Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Klaus Pache (right) owns and manages Saratoga's Plumed Horse with his wife, Yvonne, and their son, Gregory. The family has owned the restaurant for 25 years.

Plumed Horse serves fine food with European flair

By Suzanne Cristallo

At midnight on New Year's Eve, Klaus Pache will uncork champagne with the powerful swipe of a sword made especially for the event, so his guests can welcome the year 2000.

Although Klaus and his wife, Yvonne, have celebrated 24 new years since they opened the Plumed Horse in Saratoga, they've previously popped the corks the conventional way. But the eve of a new century calls for doing things differently.

Months ago, Klaus ordered the heavy saber from Wilkinson Sword Co. in England, venerable swordsmiths for the British Crown. It is a reproduction of the swords found in 1815 on the battleground of the last Napoleonic War in Waterloo. It will arrive in time for Klaus to practice the deft circular swipe necessary to loosen the cork at the seam and pull it free. Thereafter, the sword will be used at special events and receptions.

Promoting its events as "the Valley's hottest New Year's Eve bash," The Plumed Horse will offer two dinner seatings on Dec. 31: one at 6-6:30 p.m. for $150 per person and the other at 9-9:30 p.m. for $250 per person.

Chef Patrick Farjas will prepare several teasers to accompany the 1990 Veuve Clicquot champagne, which will be followed by a first course of black truffle vichyssoise with an overbaked en croute. The second course is Maine lobster salad with caviar and celery root veloute (a white sauce) and wild watercress.

Four entree choices compose the third course: pheasant breast with brunoise of quince (a slow, butter-cooked version of the early winter fruit) and marchands de vin, a heavily reduced red wine sauce with shallots and cracked pepper in a chilled glacé of lemon, butter and parsley; New Zealand venison loin with fresh chestnut puree and golden chanterelle (a nutty-flavored mushroom); duet of filet mignon served with a minced black truffle wine sauce and an Australian lobster tail in a sliced truffle cream sauce; or pan-seared, rare ahi tuna served with lemon-grass braised clams.

All entrees are accompanied by an appropriate vegetable. Dessert is a trio of frozen pear soufflé, mango creme brulée and an exotic fruit tart followed by coffee and sweets.

The meals at both seatings include the midnight champagne. Classical piano will be played throughout the first seating followed by dancing to a four-piece band in the lounge at 9 p.m.

"Guests can dance between courses, if they want," says Klaus, who adds that guests from the earlier seating can retire to the lounge to enjoy the band. He says the fears some people have about Y2K problems are unlikely to affect Saratoga, where the safe and quiet, out-of-the-way character of the town assures a secure, unpressured evening.

Meanwhile, holiday lunches are served at the restaurant through Dec. 23, with entrees ranging from $7.50 for ravioli with spinach and salmon to $15.50 for little rock shrimp in lobster sauce over baked salmon.

The Plumed Horse got its name from the tinker's horse that local lore says was stabled in the barn originally occupying the site. The old fellow had a large feather attached to his bridle, which shooed away flies.

Klaus, 63, and a veteran of 47 years in the restaurant business begun in his hometown of Koblenz, Germany, bought the place with Yvonne in 1975. Since then, their son, Gregory, 29, has taken over as general manager after receiving his degree in restaurant and hotel management from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.

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The Plumed Horse, at 14555 Big Basin Way in Saratoga, is open for lunch Mon.-Fri. until Dec. 23, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Dinner Mon.-Sat., 6-10 p.m. Crazy Horse Lounge opens 4 p.m. Closed Sun. 408.867.4711.

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