Introducing the 2026 Special Luncheon Themes:

All through 2026 we will theme our luncheons after artworks throughout time that fit seasons and holidays. The Vivalon chefs will work with our special luncheon chef to create menus inspired by the art, work with our entertainers to perform music inspired by the art, and decorate the cafe to match. 

Join us to learn more about art in an immersive and carefully thought out experience in great company!

Two Girls with Fan by Pan Yuliang

Thursday, January 22nd

11:30-1:30pm

Join the Vivalon community to celebrate a luncheon inspired by the Lunar New Year and the painting Two Girls Dancing with Fans by the artist Pan Yuliang. All through 2026 our luncheons will feature menus and decorations inspired by classical and modern artwork allowing you to deeply experience the art through food and community.

Registration opens on December 18th and closes on January 19th or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.

$18 for members | $23 for non-members

Starters:

Chinese Vegetable Soup

Main Course:

Beef and Broccoli, Jasmine Rice, and Stir-Fried Vegetables

Dessert:

Chinese Almond Cookies

Special Drink:

Chrysanthemum Tea

About the Art: Pan Yuliang (1895-1977) was a Chinese painter that worked in a variety of mediums throughout a prolific and celebrated career. This painting was done in the fauvist style and combined her cultural roots with a modern and rebellious art movement of the time. Though non-traditional, the flow of the subjects and vivid colors fit beautifully with the art style and medium.

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt

Thursday, February 12th

11:30-1:30 

$18 members|$23 nonmembers 

Registration opens January 22nd and goes until February 9th or until sold out, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.  

Starters


Roasted Squash Soup

Entree


Traditional French Beef Bourguigon with Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes

Dessert

Strawberries with Chocolate and Whipped Cream

Special Drink

Ginger Rose Fizz

Entertainment:
Love Songs performed by musicians from Bread and Roses

About the Art:

Done during Klimt’s Gold Period this painting is marked by it’s Art Noveau and Art Deco inspiration and gold leaf and metallic elements. A widely known and beloved painting it has been often reproduced and referenced in popular culture. It currently hangs in a renowned museum in Vienna, Austria.

IN TÍR NA NÓG by Jack B. Yeats

Thursday, March 19th
11:30-1:30pm

$18 members | $23 non-members
Registration opens on February 12th and closes on March 16th or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.

Starters


Vegetarian Irish Stew

Entree


Corned Beef with Roasted Potatoes, Carrots, and Sauteed Cabbage

Dessert

Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie Sundae

Special Drink

Non-Alcoholic Irish Buck

Entertainment:
Irish Music performed by musicians from Bread and Roses

About the Art:

The title of this piece is in Gaelic- describing a mythical Celtic otherworld, the Land of the Young. It’s an otherworldly paradise of mist and fog and of everlasting beauty and youth. The Gods of pre-Christian Ireland are said to live there. Jack B. Yeats is one of the most known Irish artists- he worked in depictions of Irish landscapes in romanticism and expressionism- styles marked by loose and painterly depictions rather than strict realism

Yellow Elm Leaves Laid Over a Rock, Low Water by Andy Goldsworthy

Thursday, April 23rd
11:30-1:30pm
$18 members | $23 non-members
Registration opens on March 19th and closes on April 20th or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.

Starters


Spicy Marinated Cucumber Salad (VV)

Entree


Vegetable Curry with Wild Rice and Roasted Golden Beet and Apple Salad (VV)

Dessert

Vegan Raspberry Lemon Bars (VV)

Special Drink

Non-Alcoholic Gold Rush Cocktail

Entertainment:
The documentary Rivers and Tides

About the Art:

Andy Goldsworthy is an environmentalist and site specific artist from England. His works are often temporary and utilize the natural world’s changing states. Highlights of his style include using the changed color of the leaves to highlight specific plants or features of nature against a different colored natural backdrop. He had worked as a farm laborer in his early life and likened his artwork to farm work: “A lot of my work is like picking potatoes; you have to get into the rhythm of it.”

Thursday, May 21 
11:30-1:30
$18 members | $23 non members
Registration opens on April 23rd and closes on May 18th or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.

Spring by Rene Magritte

Starters

Asparagus a la Flamande (V)
Entree

Eggplant and Mushroom Pasta with Fresh Mozzarella and Garlic Bread (V)
Dessert
Carrot Cake

Special Drink
Mint Pineapple Lemonade Mocktail

Entertainment:
Songs of Spring performed by musicians from Bread and Roses

About the Art:
Rene Magritte was a Belgian artist maybe best known for his painting Son of Man, which famously depicts a man in a suit and a bowler hat with a green apple floating in front of his face. His style was somewhere between surrealism and pop art falling further to the surrealism end of the spectrum. He was very skilled at painting a visually beautiful image that also included usually a single element that was out of the ordinary and discordant. His work often conveyed complex concepts in simple ways.

Homecoming by Ernie Barnes

Thursday, June 11th
11:30-1:30pm
$18 members | $23 non members
Registration opens on May 21st and closes on June 8th or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.

SPECIAL DRINK

Strawberry Bellini

STARTER

Watermelon Feta Salad

ENTRÉE

BBQ Spareribs, Potato Salad, Candied Yams, Cornbread

DESSERT

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Entertainment:
Music by Tony Saunders

About the Art:

Ernie Barnes was a black artist born in North Carolina during the Jim Crow era. His most famous work- The Sugarshack- was featured on the TV show Good Times and the cover of Marvin Gaye’s album I Want You, it’s considered a touchstone of Black American culture. Much of his work reflected his experiences as a black man and showed how beautiful he found life and Black American Aesthetics. His work embodies the style of art known as Black Romantic.

Trans Forming Liberty by Amy Sherald

Thursday, June 25th
11:30-1:30pm
$18 members | $23 non members
Registration opens on May 21st and closes on June 22nd or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.

SPECIAL DRINK

Lavendar Lemonade

STARTER

Caramelized Onions with Cheese and Spinach Empanadas

ENTRÉE

Salmon and Melting Cherry Tomatoes with Whipped Goat Cheese, Peach and Tomato Salad over Arugula

DESSERT

Ambrosia Salad

Entertainment:
A drag show from local performers

About the Art:

Amy Sherald is perhaps best known for her painting of first lady Michelle Obama- which went viral when a picture of a little black girl staring at it in awe made the rounds of the internet. Sherald is one of the most successful contemporary portrait artists in the United States. She works in simplified realism and is known for using grisaille (painting in grey scale or black and white) to depict skin tones in her artwork- a choice made to challenge conventions about race.

In 2025 Amy Sherald was set to do a retrospective of her portraits at the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery in DC, but the decision by the museum to censor this painting due to political concerns led to her canceling the show. About this Sherald said: “While no single person is to blame, it’s clear that institutional fear shaped by a broader climate of political hostility toward trans lives played a role. This painting exists to hold space for someone whose humanity has been politicized and disregarded. I cannot in good conscience comply with a culture of censorship, especially when it targets vulnerable communities.” 
She added, “At a time when transgender people are being legislated against, silenced, and endangered across our nation, silence is not an option. I stand by my work. I stand by my sitters. I stand by the truth that all people deserve to be seen—not only in life, but in art.” 

How Fast the Shadows Fall by Kristen Liu Wong

Thursday, August 20th
11:30-1:30pm
$18 members | $23 non members
Registration opens on July 20th and closes on August 17th or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.

SPECIAL DRINK

Pink Sherbert Punch

STARTER

Savory Melon Salad

ENTRÉE

Grilled Teriyaki Chicken, Furikake Rice, Grilled Bok Choy with Miso Dressing

DESSERT

Chamoy and Tajin Fruit Salad with Tamarind Candy

Entertainment:
Karaoke Open Mic

About the Art:

Kristin Liu-Wong is a contemporary artist from San Francisco currently living in LA. An illustrator turned fine artist her paintings are mini vignettes that tell a story that all seem to exist in the same universe. There are elements of American folk art to her paintings and elements from childhood cartoons but most of her work features women- sometimes violent, sometimes sexual, sometimes slobs eating ramen noodles and Cheetos. She exemplifies a modern millennial artist with her work spanning many different mediums and varying between fine art and commercial art. 

This painting features a decorative floral foreground and a pastoral mountain background which are both familiar to the viewer, though typically not together, and then in the middle ground’s focal point things begin to get confusing and surprising. In keeping with the rest of her work what’s happening is up for interpretation. Are the shadows from the title malevolent or benevolent? What lurks in the hole near the fountain? Has our subject stumbled across this fountain or does she worship here? It’s up to you to decide.  

Holy Mountain I

by Horace Pippin

Thursday, September 10th
11:30-1:30pm
$18 members | $23 non members
Registration opens on August 20th and closes on September 7th or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.

SPECIAL DRINK

Pomegranate Ginger Mocktail

STARTER

Cheesy Cauliflower and Potato Soup with Bread and Butter

ENTRÉE

Pork Tenderloin with Caramelized Onions and Apple Sauce and Parmesan Crusted Brussel Sprouts

DESSERT

Bread Pudding

Entertainment:
TBD

About the Art:

Horace Pippin was a black American folk artist who served in the first World War in a segregated unit know as the Harlem Hellfighters. As an artist much of his work focused on slavery, segregation, his military service and biblical themes.

This piece from his Holy Mountain series is biblically inspired but still holds hints to his experiences in the war when you look closely into the background and see the graveyard and the soldiers. In The Knowledge of God and The Holy Mountain III, the tiny brown figure hanging in the trees refers to the ongoing scourge of lynching in the racially segregated southern United States. He inscribes on each a date significant from WWII. The Holy Mountain I is marked with “June 6, 1944”, the date of the Allied landings at Normandy, known as of D-Day It is a painting that is open to interpretation but holds many potential metaphors. On first viewing without context it is a very peaceful scene that could depict a realm of magic falling to a peaceful night. With context it speaks to me as a powerful painting about what it’s like to exist during turbulent times.  

The Water Sprite

by Theodor Kittelsen

Thursday, October 29th
11:30-1:30pm
$18 members | $23 non members
Registration opens on September 24th and closes on October 26th or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.

SPECIAL DRINK

Virgin Bloody Mary

STARTER

Creamy Roasted Pumpkin Soup

ENTRÉE

Black Sesame Crusted Salmon and Sauteed Eggplant with Garlic and Parmesan

DESSERT

Tuxedo Cake

Entertainment:
Halloween Music performed by musician from Bread and Roses

About the Art:

Theodore Kittelsen was a Norwegian artist that was known for his paintings of nature and his painting of mythical creatures and fairy tales and this piece is both. The creature peering out of the water is called a nokken and it’s a creature of Danish and Norwegian folklore- akin in some ways to the Greek Sirens they were male creatures that took different forms and lured women and children to their deaths in lakes and streams with their music or shapeshifting.  

Theodore Kittelsen painted the nokken often- but this particular piece is his first known depiction of them. The serene nature of the water and the beautiful reflection of the trees on the lake combined with glowing eyes of the emerging creature do serve to draw you in- even without his siren song.  

Thanksgiving

by Doris Lee

Thursday, November 26th
11:30-1:30pm
$18 members | $23 non members
Registration opens on October 29th and closes on November 23rd or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.

SPECIAL DRINK

Spiced Cider

STARTER

Chicory, Walnut, Pear, Blue Cheese Salad
Mini Tarts with Caramelized Leeks and Cheese

ENTRÉE

Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Rolls and Butter, and Vegetables

DESSERT

Pumpkin Pie with Whipped Cream

Entertainment:
TBD

About the Art:

This image, painted by American Artist Doris Lee, was painted in 1935 during the midst of the Great Depression which lent to the appeal of the image as Americans longed for a return to the times before the struggles of a burgeoning modern life and economic strife. These themes have circled around to being incredibly relevant in our current times. Winning the Logan Purchase Prize in that year this image has endured as one of the most popular fine art images of this American Holiday.  

Freedom From Want

by Norman Rockwell

Thursday, December 17th
11:30-1:30pm
$18 members | $23 non members
Registration opens on November 30th and closes on December 14th or when capacity is reached, whichever comes first. Call 415-456-9062 to register.

SPECIAL DRINK

Eggnog

STARTER

Corn Casserole

ENTRÉE

Roast Turkey and Holiday Ham with Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Glazed Carrots and Green Beans

DESSERT

Petit Fours

Entertainment:
Holiday Music performed by a Chorus from Bread and Roses

About the Art:

Norman Rockwell is one of America’s most famous illustrators who created the idea of what “real” America is in the public mind. Many of his illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post have become cherished images of Mid-Century Family Life in the United States. This particular image is part of a series of painting that Rockwell created called the Four Freedoms. The series included “Freedom of Worship” “Freedom of Speech” “Freedom from Want” and “Freedom from Fear.” Over time it became a classic image in American Pop Culture to represent Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in America.