This Could Be a Picture-Perfect Way to Enjoy the Pageant of the Masters

“Last Supper”? Dinner First: Before going to see the Pageant of the Masters, you can enjoy a pre-theater meal at the Ritz-Carlton. Guests can request a voucher and return to the resort for dessert following the pageant, and “traffic-busting” transportation can be arranged for the 16-mile round trip.

The pageant, showing nightly through Aug. 29, re-creates works of art using live models; tickets are available at the Festival of Arts box office or through the hotel’s concierge. The special Terrace Restaurant menu includes Alaskan crab cakes, choice of cedar-planked salmon or grilled New York strip steak, and creme brulee .

Cost of the dinner is $25. Optional transportation is an additional $35 for one or two, $65 for four.

33533 Ritz-Carlton Drive, Dana Point. (714) 240-5008.

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Lesser-known varietal wines from California boutique wineries will be the focus of a tasting hosted by the Orange County chapter of the Single Gourmet, a fine-dining club for singles, Friday evening at Hi-Time Cellars.

According to Hi-Time wine buyer Michael Ngyuen, they won’t be pouring wines you’d normally find in a supermarket. The examples will be “good quality but offbeat, not Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon, and not Kendall-Jackson--more like a Carignane from Noceto in Amador County,” he said. Other possibilities include wines made from the Pinot Blanc, Viognier, Syrah, Sangiovese or Marsanne grapes.

Cost of the tasting is $25 for members, $35 for non-members, and it begins at 6:30 p.m.

250 Ogle St., Costa Mesa. (714) 854-6552.

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It’s not exactly Tin Pan Alley--or maybe it is. Sundays in August, the Crazy Rhythm Hot Society Orchestra will play 1920s jazz, complete with flapper-style singers, in the courtyard of the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art. The 10-piece ensemble enlivens the champagne brunch at the museum’s Topaz Cafe from noon to 2:30 p.m.

In addition to more traditional omelets and beef dishes, the buffet includes machaca tacos, blackened snapper and chocolate brioche. The cost is $13.95, $5.95 for children ages 5 to 10; children under 5 eat free. Museum patrons are invited to enjoy the music even if they don’t have brunch; Bowers’ Sunday hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana. (714) 835-2002.

Benjamin Epstein is a free-lance writer who regularly contributes to The Times Orange County Edition. Information for this column can be Faxed to (714) 966-7790, or addressed to: OC Live!, The Times, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.