Men find a place at the table of formality

Les Amis d’ Escoffier Society of Southern California gathered for Le Diner d’ Printemps at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort. Fifty prominent gentlemen dressed in black ties and medals came to dinner on a Monday evening at the onset of summer. They came at the invitation of hotelier Henry Schielein, paying $195 per person for a meal that may have cost significantly more per person to produce, and they came without their wives, girlfriends or significant others to celebrate the lost art of dining at a man’s table. To sum up the experience, “remarkable” would not be too strong a word.

“Tonight we experience what has become a lost art of the table,” said Schielein, whose career in hospitality spans 50 years of culinary service around the globe. “When I was a boy in Bavaria working at my first job as a waiter’s assistant, these kinds of formal dinners were commonplace.”

Schielein presided over a champagne reception featuring Pascal Delarablee, Cuvee Prestige, ler Cru, from Villers Marmery NV.

“The cost of preparing and serving this meal is prohibitive. It can not be done anymore except on very special occasions such as tonight,” added the president of the Balboa Bay Club & Resort. “Let me share with you one difference from the past that we will not duplicate this evening. In the past, this dinner would have been presented on massive silver tray service. This is simply not possible, so we have adapted our dinner for the modern age.”

The modern age is not accustomed to this sort of social dining. As the guests left the cocktail reception and entered the Club Grill, a private dining room at the bay club overlooking the main channel of the Newport Harbor, a 100-foot long banquet table had been created spanning the length of the dining room. Crisp starched white linens draped to the floor supported a line of eight sparking crystal clear wine glasses at each place setting, at the ready for an incomparable sampling of French wines to be served with each of eight dinner courses.

In keeping with the tradition of the old world, silver bowls were adorned with red velvet roses in full bloom set beside white tapers flickering in three-armed silver candelabras.

As the Monday-evening sun set on the bay, 50 men sat down together at Schielein’s table. Toasts were made to the good life ? and to good health. A roast or two followed, jabbing at the pomposity of the scene.

And then the rules of the table were clearly stated. The Escoffier Society is dedicated to bringing together “members of the culinary profession and loyal friends who appreciate good food and good wine; men who believe in the adage ‘live and let live’; men who place sincere friendships above all else.” There’s more. The rules of the table prohibit any conversation that is business oriented, political, religious, opinionated or centered on wives. Sports talk is OK. Finally, the gathering is never meant to be a source of business contacts.

As dinner begins, the guests are requested to open their oversized white starched napkins and tuck one corner under the collar, covering the full front of the chest.

“Persons under the influence of liquor will not be permitted at the table.” This rule is forgiven ? just a bit. After all, a champagne reception has just emptied a number of very fine bottles. It is made clear that the wine glass accompanying each course will be removed at the end of each serving, “even if full.” Smoking is strictly forbidden until dessert. Anyone who smokes prior to dessert “does not deserve the title of gourmet.”

Organized by Schielein and Orange County celeb chef Christian Rassinoux, who was unable to attend this annual dinner, the meal was presided over by the very talented and personable Josef Lageder, chef de cuisine at the bay club. Lageder was joined by club deputy director general Dieter Hissin, maitre d’ hotel Naji Allouche and sommelier Bruce Rabanit, as well as a dining and kitchen staff attired in spotless white uniforms attending to the most minute details from start to finish.

To share each course would be unthinkable, downright unfair to you dear readers. Suffice it to say that the evening began with a superb pate’ de Campagne, followed by Maine lobster, and proceeded to include white asparagus, truffles and Hollandaise, sole Veronique, Medallions of veal “Prince Orloff,” cherries bombe in Kirsch, and petits fours au chocolat. There was so much more. All superbly prepared, carefully presented, thoroughly enjoyed.

In the gentlemen’s crowd were Joe Girard; Charles Foss; Joe de Franco; Danny Thomas; the new Island Hotel chief executive Hans Maissen; Fred Mensinger; Orange County Supervisor Tom Wilson; and Bob Robbins and his son Jim Robbins.

Named for the Chef of Kings and the King of Chefs, Auguste Escoffier, who was born in France in 1846, the Society was formed in his honor and memory 90 years later in 1936 at New York’s tony Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The original members of the society were a dedicated fraternity of gastronomes, some of them former pupils of the great Escoffier.

Then in 1955 the society was reformed as a nonprofit charitable organization sponsoring scholarships for students of the culinary arts. Today it is a worldwide organization, gathering twice annually at a common table in cities around the planet to celebrate human values that bring people of diverse backgrounds together.

Also supporting the Escoffier Society of Southern California are Claes Anderson of the Hotel Laguna, Michael Arguilla, John Dravinski and David Larsen, to name only a few.

As the evening concluded the men retired to the outdoor terrace for a cigar and cognac. Certainly an incredible evening of food, wine, and friendship. A once in a lifetime experience.