Moms Will Savor the Taste of These Mother’s Day Treats

After all the nourishment mom’s given you, Mother’s Day is your chance to turn the tables. And Orange County offers some pretty fine tables to turn.

According to Franco Vessia, general manager of Prego Ristorante, Italians love their mothers more than life itself.

At Prego’s Festa della Mamma, a buffet from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., are such pastas as farfalle con tonno e pomodori secchi (butterfly pasta with tuna and sun-dried tomatoes) and entrees such as agnello arrosto (rotisseried lamb) and gamberoni (grilled shrimp). The cost, $19.95 plus tax and tip ($10.95 for children under 12), also includes antipastos, pizzas and desserts.

Trattoria Spiga offers a three-course prix fixe brunch for $17 plus tax and tip ($9 for children 6 to 12), which includes a glass of champagne and a photo of you and mom by a champagne waterfall constructed with hundreds of glasses of champagne.

For her main course, mamma might choose, among other possibilities, lasagna al forno or spezzatino di manzo alle cipolle (beef stew with pearl onions), for dessert, Macedonia di fruta (mixed fruit salad) or the popular tiramisu .

Prego Ristorante, 18420 Von Karman Ave., Irvine. (714) 553-1333.

Trattoria Spiga, 3333 Bear St., Costa Mesa. (714) 540-3365.

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Stateside, the Yankee Taverns in Laguna Niguel and Newport Beach offer a three-course Mother’s Day menu from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Depending on the main course, the meal ranges from $16 to $21. Broiled smoked pork chops with huckleberry sauce, for example, served with sweet and sour red cabbage and a ramekin of succotash, is $19.50, plus tax and tip.

The Ritz also serves a three-course meal from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., but it’s a set $37.50, which includes a family photograph but not tax, tip or alcohol. Among entrees is roast duck “in the Bavarian manner,” presented crisp on a compote of pippin apples with red cabbage, Lyonnaise potatoes and lingonberries. Dessert possibilities include a Grand Marnier souffle.

The Ritz, 880 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 720-1800.

Yankee Tavern, 333 Bayside Drive, Newport Beach. (714) 675-5333.

Yankee Tavern, 32441 Golden Lantern, Laguna Niguel, (714) 240-4994.

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Hotels are a popular Mother’s Day destination.

Dana Point Resort offers a buffet from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Watercolors Restaurant featuring, among hot items, blackened red snapper gremolada (parsley, lemon peel and garlic) and apricot spinach rolled pork loin, and among cold delicacies, cinnamon duck breast with grilled ginger. $38 plus tax and tip ($18 for children under 12) includes champagne and desserts.

In the Garden Ballroom at the Atrium Marquis Hotel, a Champagne Brunch Extravaganza includes paupiette of rainbow trout stuffed with spinach and white wine mustard sauce and six buffet stations, a glass of champagne, music by a classical trio and a long-stemmed rose for mothers. It’s $19.95 plus tax and tip for adults, $17.95 for senior citizens, and $10.95 for children under 12.

Westin South Coast Plaza hotel offers a caviar station, a seafood station with gravad lax and hot entrees including beef Wellington, confit of rabbit and Guinea fowl galantine. It’s $30 plus tax and tip for adults, $15 for children 6 to 12 and free for children 5 and under, and that also includes appetizers, salads and desserts.

Sutton Place Hotel offers three tiers of Mother’s Day celebrations.

* For $33 per adult, and $14 per child 6 to 12, plus tax and tip, there’s a Flamenco Brunch, with a Flamenco performance and a long-stemmed rose, in the Deauville Ballroom from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Add $5 for unlimited champagne.)

* For $38 per adult and entertainment by Gerard Barbut from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.--and otherwise the same price breakdown and amenities--Cafe Fleuri offers more than 50 menu items on its buffet brunch menu.

* For $43 per adult, $12 per child 6 to 12, plus tax and tip, you can enjoy a gourmet brunch at Antoine with intimate guitar music, an orchid and a souvenir snapshot. It’s served from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Atrium Marquis Hotel, 18700 MacArthur Blvd., Irvine. (714) 833-2770, Ext. 500.

Dana Point Resort, 25135 Street of the Park Lantern, Dana Point, (714) 661-5000.

Sutton Place Hotel, 4500 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach. (714) 476-2001.

Westin South Coast Plaza hotel, 686 Anton Blvd., Costa Mesa. (714) 662-6694.

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Add Mother’s Day: Gustaf Anders in Santa Ana offers a buffet at $32 per person, with guitar music, from noon to 9 p.m. . . . Robert Mondavi Wine & Food Center in Costa Mesa serves a three-course luncheon, with clown and magician, and Mondavi wines, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. It’s $45 for adults, $12 for children under 14.

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A team of local chefs who recently dubbed themselves the Orange County Ten will prepare a five-course French-Thai dinner Friday at 6 p.m. at the Mondavi Center. The meal benefits the Share Our Selves OrangeAid Kitchen Project.

Jean Pierre Lemanissier (Antoine) and Pascal Olhats (Pascal) combine talents on chilled sea urchin and ginger soup with aumoniere (filo purse) of snails. Alan Greeley (Golden Truffle) and Sarah Scott (Mondavi) team up for parrot fish in ginger paper with quanxi , a Chinese feeling that Greeley insists will be on the plate and the palate! Claude Koeberle (Creative Culinary Concepts) offers a duo of Thai chili chocolate marjolaine and jasmine rice.

Mondavi is donating the wines for the Taste of the Nation event, which costs $150 per plate. Underwriting from Taco Bell, Absolut Vodka and Coors allows 100% of the proceeds to feed the hungry.

Robert Mondavi Wine & Food Center, 1570 Scenic Ave., Costa Mesa. (714) 979-4510.