Blog

Luxury Hotels Alfresco DIning Options on Easter
03.29.21
With Easter coming up on Sunday, April 4, here are some alfresco dining options offered by Orange County luxury hotels. Whether dining with close friends, family or a significant other this Easter, these resorts offer a safe and beautiful environment to enjoy the beginning of the spring season, while indulging in incredible Calfornia cuisine.
Inn at The Mission San Juan Capistrano | San Juan Capistrano, CA
Located in the heart of historic downtown San Juan Capistrano, idyllic temperatures and Spanish-inspired surroundings make Inn at the Mission San Juan Capistrano the perfect tranquil Easter getaway for families and friends to enjoy this spring.
Lounge in the expansive outdoor patio overlooking the ruins of the Great Stone Church or take in a game or two of cornhole in the Olive Grove before dining at the resort's signature Ysidora Restaurant and Lounge. Executive Chef Aaron Obregon has curated a delectable Easter brunch experience, available from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. The pre-fixe menu is priced at $85 per person and features standout savory dishes like the Baja Crab Quiche Lorraine, and sweet delights like the Licor 43 Butterscotch Bread Pudding. Guests can also indulge in Ysidora’s ‘bottomless’ Ana Cava Mimosa offering for $20 per person, or splurge on an all inclusive Easter experience including a bottle of Veuve Clicquot for $115 per person. Reservation can be made on OpenTable.com.
Menu here.
31692 El Camino Real in San Juan Capistrano.
Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club | Dana Point, CA
Celebrate Easter at the new Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club, nestled hillside along the coast gleaming panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean. With special spring-inspired menus at the resort’s dining outlets, there’s a delightful culinary experience for all. At AVEO Table + Bar, enjoy an al fresco lunch from 12-4 p.m. and dinner menu from 5-9 p.m. Selections include salmon tartar to begin, roasted northern Pacific halibut with cauliflower puree, and crème Fraiche Cheesecake for an Easter treat.
Bourbon Steak Orange County will offer their very first brunch this Easter! From 12-3 p.m., enjoy a pre-fix menu featuring sweet corn bisque, smoked salmon Benedict, braised short rib hash with sweet potato, hazelnut chocolate nest and more. The menu is priced at $135 per person. Dinner will also be served from 5:30-9 p.m.
At Monarch Bay Beach Club, enjoy brunch specials from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., and an all-day menu from 3-9 p.m. paired with live music with the sparkling ocean in the background. Menu selections include lobster Benedict, smoked salmon bisque, roasted leg of lamb, chicken and waffles and strawberry shortcake.
Across the Grand Lawn, delight in an elegant family-style 3-course Easter Brunch service with live music. Starting with warm honey butter brioche rolls and, iced spring pea soup, guests can choose their entree from herb rotisserie leg of lamb to grilled vadouvan spiced cauliflower steak. All will be served with family-style sides including charred corn & edamame succotash and foraged mushroom risotto. Seatings are at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., priced at $95 per adult and $45 per children 5-12 years.
The full menus can be found here.
One Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point.
Blog

LAGUNA ART MUSEUM ANNOUNCES RE-OPENING AND EXTENDS WAYNE THIEBAUD EXHIBITION
03.26.21
Now that Orange County was assigned to the red tier under the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Blueprint for a Safer Economy. The less restrictive tier allows museums to re-open with modifications including limited capacity. Following guidance from CDPH, with protocols to protect the health of staff and visitors, Laguna Art Museum reopened today.
Advance tickets for timed entry, available on the museum’s website, are required as capacity is limited to 25 percent in the red tier. Other health and safety protocols include required face masks, contactless temperature checks, physical distancing reminders, and increased cleaning and sanitization. Guided tours are not offered at this time, and events and programs will continue online rather than in-person.
Wayne Thiebaud: Clowns, which was scheduled to close on April 4, will be extended through October 24, 2021. The exhibition is the first museum showing of the recent series first unveiled in December 2019.
Over the past seven years Wayne Thiebaud has made dozens of paintings, drawings, and etchings of clowns. Like much of his work, this latest series is in a sense autobiographical. During his boyhood in Long Beach he looked forward to the visits of a traveling Ringling Brothers circus and sometimes helped out behind the scenes in exchange for tickets. The costumes, faces, and antics of the clowns were the beginning of a lifelong fascination for him. The clown series is its culmination, in which the 100-year-old artist revisits those early memories.
The series is a testament to the kinship between clowning and its counterpart for the visual artist, the cartoon. Early in his career Thiebaud worked as an animator and a cartoonist. He has great respect for comic draftsmanship and an appreciation for humor. At the same time he is one of the greatest pure painters of our time; on top of the fun of the clowns and the logic-defying situations he invents for them, there is the sheer delight he shows in color and brushwork.
In December 2019 Thiebaud unveiled a selection from his clown series at the San Francisco gallery founded by his son, Paul Thiebaud. The Laguna Art Museum exhibition is a version of the Paul Thiebaud Gallery exhibition, with 46 works.
Given the importance of memories in Thiebaud’s work, it seems fitting that his clown series, a tribute to performers remembered from his boyhood, should have its museum debut in a town for which he feels a nostalgic fondness. He came to Laguna Beach on visits with his family as a child and later, after his son opened a gallery here, stayed for extended periods in an apartment overlooking Main Beach. Laguna Art Museum staged exhibitions of his work in 2007 and 2014, and in 2018 he presented his painting Jolly Cones, a version of one of his many New Yorker covers, to the museum’s permanent collection.
Wayne Thiebaud: Clowns opened at Laguna Art Museum on December 6, 2020, and will be on view through October 24, 2021. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalog containing an interview with the artist.
307 Cliff Drive in Laguna Beach. 949.494.8971.
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