Lupin serves Mexican food with a Cinco de Mayo flair
By Suzanne Cristallo
Picture the weekend. You're on the deck catching the last orange flare of sun dropping behind the tree-framed mountain top. It's unusually warm for May 6, and you're considering the option of shedding your clothes. The sound of a creek rushing to the lake below blends with the comforting sizzle of gorditas grilling in the kitchen. It's Old California Days at Lupin Naturist Club, a celebration of the Cinco de Mayo weekend, and the Lupin Restaurant is serving Hispanic fare with live music and dancing.
"We're always in the hands of nature here," says restaurant manager Sunshine Roth, who with her husband, club manager Jay, came for a visit from Washington, D.C., in January 1999, and stayed. "Naturists like sunny weather," she smiles, explaining the complexities of trying to plan for the unknown number of drop-ins she might expect with good weather, "but people do come just for the view from the restaurant." And, of course, the food.
Lupin Restaurant, part of the Naturist Club that has existed under various owners and names since 1936, caters to members and welcomes drop-ins. Nonmembers are invited to tour the many facilities situated on 110 secluded acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Los Gatos and then are invited to use them--no reservations required.
The big restaurant can seat 152 people at a time. "Anyone can come and eat here. You don't have to take your clothes off," says Sunshine, demonstrating her awareness of the self-consciousness some first-timers experience. "Clothes are optional." The Cinco de Mayo festivities are expected, weather permitting, to attract a full house of both members and nonmembers.
Chef William Schriver, 31, a veteran of service in several local restaurants before taking over the Lupin kitchen last September, comes from New York, where he studied at the French Culinary Institute. He will prepare several entrees for the Saturday night dinner. One is filet mignon in chipotle sauce. The sauce is made from smoked jalapeños with a smoky, sweet, almost chocolaty flavor meant to complement the accompanying refried beans and arroz verde (green rice). The rice is made green by a sauce of roasted chiles, epazote herb and peas.
There's also cold salad with avocado, papaya, shrimp, strawberries, sunflower seeds and red onions in a vinaigrette dressing, and the vegetarian entree of grilled gorditas--fat little corn cakes--with grilled veggies in green sauce with sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, black beans and rice. The soup is tortilla, and the desserts are pans (sweet cakes) and buñuelos (deep-fried, twisted pastries with cinnamon sugar). A selection of soft drinks, wine and beer are available.
Sunshine, 45, retired from her dental supply business when Jay retired from George Washington University, where he was a professor of agricultural engineering. For 26 of their 27 years together, they have been nudists. "He had the interest first, and I called him a pervert," she laughs.
Then they went to their first club in Texas, where she saw regular people, complete with surgery scars and body fat. She was relieved. "I was so worried I was going to see 'hard bodies,'" she recalls. When Lupin advertised for staff, the couple jumped at the opportunity to leave everything behind in Washington.
"Come watch the sunset," Sunshine suggests. She says a crew of volunteers will transform the restaurant with decorations for the dance, emphasizing that it is a family event and includes a piñata for children.
Lupin Restaurant, Los Gatos. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. For directions or reservations, call 408.353.2202.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
