Luxury ‘mess hall’ hosts troops

NEWPORT BEACH — Dan Marcheano had a restaurant full of Marines to serve Saturday at lunch, so he prepared a dish familiar to anyone who had been in the service.

Of course, since it was a special occasion, he made it taste a little better than it might in the trenches.

The owner of the Arches Restaurant on 29th Street honors the Marine Corps’ birthday every year by inviting active and retired personnel and their families for a celebratory lunch.

In addition to the usual steaks, seafood and other Arches favorites Saturday, Marcheano had his cooks whip up a batch of chipped beef on toast — a dish that, in the military, has a popular name unprintable in a family newspaper.

The slivers of beef and cream sauce that Marcheano put together, though, were a cut above the usual mess hall serving.

“This is a tad luxurious,” retired Lt. Gen. John Rhodes said between bites at the Arches bar. “When I was in the service, they would usually use ground beef and cover it with garlic and Tabasco sauce. We didn’t always get the choice cuts of meat. I can assure you Dan did not get this recipe from the Marine Corps.”

Added Rhodes’ friend, Pat Wallace: “He wouldn’t do that to us.”

Marcheano, who served in the Marines from 1961 to 1965, has hosted the Marine Corps Ball at his restaurant for nearly two decades.

On Saturday, for the first time, the ball took place at two restaurants — Arches on the Water, a seaside location around the block from the regular Arches, had opened a few weeks ago. Both sites filled with Marines and their families and held a cake-cutting ceremony shortly after noon.

The Arches had no celebration planned for Veterans Day Sunday, but Marcheano said the festivities Saturday sufficed for the entire weekend.

“It’s a very strong weekend for all of us,” he said. “There’s a lot of emotion that goes through it.”

He added that he rarely saw the same faces year after year, since so many Marines moved out of the service and settled in other parts of the country. Marcheano didn’t mind starting over, though.

“We get new people, which is great,” he said. “We make a lot of new friends.”

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.