N2 & Frascati’s
I love receiving hand written letters or postcards. I also like getting announcements for art openings that often come on postcards so I was delighted to receive a card in the mail first week in December. But this card was different.
This card was an invitation to me.
More to the point, it was an invitation to meet my neighbours – all of them! The request for R.S.V.P. was sent by Rick Rizzo, an affiliate of N2 magazine, based in South Carolina. Rick had something to offer us and would we meet him at Frascati’s restaurant for a free meal.
On the 8th of December 2009, a dozen neighbours from the Valmonte area of Palos Verdes Estates met at Frascati’s Ristorante to enjoy its northern Italian fare. Located in at the Norris Theatre end of the Peninsula promenade it is easy parking and a short walk from the theatre. Owned and solely operated by Enrico Glaudo - you may have heard of him; he was the chef responsible for putting Locanda del Lago in Santa Monica on the map. The food was served expertly with not interference to our meeting, beautiful to look at and simply superb to the palate. Hors d’oeuvres of calamari and scallops, conversation stopper salads, fantastic fish, lamb that melts in your mouth, perfect vegetables and when we were full – desserts! Four of them! None of us had been before and we are all going back! It was truly an extraordinary gastronomic experience.
But back to the new N2 Magazine; its goal is to be a community building publication. It is not designed to replace Peninsula People, rather to support it. The concept is that the articles and photographs will be submitted for the people, by the people and featuring the people of the Valmonte area and the grunt work of layout and printing will be the responsibility of N2 Publications. To start, of course, the first volunteers will be hosting it and once it gets going, the creative ‘work’ will be spread around.
Do we need such a thing? I’d say this is a great platform to connect with your community and neighbours. In just the one meeting we all learned something new about our neck of the PV ‘woods’; some didn’t know we have our own CERT program for disasters, some didn’t know about the monthly Valmonte women’s luncheon while others were surprised to find out there were 1045 homes in the area and all of us found out about this great Italian restaurant! This magazine can help us share our knowledge and our celebrations, while enriching our lives and those of our children. It can do for you what it did for us that night at Frascati’s - we arrived as strangers, we left as friends.
