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Photograph by Dai Sugano
With two summer lunches to go, Elizabeth Monley of the Villa Montalvo Service Group says the popular luncheon series is doing better than ever.
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Montalvo nears end of this year's summer luncheons
It's been most popular year yet for this program
By Suzanne Cristallo
With two of their eight luncheons at Saratoga's Villa Montalvo left to go, volunteers with the Montalvo Service Group are enthused at the response they have had for their 21st annual summer event. "We're beyond expectations," says Martha Swartz, treasurer for the group. "We've sold out [all previous luncheons] to date." The final two Wednesday repasts, on August 18 and 25, are still open for reservations.
Served by volunteers on the Villa's terrace overlooking a sweeping lawn, and catered by Pat Smith's Extravaganza in Saratoga, each culinary event has its own menu. The Aug. 18 entree will be a fillet of fresh Dover sole wrapped around a tarragon seafood mousse and served on a bed of mixed greens with champagne beurre blanc. It will be accompanied by steamed potatoes, mixed baby vegetables and a scone. Decadent Mendocino Mud Puddles will top it off. Fashions by R.K. Shugart will be shown informally.
The Aug. 25 luncheon will feature beef tri-tip marinated in Zinfandel and peppercorns and topped with a rosemary demi-glace, along with Niçoise potato salad with green wax beans, ratatouille-stuffed squash and a sour French baguette. Dessert will be a fruit tart. Fashions will be by Smith Alder of Los Gatos. Vegetarians may substitute a stuffed portobello mushroom for any entree. Coffee, tea and gratuity are included in the $22 price.
Proceeds from the luncheons benefit Montalvo's various arts programs. The Montalvo Service Group also holds four holiday brunches in the spring and an upcoming Yuletide weekend in November. At that three-day event, food made by Gourmet Alley--a group within the service group that spends the year putting up preserves for sale--will be featured, along with handmade gift items. This is the only time the Villa is fully open to the public, with all rooms decorated for the holidays.
According to Elizabeth Monley, publicist for the group, one part of the art program that the group helps to fund--the Artist Residency program--is being expanded to accommodate several new cottages where artists can live; each is designed by a different architect and artist team. "We're so excited," Monley says. "Our new buildings were accepted as is by the Saratoga Planning Commission, and we believe they are going to make a positive recommendation for the plans to the City Council." The cottages will be built in a section of the old estate that once was an orchard. The Villa was built in the 1920s by the late Sen. James Phelan.
Reservations for the upcoming summer luncheons, as well as the Yuletide event on Nov. 12, 13 and 14, may be made by calling the Montalvo office at 961-5823. Villa Montalvo is at 15400 Montalvo Road, Saratoga.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
