A feast for the eyes and the stomach

B.W. COOK

The Newport crowd crossed the border into Laguna this week for a most

elegant seaside dinner at Montage. It was a “Summer Happening by the

Sea,” orchestrated by chic Newport hostess Irene Mathews, president

of Le Bailliage de Newport Beach, La Confrerie de la Chaine des

Rotisseurs. The gourmet dining society, with its European roots and

pedigree, chose casual elegance for the no--jackets, no-ties evening

at The Studio within Montage, with dinner prepared by Chef James

Boyce.

Mathews’ guest list was a who’s who of the Newport social A-list.

The most handsome couple, Pat and Dick Allen, were front and center,

joining Kim and Ed Prado, Linda and Bill Hughes, Dee and Larry Higby,

Tia and Frank Anderson, Barbara and Dan Abbott and the prominent

Tappans, David and Jeanne.

The Sunday evening soiree began with Maryland jumbo lump crab

cannelloni, followed by a salad of local beets and black mission

figs. Ruth Ann and Robert Burns, Nui and Tom Gurtner, and the

glamorous Maralou and Jerry Harrington enjoyed conversation over

line-caught Catalina grouper, served alongside vintage grilled

rib-eye beef and braised short ribs.

Officers of the Newport Beach chapter, including Darrel Anderson,

John Cook, David Weinberg, Dennis Walsh, Dick Allen and Dan Abbott,

supported Irene Mathews and her husband Bill Mathews, an

international wine connoisseur, as the dinner of late summer unfolded

on the California Riviera, overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The six-course dinner continued with the service of a Point Reyes

blue cheese souffle and then a dessert consisting of a trio of Michel

Cuizel chocolates in the form of gateau, brulee and mousse. Lido

Isle’s much loved Joan and Tom Riach were in the crowd, sharing

summer memories with Donna and Greg Hood, Marilyn and Dick Hausman,

Connie and Larry Hull, Miriam and David Hungerford, and Pat and

Charles Steinmann.

The fabulous food, wine and setting are not created in the pursuit

of business connections or social maneuvering. La Chaine des

Rotisseurs is an organization with a centuries-old tradition of

bringing people together in friendship over food. They allow no

smoking, no speeches and no business solicitations. And in modern

times, funds raised from these dining extravaganzas go to support

scholarships for young people seeking careers in the culinary arts.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.