She’s Still Cooking : Lucy Luhan’s Happy to Serve at Benefit

All the time, people ask her the same question: “Why don’t you relax and stop working?”

And all the time, Lucy Luhan--resident of exclusive Linda Isle and wife of plastic surgeon Dr. Jorge Luhan--tells them: “What would I do?”

She’d be lost, says Luhan, operator of two Italian bistros and a 15th-Century farmhouse-turned-bed-and-breakfast in Tuscany.

“People tell me I could relax--sit back in the sun!” she says, brown eyes flashing.

No way. “I think that’s the biggest problem around here. People are bored to death. There’s too much affluence and too much leisure time,” Luhan says.

Superstars like Madonna and Cher are glad Luhan likes life in the hurried lane. So are David Letterman and O.J. Simpson. All have caught a bite of Luhan’s famous pasta at Luciana’s Ristorante, her sizzling-hot bistro in Dana Point. Ditto television newscasters Bree Walker and Jim Lampley. The couple staged their wedding rehearsal dinner at Luciana’s a few months ago. Not to mention local social celebs such as Judie and George Argyros, Mary and James Roosevelt, and Margaret and Carl Karcher. All have enjoyed cooking supervised by Luhan.

On Friday night, Luhan combined the best of her other venues--her What’s Cooking? eatery in Newport Beach and her Italian podere (farmhouse) in Montevettolini--when she hosted a benefit for the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter for homeless families.

Not only were guests able to feast al fresco on pizza, lamb, chicken and pork, they got to savor the kind of pasta Luhan is famous for: stuffed ravioli--1,000 of them--whipped up by Luhan and her mother. (“Mother says the warmth of our hands makes the pasta taste better than a machine does,” she whispers. ) And , guests got to bid on a stay at Luhan’s seven-bedroom farmhouse, with its 14-acre olive grove and its proximity to Florence, Pisa, Vinci, and Montecatini Terme--probably Europe’s most popular spa town.

Luhan starts to giggle when she recalls the day she told Jorge about the farmhouse. She’d been to Italy for a restaurant convention and learned the old house was for sale. Since her three children--Michelle, Jorge and Jason--were studying in Europe at the time, Luhan was hungering for a “European base,” she says. She put a deposit on the place.

When she returned to Newport Beach, Jorge asked if she’d done any shopping. She had, she answered, but she’d left it in Italy.

“That’s how Jorge found out about the farmhouse,” Luhan says, smiling. “He didn’t believe me.

“Now, we both love having the farmhouse in our life. The farmers there have taught us that the simple and natural life can be a beautiful life.”

When she bought the place, Luhan thought Montevettolini was a town occupied only by olive and grape harvesters. She soon learned it was the spot where the famous Borghese family holes up in the summer.

And now, Sylvester Stallone is dating a member of the Borghese clan and celebrities are beginning to haunt Montevettolini, Luhan says.

And, thanks to her bed-and-breakfast, so are some of Orange County’s most discerning travelers. Chapman College activists Rusty and Bill Hood recently spent two weeks there. Furniture mogul Jim Glabman and his wife, Barbara, visited last spring. Orange County Performing Arts Center board member Timothy Strader and his wife, Susan, have spent a few nights. So has Irvine Co. executive Carol Hoffman and her husband, developer Larry Hoffman. And so has Irvine Co. Vice President Barbara Roppolo and her husband, Domenick.

On Friday night, social activist Molly Lyon and her husband, Leon, were among guests dining at What’s Cooking? on behalf of the Interfaith Shelter, located in Costa Mesa.

“I don’t think I’ll really be happy until I know that everybody has food in their mouths and a roof over their heads,” Molly said during the wine reception.

Linda Schulein, president of the shelter board, agreed, adding that the shelter’s goal is to keep families together. The shelter, which can house 20 families per night, helped 2,000 people last year. “We can accommodate homeless families for 60 days,” Schulein said. “Often, we help single parents and their children. Once, we had a single mom come to us with her 10 children. The shelter makes a tremendous difference in their lives.” Sixty percent of the shelter’s funding comes from private donations, Schulein said. The remainder comes from grants. Dorothy Leshner and Joan Torres were co-chairwomen.

All shook up: “They laid on an earthquake for me!” British couture fashion designer Zandra Rhodes was still all shook up about last week’s Costa Mesa quake when she dined with supporters of the Mozart Camerata orchestra at the Center Club on Thursday night. “I was on the fourth floor at Nordstrom when it hit,” she said, blinding in a dress smothered in glittering beads. “It packed quite a jolt. I said: ‘What’s happening?’ ”

Rhodes, whose glamour-rags often grace the backs of royals such as Princess Diana, Princess Alexandra and Princess Margaret, was in town to help celebrate the Festival of Britain.

Camerata supporters, including board president James Baker III, sipped champagne before they settled down to a fashion show by Rhodes and a dinner of salmon en croute and fresh strawberries served up in a praline shell.

Dining with Rhodes were Baker and his friend, Nancy Sorosky--event chairwoman--and Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom, Gayle Anderson and Ruth and Dr. Lock Ding.

Guests also included committee members LaDorna Eichenberg, Wanda Egly, Eve Foussard, Lillie Hinde, Charles Paap (creator of the lovely floral centerpieces), Jerry Schroeder and Phylis Willats.

Ami Porat is musical director of the orchestra, which kicks off its season on Friday at the new Irvine Barclay Theatre. Up for classical listening: Mozart’s “Linz” symphony No. 36 and works by Rossini and Beethoven.

“This season, Mozart is in almost every concert,” Porat promised guests. “See you on the downbeat!”