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Patio Menus for Moody June
Lovely time of year this, with its mercurial weather and life-affirming rituals. The fog may be gossamer or leaden, the sun sovereign or in bleak exile, and the solemn occasions portentous were they not so comically profuse. But amid the multiple errands and harried well-wishing the patio at Sage offers idyllic dining. The following suggestions for summer meals blend several Sage classics and a few instant hits; most will be available throughout the summer, at one location or another, subject to the vicissitudes of the market and the whims of some very creative chefs. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
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I
 A dove-gray, cool morning has warmed glaringly white. Your daughter-in-law places some lilies on the table, an un-nuanced selection whose cloying perfume will soon give you a headache. A lunch at Sage Eastbluff is meant to assuage you, after she took your son, her yoga mat and her bejeweled navel to Aruba and missed your 30th wedding anniversary. Menu: For you, a half-bottle of Qupe Marsanne and the Scallop and Grapefruit Salad. Marsanne, named for a town in southeast France, is a traditional white blending varietal in the Northern Rhône, usually adding acidity to more flavorful but less reliable Roussanne or Viognier. Brilliant lunatic Bob Lindquist at Qupe bottles an 84% Marsanne from Los Olivos with 16% Roussanne. The result is a dry wine with a fresh clean astringency—which is just what you need right now—and subtle flavors of orange rind, almond, peach pit and mineral. It is a great wine for Sage’s scallops, crab cakes, risotto, catfish, or the season’s first melons from Weiser Farms. For her, an Amstel Light and the Chinese Chicken Salad, the same one you’ve ordered dozens of times over the years, with shredded white chicken breast, mandarin oranges, light won ton crisps and a timeless sesame vinaigrette with the perfect balance of tart and sweet. It’s a refreshing choice for hot weather and evinces a healthy respect for tradition. For dessert, you share a generous slice of Mark’s Vanilla Bean Cheesecake with fresh cherry topping, pistachio crust and cherry cinnamon sauce. There may be a legacy for her after all.
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II
A gloomy morning grows suddenly darker, and you find yourself wandering Crystal Cove in the oft-forecast ‘scattered drizzle’ with precious little time to find a wedding gift. You can certainly get something more joyful and heartfelt here than a serving spoon for the friend, the close, dear friend, who has, truthfully, been negligent enough since college and can only be more so after her marriage. Still, you soldier on. Things will happen for you, too, someday. Menu: A seat by the fire at Sage on the Coast, a Grilled Vegetable Panini, and a Kumquat Dry Soda. The warm crisp bread, hearty vegetables, comforting melted mozzarella and goat cheese, pesto and spicy, garlicky harissa aioli will dispel the dampness and the citrus soda will cut through the gloom. And for dessert—yes, you must—the Cherry Tiramisu with house-made ladyfingers, chocolate sauce, fresh cherries and mocha macaroons. And an iced cappuccino—you still have shopping to do. And how can you treat others well without knowing how to treat yourself?
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III
 An impenetrable gray mass stands where the sea should be. It could advance or retreat, but overhead it’s clear and sunny, and in the brilliance stands the graduate, on a breakfast of beer and an hour’s sleep. His handsome face is genial and relaxed,  too young to show any sign of yesterday’s depravity and too game to let on in front of his parents and siblings. (So much depends on a college education.) Everybody wants a patio table and a quick lunch before heading out with i-pods and sunglasses to the ceremony. Menu: Two waysto go: the Grilled Salmon Salad and a bottle of Rombauer Chardonnay, or the new Mediterranean Chopped Salad with a bottle of Saxon-Brown Rosé. The first, wildly popular, has a whole salmon fillet atop baby greens tossed with asparagus, corn, Maui onions and tomato in a sweet Dijon horseradish vinaigrette, sprinkled with candied pecans.
The chopped salad—so easy to eat—is great for getting a variety of flavors in every bite: both the richness of salami and the clean poached chicken, the sweet bite of minced red onion and the semi-tartness of nicoise olives, the tangy pepperocinis and the shredded mozzarella and fontina, the white wine vinaigrette with the creamy, tender garbanzos. The Rosé has an aroma of strawberries and a dash of fruit before a long, dry palate-cleansing finish. And for the boy, a light but fortifying Angus Sirloin and Farmers’ Market Tomato Bruschetta on grilled garlic bread with arugula and mozzarella, sprinkled with sea salt, fresh ground pepper and aromatic Ligurian olive oil—which he and his friends no doubt sampled, along with much else, tramping through the Cinque Terre after their junior year. The bruschetta, served with fried fingerling potatoes dusted with parmesan, calls for just one more cold, menu-sanctioned, congratulatory beer.
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IV
 You and the other mothers have about forty-five minutes before the children’s swimming lessons come to a puffing, dripping end. You high-tail it over to Sage Eastbluff and no one’s the wiser. Menu: the Sashimi Plate and a Lemongrass Dry Soda. This small plate is immensely satisfying. The rich, cool succulent Hawaiian ahi, caught the day before, complements the tang of the green papaya, fresh ginger and wasabe. The soy rice vinaigrette is so much brighter than mere soy sauce, the avocado is delightfully creamy, and the Lemongrass soda was made for this dish. A quick half-bottle of Rombauer Chardonnay or a glass of Roederer Estate Brut might also be entirely appropriate and/or necessary.
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V
 Your friends have endured a gruelingly protracted series of flights from the Balkans and you have kindly retrieved them. They require a bit of wholesome food after weeks of tourist fare and cannot wait. You take them to Sage Eastbluff, where in the long, balmy twilight you can pore over the sights of Dubrovnik while a hovering evening star glows attentively tableside. Menu: the Red Wine Braised Boneless Beef Short Ribs and a glass of Qupe Syrah. Nothing says welcome back to our shores better than red meat, mashed potatoes and gravy, or rather, red wine beef jus, plus cavolo nero kale, carrots, and cipollini onions. Alternatively, the Roast Duck Breast with radiant grilled California peaches and blood orange sauce and a glass of A to Z Oregon Pinot Noir.
And for you, still longing for adventure, the Sage Cioppino, shellfish and seafood in a perennial tomato vegetable fish broth, with a glass of Condes de Albarei Albariño. This white wine from the Rias Baixas, or southern bays of Galicia, in the temperate (read rainy), anciently Celtic northwest of Spain, is ideal with seafood and shellfish. This pastured and pine forested province is crisscrossed with rivers, whose many flooded estuaries create a coastline cut with imposing fjord-like inlets, or rias. Galicians who don’t fish trellis their acres of Albariño grapes pergola-style, for maximum exposure to sun and drying breezes. Three hundred and sixty-two farmers, with names like Xurxo, Xosé, and Anxo, combine their harvest at a single, technologically advanced winery to create a wine redolent of papaya and citrus, perfect for sipping on the patio all summer long.
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VI
 The horizon is a dense powdery blue flecked with sails. You are the first to arrive at your Father’s Day brunch at Sage on the Coast, and gratefully take a seat in the shade to await the confluence of your offspring. Menu: A Sage Bloody Mary, freshly mixed with tomato juice, lemon, Tabasco, Worcester shire, ground pepper and horseradish that grips you like a walloping shore-breaker. Then, blissful yet alert, you set your sights squarely on the Breakfast Enchilada—scrambled farm fresh eggs and cheddar rolled in a flour tortilla with tomato-guajillo pepper sauce, sour cream, fontina, avocado and pico de gallo. Celebrate the swirling, gift-laden arrival of the tribe with Modern Spirits Honey-Grapefruit Vodka Martinis, in honey-drizzled glasses with fresh squeezed, farmers’ market grapefruit juice.
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