PUT THEM ALL TOGETHER AND THEY SPELL M-O-N-E-Y

Next Sunday is Mother’s Day, but what I’ve never quite been able to figure out is what mothers have to do with a holiday clearly designed to benefit restaurants, flower shops, greeting card manufacturers and the phone company. I mean, why not just call it Restaurants’, Flower Shops’, Greeting Card Manufacturers’ and Phone Company’s Day? Oh. Yeah. Well, I see the problem. In any case, patronizing those restaurants, flower shops, etc., in order to give something nice to your closest maternal relation has become a tradition in this country--and is not, after all, a bad one when all is said and done. So what if Mom isn’t the only one who profits?

See other sections of this newspaper for specific recommendations from the Flower Shop Notebook, Greeting Card Manufacturer Notebook and Phone Company Notebook columns. As for this pillar, here’s some news about what’s going on next Sunday in the eating places of the region:

Lawry’s the Prime Rib will open early in honor of the day for, what else, prime rib. Dinner begins at 1 p.m. Reservations will be taken at (213) 652-2827. . . . The Terrace at the Century Plaza Hotel Tower is also serving beef--roast tenderloin with Madeira sauce and foie gras . The meal begins with pasta or seafood cocktail, ends with pastries and dessert. The cost is $19.75. For reservations, call (213) 277-2000. . . . Stratton’s Grill in Westwood is doing something a little bit different. They are serving a special Southern lunch and dinner, featuring Southern fried chicken with biscuits topped off with a hot fudge sundae. Their brunch, served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., sounds equally down home. . . . Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks also offers a hefty country breakfast for Mother’s Day, with specials like corn meal and wild rice griddle cakes or creole eggs with spicy link sausages. Reservations: (818) 990-6678. . . . And if your idea of real luxury is to sit sipping champagne overlooking the water, you might consider Fiasco in Marina del Rey, where a champagne brunch will be served starting at 9 a.m.

OPENINGS: Gigi Patout has come to California to do some real Cajun cooking, and tomorrow the long-awaited Patout’s finally opens at 2260 Westwood Blvd. The family, you might remember, runs that wonderful restaurant in New Iberia, La. For the moment, they’ll be open for dinner only, with a different menu every night. The phone number is (213) 475-7100. . . . And next week the even longer-awaited Rebecca’s, owned by and just opposite from the West Beach Cafe, is also due to open its doors. The design is by architect Frank Gehry.

TAKE THIRTY: Bruno’s Ristorante in West Los Angeles celebrates its 30th anniversary all this month with a special menu. The meal sounds enormous: It includes Caesar salad, mozzarella marinara, pollo cacciatore , veal in tomato sauce and a choice of desserts. The cost is $18.50 per person; for reservations, call (213) 397-3777.

MOVIN’ ON UP: The popular San Diego County restaurant/cookware-and-food-shop/cooking-school mini-chain of Piret’s is coming to Los Angeles, with a full-scale eating place and retail outlet scheduled to open in June on the corner of Olympic and Robertson. Executive chef at the new Piret’s will be Cindy Black, a former student of the redoubtable Madeleine Kamman. Black was most recently the chef at Sheppard’s in the Sheraton Harbor Island East Hotel, also down San Diego way--where her food has been very highly praised.

SERVICE WITH A STYLE: Some weeks ago, I received a letter from a woman in Thousand Oaks who had just lost her job in a restaurant in a neighboring community and who wanted to tell me why. With her permission, I’d like to quote some of her words:

“I have been a waitress for 45 years. I have been schooled in . . . good restaurants. (I) did silver service when it was silver service back in the ‘40s. My husband and I traveled and worked the nightclub circuit for 12 years before we settled down. . . . He was a waiter and bartender, so you see to us it was a profession, not just fast money for college. I am a young 60, good figure still, wrinkles yes, but neat, clean and courteous, and (I) still know how to serve a customer and how to get them to come back. . . . I’d sure like to work a few more years, but heaven help me, I can’t find anything open to me. . . . The last eight months (at my last job were) a nightmare . . . a manager (23) trying to get rid of me because I was older. You see, they want all these ‘Beautiful People,’ not experience. . . . At (this restaurant) I was never late one time, missed one day and never had a complaint, but (the manager) cut my hours to 16 a week to make me quit. It took two people to fill my station when I left. . . .”

Since receiving this letter, I have (1) sat for 15 minutes at a restaurant table before even seeing my waiter’s face; (2) watched a bottle of wine I’d ordered sit on a bar a few feet from me for 10 minutes before anybody found the time to bring it over to me; (3) had a $55 bottle of champagne poured without being offered for tasting, with the explanation that ‘With these good ones, you don’t have to try them first’; (4) been forced to get up to start to empty my own ashtray before somebody noticed that it was full, and (5) heard entirely more than I wanted to about a waitress’s “old man” and the effects his dastardly behavior were having on her professional abilities. But, boy, these kids all sure looked good.”

Since receiving this letter, I have also spoken to my correspondent on the phone. She reports that, after writing to me, she was able to find a job--a good one, with good hours, where her talents are appreciated and where she can get those customers coming back.