Sutton Place Hotel: Join the Leisure Class for a Serious Day’s Graze

Everything about Newport Beach’s Sutton Place Hotel’s Sunday brunch is so grand you’ll want to set aside a big chunk of the day to slowly sip champagne and graze among the buffet tables.

There are more than 50 dishes, including rotisserie-roasted meats, a wide selection of hot entrees, seafoods, homemade breads, salads, cheeses and desserts. For those celebrating special occasions, Sutton Place may be just right. Attentive servers keep champagne flutes full, musicians note birthdays and anniversaries, and social and political swells work the room. Silver, crystal, white linens and fresh flowers contribute to the luxury.

In Orange County’s competitive restaurant market, a dining room has to go to great lengths to justify a $32 brunch ($39 with house champagne; $47 with monthly specialty champagne). And the Sutton Place succeeds by offering an assortment of food and champagne, plus entertainment.

Seafood and salad are a good place to start an unhurried meal. Perfectly cooked crab claws, large shrimp, mussels, salmon, smoked fish and seafood terrines can be paired with fresh field greens, rice curry, tomatoes, vegetable timbales, onions and herbs. For many people, brunch isn’t complete without a bite of Belgian waffles, eggs Benedict with a lemony hollandaise or omelets. And the lemon tarts, caramel cremes, chocolate fondues, ice cream bars, truffles, cakes, pies and petit fours are outstanding.

Sutton Place Hotel, 4500 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach. (949) 476-2001. Reservations recommended. Sunday brunch hours: 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

Manoher’s Delhi Palace: Heady Swirl of Spices Defines Punjabi Cuisine

Manoher’s Delhi Palace in Orange specializes in foods of the Punjab, the northern state now divided between India and Pakistan.

Here tandoori--meats and fish marinated in a spicy yogurt sauce and cooked in a hot clay oven--is the maharajah, or king, of cuisine. Punjabi dishes are made with inventive sauces of turmeric, garlic, ginger, cilantro, coriander and cumin freshly ground or fried briefly in oil to release their fragrant magic.

Stews in gravies made with cream and ghee (clarified butter) are common, as are vegetarian dishes, yogurt marinades, mustard-seed mixtures and homemade cheese.

Fans of Indian food, and many families, head for this all-you-can eat buffet of about eight meat and vegetarian dishes, salad, dessert and all-you-can-drink champagne. This $7.95 bargain begins with an assortment of pappadum, crispy breads dotted with flecks of black pepper. The pappas, as they are affectionately called, are eaten with an assortment of chutneys.

The buffet also includes saag paneer, spinach with homemade cheese; chana masala, a curried chickpea stew; chicken tikka masala, chicken roasted in a tandoori oven with a tomato-and-butter sauce; vegetable korma, mixed vegetables cooked with cashews and cream sauce; daal, stewed lentils with spices and cream; chicken curry; basmati rice; and your choice of plain or garlic naan (leavened flat breads).

We ventured away from the buffet to order catfish tikka: a tender and delicious grilled fish marinated in lemon juice and spices, served on a sizzling hot platter. We also chose boneless lamb karahi, a rich stew in cream sauce; several tasty naan; and malai kofta, fried vegetable balls with cheese in an orange-colored cream sauce. These fritters, along with the tandoori meats and grilled fish, are among the best dishes at the restaurant.

Manoher’s Delhi Palace, 220 E. Katella Ave., Orange. Buffet: $7.95, includes soft drink or champagne (all you can drink). Children younger than 8 are half price. Brunch hours: 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (714) 516-1813.

* A new Sunday Brunch review will run next Sunday in the Orange County Calendar.