Sherry Tops Menu at Gustaf Anders Tasting

Many of us have enjoyed a dry sherry before dinner and perhaps a cream sherry afterward, but how about six different sherries with a six-course dinner? It’s happening Tuesday at a sherry-tasting dinner at Gustaf Anders. Manuel Grimaldi of the sherry house Emilio Lustau will present an N.V. Light Fino Reserva Jarana for starters, to sip with an appetizer of Pacific oysters with spicy beef. (Grimaldi is also noted in Spain as a flamenco guitarist and will entertain during dinner.) With the first course, freshwater prawns with truffled potato salad, an N.V. Manzanilla Pasada Sanlucar, 1/20 Cuevas Jurado, will be poured. Baked North Atlantic salmon in a soy thyme sauce will go with an N.V. Amontillado Esquadrilla. And on it will go, culminating with a baked chocolate mousse presented with N.V. Rare Cream Reserva Superior. The price for the event, which begins at 7 p.m., is $59 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Reservations: (714) 668-1737. The restaurant is in the South Coast Plaza Village, Sunflower Avenue and Plaza Drive, Santa Ana.

El Toro Loco? In a reverse on all those fast-food restaurants that are busily adding chicken to their mainly beef menus, El Pollo Loco recently added two beef dishes to what has been a chicken-only menu. Now you can order a steak fajita burrito for $2.29 or a steak fajita taco for $1.29. But don’t expect beef to start taking over the menu, says marketing director Norman McKinnon. “Chicken will always be king at El Pollo Loco,” he says. The new dishes are available at all 18 Orange County restaurants.

Owner Salvatore S. D’Abbusco will present a gala dinner at Salvatore Cucina Italiana in Mission Viejo on Monday. The meal will begin with prosciutto with aged sheep cheese. From there, the menu will have capellini with smoked salmon and a choice of saltimbocca alla Romana, chicken breast baked with asparagus and Fontina cheese, or roasted quails marinated with olive oil, garlic and rosemary. Price for the five-course dinner is $25.95. There will be two seatings: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., and 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Reservations: (714) 859-4572. The restaurant is at 27001 La Paz Road.

In the Le Meridien Atrium Lounge, Friday-night guests can order from the appetizer and entree menu and listen to Charly & the Chris Guire Trio perform at 7 p.m. The “Broadway My Way” theater and comedy showcase at 8 and 9:45 p.m. also includes magicians and musical artists. Guests seated before 7:30 may stay for the 8 p.m. show without paying a cover charge. Later diners and those who only want to see the entertainment must pay a $3 cover charge. There is a two-drink minimum. The kitchen is open until midnight. 4500 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach. (714) 476-2001.

Those affable Frenchmen Paul Rossi (OK, he’s part Italian) and Joseph Vieillemaringe recently introduced a new menu at their restaurant, La Brasserie, in Orange. Just a few of the new items: hearts of palm salad; scampi Nicoise with tomato and garlic or scampi Provencal with butter and garlic; lobster Newburg; veal Veronique; abalone with lemon and capers, and rack of lamb with fresh mint sauce. Dinners, which include soup or salad, average around $20. The restaurant is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday and for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The address is 202 S. Main St. Reservations: (714) 978-6161.

Cuvaison wines will be served with five courses at a wine-tasting dinner April 6 at Trees restaurant, Corona del Mar. Chef Russell Armstrong’s menu includes medallions of pork tenderloin with green apples and Madagascar peppercorns; marinated grilled boneless squab on pasta with plum sauce; and roast loin of lamb en croute with garlic spinach, carrot puree and Madeira sauce. Among the wines will be several Cuvaison Chardonnays from the Carneros district and the winery’s current Merlot and Cabernet releases. The cost is $50; a Chardonnay aperitif will be served at 7 p.m.; dinner will begin at 7:30. Reservations: (714) 673- 0910. The restaurant is at 440 Heliotrope Ave.

Mystery’s on the menu at the Marriott Suites Newport Beach on Friday and Saturday evenings, when guests can have a three-course dinner at the Mystery Cafe (a mystery dinner theater), help solve a 1920s murder and stay overnight for $149 per couple. The Mystery Weekend Package includes lodging in a bay-view suite for a Friday or Saturday evening, dinner and the entertainment, plus breakfast for two at Windows restaurant in the hotel the morning after. Dinner includes a tossed green salad, grilled chicken breast, fresh breads and desserts. The Mystery Cafe program starts at 8 p.m. on Friday nights, 7 p.m. on Saturdays. The package is available through the end of the year. The price does not include gratuity; cocktails are available on a cash basis. The Marriott Suites Newport Beach is at 500 Bayview Circle. Reservations: (714) 854-4500.