Mother's Day Road Trip to Costa D'Este

Estefans: Still cookin'

Almost makes me want to be somebody's mother, this news: The new oceanfront luxury resort in Vero Beach owned by South Florida royals Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Costa D'Este, is putting together Mother's Day packages Latina-style, serving Cuban-fusion cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the resort's restaurant, Oriente. The resort itself, which opened last June, looks yummy enough that yer Moms might want to not just take the drive but book a room and spend the night before doing the kinds of things that got mothers in so much trouble to begin with. Kicking up the old heels, so to speak (I know, I know, TMI).

That most important meal of the day, Breakfast ($25) features omelets with Creole pork, Gulf shrimp and Chorizo sausage; there's French toast made with Cuban bread and spiced sugarcane syrup; an oatmeal "brulee" with carmelized bananas. I figure you take a short break over at the spa and then tuck in to:

Lunch ($35), with options including Mediterranean seafood salad, vegetarian ceviche, guava-glazed organic king salmon, churrasco chicken breast with black beans and sweet plantains, or cuban dream lobster Cobb salad. Plus Bombon Cubano for dessert. A few hours spent napping on the beach, and when the sun goes down it's time for:

Your four-course Dinner ($50). Organic salad greens, and locally grown tomato and hearts of palm empanadas, followed by either a roast suckling pig, Latin spiced beef tenderloin, or guava glazed organic salmon (oh nevermind, you had that for lunch, didn't you? Go for the pig.) Coconut Lava Cake for dessert.

Trust me, Mami is gonna love it. Chef David Rodriguez is a longtime staffer at Estefan restaurants in Miami and a CIA graduate. The Estafans are no slouches either when it comes not only to music but to food: They just published their first joint cookbook in December, a tomeful of easy and homey Cuban recipes your old lady can whip up when she gets back to the ranch. Space is limited, so call to reserve.

Oriente at Costa D'Este
244 Ocean Dr., Vero Beach
772-562-9919

And if she needs more convincing: