The plein-air plate: Monet at the Royce in Pasadena
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Painter Claude Monet may best be known as a founder of the Impressionist art movement, but the Frenchman was also a serious gourmand. The Royce restaurant at the Langham Huntington hotel in Pasadena created a special lunch inspired by Claude Monet on Saturday -- one of a few experiential meals the storied hotel has hosted lately, including a foie gras dinner last month with D’Artagnan owner Ariane Daguin. Next at the Royce will be ‘Gastronomy in the Garden’ in August, an outdoor dinner in the chef’s organic garden.
On Saturday, chef David Féau created four courses inspired by and dedicated to the life and work of the painter. Artist Nori Green, whose tapestries are on display at the Royce, started the afternoon with a lecture on Monet’s life at Giverny, relaying anecdotes of his famous lunches, where ‘Monet was the only one allowed to cut the meat.’
Féau’s ‘Green on Green’ (pictured above) was an homage to Monet’s ‘The Waterlily Pond: Green Harmony,’ 1899, with legumes, peas, flowers and a dark sauce made of kale and a lighter sauce made of asparagus. The thin spears of asparagus were arranged to resemble the bridge in the painting.
The Royce at the Langham Huntington, 1401 S. Oak Knoll Ave., Pasadena, (626) 568-3900.
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-- Jenn Harris
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