Erna’s Earnings

Laurie Ochoa’s story (“The Ultimate Weekend Escape,” Aug. 10) is confusing. She states she went to Cha^teau du Sureau in Oakhurst, Calif., because “we just wanted dinner.” Then, in a story 336 lines long, she spends only 42 lines telling about the actual dinner at Erna’s Elderberry House.

She declines to note the two possibilities for ordering dinner. A six-course dinner is served each night for $62. The same six-course dinner, including a glass of champagne and three wines, is $91. I called Erna’s Elderberry House to verify these prices. Dinner for two, including champagne; three wines, sales tax and tip is $196.11. If Ochoa had the $91 dinner and an optional cheese course at $10 per person, her bill would have been approximately $216.11. When I queried the staff at Erna’s as to how Ochoa’s bill could have gotten to $296.44, the response was: “They must have had some bottle of wine!” Ochoa is giving a dinner price that is highly inflated.

We last dined at Erna’s on a wintry evening in early February--another perfect dining experience. The waiters even served us two extra wines, gratis.

MARY L. RADER

Rancho Palos Verdes

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Editor’s note: Ochoa tallied her bill for two as follows: $124, two dinners; $20, cheese course; $58, two half-bottles of wine; $16, two glasses of champagne; $6, bottled water; $7.50, an espresso and a cappuccino; $17.94, tax; $47, tip.

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My wife and I enjoyed the article on the Cha^teau du Sureau. The inn in the Sierra foothills, with food at the Elderberry House, sounds great and expensive.

Maybe next time Ochoa can include--just north of Cambria in Big Sur--another expensive weekend retreat. This is Post Ranch Inn, where there are individual cabins among trees and several with fantastic Pacific Ocean views. The superb restaurant has a breathtaking view of the Big Sur coastline.

JIM ALLEN

Cambria