Words by Wynne Chase

What is that fluttering by your ear? Might it be Cupid coming down to earth to strike two unsuspecting singles for the holiday of love? Is it the sound of the many hands making light work at the Grove House for our most precious event of the year? Perhaps both. 

This year’s theme, Unlucky in Love, celebrates the Friday the 13th date of the Grove House’s Famous Valentine’s Day dinner. Our vision: one romantically unentangled guest looks over their creamy roasted red pepper sauce pasta only to lock eyes with another across the room chomping away at their seasonal salad with kumquat balsamic dressing. This pair, though entering the Grove House self-identified as unlucky in love, share meaningful glances through every course. When the melodies of the jazz band turn the well-fed guests into jubilant dancers, these two finally speak their first words to each other:

❤︎    “What was your favorite part of that three-course meal?”

❤︎    “How could I choose between the turkey-Parmesan meatballs and the homemade focaccia with herb-roasted garlic butter?”

❤︎    “The citrus vanilla bean cannoli just melted on my tongue, I wish I knew more about how they crafted the menu and brought these ideas to fruition…”

Rest assured, lucky lovebirds, I’m here to tell all.

Preparation:

To prepare for our big dinner, a Valentine’s Day committee assembles. We discuss the venue for this year and who will cater. Every year we somehow settle upon the Grove House and also the Grove House… 

Once we get that sorted, everything else just falls into place. 

Just kidding, we spend weeks deciding on the theme, menu items, and logistics. It would be hard to beat last year’s, which was inspired by the Mexican romance novel Like Water for Chocolate, but luckily (or unluckily) this year’s theme was an obvious choice based on the date.

When thinking about the menu, we consider that our chefs make two dinners in a row (including the staff meal) for about 100 people total, so we try to plan items that can be cooked in a large batch. The Grove House partners with the PZ Student Garden and Walker Farms to get local produce for most of the menu. For our pasta, we buy from a small local business in Upland called Padua Pasta Makers.

Though year after year we receive bribe offers (firstborn child, kidney, etc.) for a coveted table, our incorruptible boss would never hear of such a thing, so winners are chosen at random from a Google Form and we finalize the menu based on their dietary restrictions. 

Because the operation is all-consuming, we have to close the cafe on the days leading up to the dinner to focus all of our staff’s energy on preparation. Staff come in outside of—in addition to during—their regularly scheduled shifts, but instead of serving our happy customers, they rearrange tables in the dining room and adorn them with fresh flowers in collaboration with the PZ Student Garden, fill the house with sweet smells from the baked goods for dessert, chop veggies for the pasta sauce, and much, much more. Evie Burrows White PZ ‘26 and Wynne Chase PZ ‘26 usually break and enter into the House at odd hours to sprinkle paper hearts in every nook and cranny. Our faithful friend, Noah Straus PZ ‘26, puts together a band of talented musicians to serenade us during the meals. 

Thanks to our fearless leader, Zenia Meraz, our Grove House Family, the PZ Student Garden, and the ragtag jazz band, all of these pieces came together once again for a beautiful Valentine’s Day dinner.