Two for tea

By Gail Marshall on July 24, 2006 11:29 AM

I can never resist an invitation to bolt out of the office and tap into my inner girly girl with a tea party. In the U.S., high tea is more popular with women -- although in England, everyone does it about 4 p.m. Clovis has its own version in Old Town, where high tea is served at the Victoria Rose Cottage. It was a hotel and a tea room in its previous lives, and I remember taking my 8-year-old niece there years ago. We dressed up with our hats for the occasion and they put ice tea with lots of sugar in her little teapot. Her own mother isn't really the lace and tulle type, so this was a real adventure. We had so much fun there that even though she is now about 15, she still remembers that lunch. There aren't too many meals that stick with children like that.

The old Clovis Hotel has been remodeled again with even more frou frou than before. There are enough flowers in that place to cover a float at the Pasadena Rose parade. It's so dainty, it should have a "fragile" label. This is a period place that just fits perfectly in Old Town. Actually, there have been several other tea houses in Fresno over the years, some in downtown and the Tower District, one in Piccadilly Square and I've always loved them all. They didn't all last forever, but while they were here, they added a wonderful diversity to the fare.

I went with my most glamorous friend, who of course, wore a huge picture-brim hat with a silk flower on the brim. She wouldn't be herself without it. This little break was so delightfully different from the everyday routine. There were tablesful of women of all ages with hats on, including a full party in the back of that red-hat club you hear so much about. What I really like about this experience is that everything just goes against the popular trends. The food is slow, not fast. The food is little, not big. The music is old, not modern; soft, not loud or pounding. The décor is over the top, embellishment upon embellishment, and it just works. There's plenty of time to talk and you can actually hear each other.

If you're one of those people who has trouble deciding what to order on the menu, high tea is just perfect -- it's a little bit of everything. Four or five kinds of sandwiches, a little quiche, salad, cake, fruit, tea, scones, lemon curd, jam, devonshire cream. While most of the new restaurants in town are piling enough food on your plate to feed a family of four, the portions are just tiny little delicious samples. There is something to be said for that! There are flowers on each plate for garnish. You're perfectly satisfied when you leave -- but not guilty or uncomfortably full.

There is also a little gift shop with hats and dolls and other sissy things. It's the kind of experience where you take pictures.

This adds a nice variety to the Valley's choices. Sometimes you're in your pin stripes at the Downtown Club, sometimes you're tossing down birthday margaritas with a sombrero on your head and sometimes you feel like tea with scones. Isn't this what they mean by "having it all?"

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