Overlooking the Getty Villa's café and gardens is the glass-walled, Founder's Room dining room — where twice-weekly afternoon Tea by the Sea is a high tea with a delicious change-up. The Mediterranean-flavored menu is influenced by the museum's artfully maintained and authentically re-created 1st-century Roman herb, flower and vegetable garden. Yes, there are scones and tea breads (lavender-infused on occasion) but other menu items aren't the same old tea and biscuits. You might find a grilled stone fruit canapé or a fennel-leek risotto cake, made in-house, as are the many other desserts, by the Getty's food service purveyor, Bon Appétit Management Company (which runs museum cafés across the country). Because the Getty Villa is in the business of keeping the past alive, one tea menu item — the tasty carrot cake — will surely please longtime visitors who remember the museum's former Tea Room, which closed in 1997. Walk off the eats with the culinary garden tour that the museum offers after your tea has been served. 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu. (310) 440-5910, getty.edu/visit/events/tea.html. —Kathy A. McDonald

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