BRIEFLY IN BUSINESS

Spa Montage gets five-star rating

Spa Montage at Montage Resort & Spa in Laguna Beach has been awarded a second five-star rating from Mobil Travel Guide.

The spa was honored for providing “consistently superlative service in an exceptionally distinctive luxury environment with extensive amenities and treatments,” according to Mobil’s website.

Mobil has published its fourth-annual ratings of North America’s top hotel and resort spas for 2007.

Montage is the only five-star rated spa in Southern California, and one of only two five-star-rated facilities. The Spa at Mandarin Oriental, New York, was the only other five-star rated spa in the list.

Mobil states that: “Spa Montage is a stunning facility that takes advantage of its superior beachfront setting. An indoor-outdoor structure and floor-to-ceiling windows framing 160-degree views alleviate any guilt you may feel for opting to leave the outdoors behind for a day at the spa. The spa’s holistic, get-back-to-nature approach is evident in its design, as well as in the products it uses. Custom-mixed lotions and oils blend natural ingredients.” The spa is at the Montage Resort, 30801 So. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. For more information, call (949) 715-6000.

Casa Laguna chef wins recipe prize

Casa Laguna Inn and Spa chef Peter O’Keefe won second place in a national breakfast recipe contest.

O’Keefe’s “Smoked Salmon Crepe Purse with Cream Cheese Dill Mousse and Fennel Oils” took the silver prize in the contest, which pitted innkeepers and chefs from some of the best bed and breakfasts in the country against each other.

The finalists competed in a cooking competition held May 7 at the Coeur d’Alene Resort & Spa in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The competition coincided with contest sponsor Select Registry’s 35th Anniversary and Annual Conference.

Select Registry is a nonprofit trade association representing more than 400 country inns, bed and breakfast inns, and small hotels across North America.

Competition entries were judged and chosen by a panel based on creativity, presentation, overall appeal and taste.

The gold medal was won by Michael Attkinson and Michele Briggs, of the Inn on Church Street in Hendersonville, N.C., for the entry, “Smoked Mountain Trout Cakes.”

The bronze medal was won by Eric H. Andersen at the Inn on the Twenty in Jordan, Ontario, for his “AM Meets PM (Breakfast staples with a Dinner Presentation).”