Out and About: Everglades Room serves the graduate

I called the Naples Beach Hotel & Golf Club to see if the Everglades Dining Room would fit the budget for my daughter's graduation party.

At $19.95 per person for a full champagne brunch, the price was definitely right and, of course, I had several other reasons for choosing a locale well-steeped in tradition.

It was a bit of a sentimental choice — we'd dined in this very spot to celebrate Kylie's christening at age three months. I counted on its exquisite view and excellent service to make up for the fact she wasn't certain "brunch" would fit her definition of the word "party." As usual, I knew best. You couldn't have painted a prettier beach scene with the sparkling sugar sand and frothy whitecaps on a clear, blue-green Gulf of Mexico. Whoever thought to put an expansive glass wall in this dining room knew what they were doing.

The staff had put enough tables together to seat 15 friends and family members. Coincidentally, the flowers on the table were in indigo bottles that were perfect for our Naples High School color scheme.

We added all kinds of graduation-themed goodies including metallic confetti, gift bags with buddy bracelets and antenna-toppers, and darling little boy-or-girl-graduate 3-D picture frames Grandma Elsie got at a dollar store. She'd worked late on her computer to print out enough commencement photos of Kylie and her best friend, Jennifer Hunter, who also graduated Friday night at Germain Arena, to fill all the little keepsake frames.

Our waitress, Sandra, ran her legs off taking care of several tables besides ours. She couldn't get over the fun everybody was having and guessed, correctly, that Kylie is an only child.

Because it was brunch, there was everything to eat from carved roast beef, pasta salad, fresh fruit and potatoes to mixed greens and saffron orzo pasta, in addition to everything breakfast. Needless to say, each of us who partook, did so in a different pattern.

My escort, George King, whose sweet tooth is legend, was easily led by the fact the desserts were placed next to the plate table. He had both key lime cheesecake and Macadamia nut pie on his plate before he ever even looked at anything else. I chose not to scold him about not using a dessert plate; nobody else did so – in fact, the little plates didn't get used for much of anything.

Melba Gilmore, whom we've known since her days as program director at my alma mater, Miami University of Ohio, decided to do breakfast first and didn't get much further than that since she's about as big around as you're little finger. But, she was firm when she allowed nothing had ever been served better than the Everglades' eggs benedict.

For myself, mix and match seemed the way to go, as I was fascinated by the variety and decided just to try everything in the order in was presented. And so, when I returned to the table carrying scrambled eggs, a garbanzo and baby corn salad, Mahi Mahi and a cheese blintz among other assorted items, George looked at my plate the same way I had his.

Let me tell you, it's a good thing I don't have the opportunity to eat cheese blintzes very often. I believe I could succumb to them. And I liked the fish in a beautiful red pepper coulis, almost as much as Grandma Elsie, who had two helpings.

My friend Margot Fisher, was quite the socialite when she started the Frame Up over in Park Shore during the '70s. She arrived just in time to pronounce the champagne "exquisite!" and prove she still has the party knack as she conversed with everyone, even though she knew none of them previously.

I heard comments from the kids — ahem!...young adults, if you please — as they sampled various dishes in favor of the roast beef ("I love it when the center's pink!"), the chicken marsala ("This is better than chocolate!"), and the crème brulee ("So this what 'carmelized' means.").

This was the last Sunday for brunch until mid-October, so we were lucky in that respect, sharing the dining room with a like-minded wedding party and a birthday or two. Meanwhile, the scenic Everglades Dining Room will continue serving its delicious breakfast buffet ($14.50) daily from 7-10:30 a.m.