for this party. Dinner will be served on New Year’s Day from the regular & #341; la carte menu.
If you are dropping in on a day other than one of the biggies, I have some dishes to recommend. Stuffed jumbo shrimp wrapped in artisan bacon with chipotle honey sauce to begin, then Alaskan halibut stuffed with lobster and crab meat, mesquite grilled Mediterranean-style rack of lamb, double-thick pork chop with homemade apple chutney or one of their prime aged steaks for an entr & #233;e. Finish with chocolate ganache souffl & #233; (made to order, finished tableside with a warm semi-sweet chocolate ganache cr & #269;me poured into the middle of it). Now, that’s decadent!
Splashes
Surf & Sand Resort
1555 S. Coast Highway
Laguna Beach
(949) 497-4477
It took me a while in my busy schedule to set aside time last year for a few visits to Splashes. I wanted to try chef Christopher Blobaum’s signature West Coast cuisine that is based on sustainable agriculture and organic products to the extent possible. His food took several groups of friends and me by total surprise and made all of us instant believers in his talent.
Adding holiday spirit to his marvelous food makes this an even more compelling destination. The whole resort is fashionably decorated on the Monday after Thanksgiving, with understated beach holiday decor that includes natural elements. It is truly befitting the hotel’s oceanfront location, the quintessential feeling of the holidays in California.
There will be special holiday menus offered in the restaurant as well as special holiday menus for groups. The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the major holidays since it is located inside the hotel. Additionally, for Thanksgiving Day, Splashes will feature a special & #341; la carte menu between noon and 8:30 p.m.
On Christmas Eve, there will be a special four-course menu offered at $70. On New Year’s Eve, there will be two seatings. The first seating is $75 per person and second seating is $95. There will not be live music, but the ocean will provide reasons to wax nostalgic over the meaning of making resolutions and noting the passing of each year.
So, supposing you are just stopping by during the holidays to see the decor and find out about Christopher’s food, what do you order? Consider beginning with roasted pumpkin bisque or seared La Belle Farms foie gras with caramelized heirloom apples.
Free-range turkey is a natural entr & #233;e choice and roasted black cod with chestnut and chanterelle mushroom ragout needs no verbal embellishment from me. Slow-roasted wild salmon, the risotto dishes and dry-aged sirloin steak with French beans are more favorites.
The thin-crusted pumpkin tart is the end-all holiday dessert.
St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa
One Monarch Beach Resort
Dana Point
(949) 234-3200
I would like to note that Aqua restaurant, though located in the resort, is not included in the copy here because you will find it near the top of this missive, written about as a separate restaurant. I did that because Aqua is a restaurant company based in San Francisco that has a restaurant there and another in Las Vegas, in addition to the one at the St. Regis.
Decorations throughout the hotel, beginning at Thanksgiving, are supposed to be extravagant. I have eaten a lot of food here, but not seen their decor before, so you know this is on my priority list for the season. I can only imagine the added beauty that the trees and all other elements of the winter holiday will bring.
The resort will be hosting visits from Santa for the little ones. Storytelling for children is scheduled for the first three Sundays in December. For grownups, there is a free Jewelry Trunk Show on Saturday, Dec. 6 and Sunday, Dec. 14 from midday to late afternoon. So cool. Daily from Nov. 29 through Dec. 30, there’s a Fireside Tea in the afternoon for only $25.
On Thanksgiving Day, there’s a St. Regis family meal at $62; I absolutely love the way this is priced. They are charging only $1 per year of age for children 3 to 12 and only $32 for those who are 13 to 16 years old. Holiday buffets in Club 19 and Motif Restaurants are $52 and $78 respectively on Thanksgiving.
Christmas Eve finds Motif serving a prix fixe $95 dinner and Monarch Bay Club doing the same at $75. Christmas Day, the hotel presents the Nutcracker Family Feast at $62, with that same sensible pricing for kids. Club 19 and Motif are serving extensive buffets at $52 and $78. And, there will be a buffet breakfast at the Pool Bar & Grill priced at $16 to $23.
Here comes New Year’s Eve with lots to choose from. Monarch Bay Club will present a prix fixe dinner for $95, while Motif also will have prix fixe meals but with a charge of $95 for first seating and $225 for the second (that includes dancing the night away and all other amenities for greeting a new year). Then we have the World Celebration in the large ballroom at $225 for dinner and all of the evening’s festivities, or $65 for dancing only after 10:30 p.m. New Year’s Day finds a lot more food on the buffet tables in Motif for only $42.
Taps Fish House & Brewery
101 E. Imperial Highway
Brea
(714) 257-0101
Until four years ago, people lamented the lack of serious independent restaurants in North County. Since TAPS opened, those probable consumers and everyone I can verbally seduce from anywhere in the county have been introduced to this very stylish restaurant. It’s not pretentious at all, but it certainly makes a statement in its substantial building that houses lots of wood and comfortable furnishings, an ultra convivial bar for eating seafood or having an interesting brew and a world-class brewery. Taps greets the fall season fresh from winning yet another gold medal,this from the L.A. County Fair for brewmaster Victor Novak’s Brown Ale.
For the holidays, Michele Manzella, who,along with her two brothers,is the proprietor of TAPS and The Catch in Anaheim, beautifully decorates the restaurant. A nutcracker theme is predominant, set amidst the feel of an old-fashioned American Christmas. The best way to explain what they do with holiday decorations is to say that if we were in a place where snow and bitter cold were part of our season, this is the kind of place you’d rush into to get warm and well fed and, while doing so, reminisce about all that makes up the holiday season.
TAPS holiday traditions include a wonderful winemaker dinner at the onset of the season. This year, it’s scheduled for Monday, Dec. 1, with special guest Carlo Mondavi (third generation of the venerable family and grandson of Robert).
One of the best ways to entertain is by way of their bountiful Sunday buffet, which includes choices of sparkling wine or beer for $26.95. TAPS also will serve dinner on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, both nights featuring their regular menu plus specials but no additional charges. There will be live music and dancing on New Year’s Eve and toasting at midnight.
You might want to stop by this month for two of Victor’s seasonal beer specialties: Oktoberfest, a smooth, malty, amber German lager, with a subtle spicy finish and Pumpkin Ale, which Novak refers to as “pumpkin pie in a glass.” It’s medium-bodied, amber hued, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. Of the many beers he makes, it’s my favorite.
Villa Nova
3131 W. Coast Highway
Newport Beach
(949) 642-7880
This is the place to dine while watching the Boat Parade, which this year runs from Dec. 17 through Dec. 21. Few restaurants have such an open view of the parade, thus these reservations are coveted. Make reservations for a table now (call Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. only). There’s one seating at 6:30 p.m. and a four-course menu for $60 ($30 for children under 10) is offered. In addition, Dickens Carolers visit each table throughout each night of the parade. There’s also a nice view from the bar, thus a few tables are reserved in that area; however, the bar menu is limited and children under 18 are not allowed in the lounge.
Villa Nova is quite festively decorated for the month of December. The theme is always traditional with Italian accents and a 20-foot tree will embellish the atmosphere. They will close on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
In a different holiday twist, Villa Nova has become a very popular dining spot for locals on Thanksgiving Eve, a time when most people prefer to wait for the big meal the next day. Prix fixe menus are offered in the Private Dining Room throughout December. There’s a $75 chef’s menu of five courses, including a selection of appetizers, salad, pasta, an entr & #233;e selected from three choices and dessert, plus a choice of either California or Italian wine for each course.
On Christmas Eve, the regular menu is offered. Plans for New Year’s Eve have not yet been finalized, so please inquire. For general dining, try a veal selection: prime quality scaloppine castellena (veal medallions layered with prosciutto de Parma and mozzarella cheese) comes to mind. Frutti di mare (four kinds of shellfish served over homemade linguine) is a fine seafood/pasta combo. The chef also will have some special holiday entr & #233;es and desserts.
The wine list also is given special consideration during the holidays. Though some unique California wines will be showcased, please pay attention to the Italian wines from Piemonte. 1997 was considered one of the best years in the region and the restaurant invested in some of the best producers including Ceretto, Gaja and Giorgio Pelissero.
Zov’s Bistro & Caf & #233;
17440 E. 17th St.
Tustin
(714) 838-8855
The Enderle Center has never been the same since Zov Karamardian decided to open her little bistro there several years ago. A good restaurant was sorely needed. It became so successful that her husband quit his job in aerospace and joined her. Then one day another eatery called Zov’s Caf & #233; emerged behind the bistro. Two years later, a bakery was added. Today, the community at large knows Zov’s food in some manner or another. Perhaps it’s through the cooking classes that are presented in the big kitchen, a venue that has drawn big culinary names to demonstrate.
At this time of year, the staff is gearing up to fill the pastry cases in the bakery and the caf & #233; with a great variety of European, American and Middle Eastern savories and sweet pastries that are so much a part of those cultures during the winter holiday season. The flavors of lemon, licorice, cardamom, orange and cinnamon perfume the air and tease my palate.
The second week of November, the rich swags of greenery, the additional lights (there are tiny lights here and there on the premises year-round) and the trees are put in place. There’s the spirit of the holidays everywhere.
So that the employees can enjoy their own families, the bistro and caf & #233; are closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. They are open only for lunch on Christmas Eve day. And, since this is a family oriented place, only the regular menu and some seasonal specials are served on New Year’s Eve. There is no actual party that runs into the wee hours. They do a major business in full Thanksgiving and Christmas meals to go, something worth considering.
For the food I’ll order when taking a hiatus from my holiday shopping sprees, here are some of my favorites. Love the Borek appetizer (phyllo pastry stuffed with feta and fontina cheese and parsley). Seafood Tagine (of Moroccan origin) containing mussels, clams, large prawns and sea bass wrapped with grape leaves and served with toasted couscous is just perfect on cool days. And, lamb shishlik is a dish of skewered lamb loin that’s grilled and sided with an intriguing eggplant garbanzo stew. Of course, since pastries are a big part of what this restaurant is known for, I will have something sweet with my coffee.
