A BICOASTAL CONSULTANT SURFACES

Joachim Splichal, highly acclaimed ex-chef of the Seventh Street Bistro and the late Max au Triangle, has called in from New York to report on his latest project: He is working as a consultant for a new restaurant called QV, opening tomorrow on East 63rd Street in the premises formerly occupied by the old-line Quo Vadis. He has hired Mathew Tivey, formerly of New York’s Parker Meridien Hotel, as chef and will himself remain at the restaurant until around the end of the year. He plans to return three or four times annually to supervise the goings on.

Meanwhile, Splichal’s downtown L.A. project, the Firehouse, for which he is also a consultant, is proceeding on schedule. And what of rumors about town that the peripatetic chef is involved with a piano bar on the Westside? “I have found an ideal spot for a restaurant of my own, where I can do just what I want to do,” he answers, “but it will take a while to get the place. And meanwhile, I’m doing consulting for several other people as I announced I would do when I left Max. There is a project on the Westside, not a piano bar exactly, but a restaurant with entertainment, and I also have consulting contracts in Florida and Detroit.”

MORE TIP TOPICS: Several readers, in writing to this column to express their views on restaurant tipping, have raised the question of whether or not diners should tip on sales tax. If a repast costs $50, in other words, and the tax (in the city of Los Angeles) comes to $3.25, should the tip be figured on $50 or on $53.25? A New Yorker wouldn’t hesitate for a second to tell you that of course you don’t tip on the tax! It simply isn’t done! What are you, a rube or something? Of course, in New York, there’s some logic to this: In New York City, at any rate, sales tax is 8%, and is always entered separately on the check. To compute the appropriate tip, most New Yorkers simply double the tax. A $50 tariff would carry a tax of $4; the tip would be $8--which is 16%, and not a bad little gratuity.

Some L.A. restaurants break down their check totals and some don’t. But if a diner gets a check reading simply “Two dinners--$53.25,” he’s probably not very likely, at the end of a meal, to want to backtrack and figure out what percentage of that is tax, subtract said tax and then tip on the remaining figure. It’s just too much trouble. But is this fair to diners? Some of my correspondents don’t think it is, and some apparently do whatever they have to do to avoid the heartbreak of tipping on tax.

Me, I think the whole discussion is pretty silly. Fifteen percent of that $3.25 tax on a $50 tab comes to 49 cents. It’s my theory that anybody who can spend $50 on dinner shouldn’t grub around for half a buck. It seems pretty undignified to me. Of course, some people seem to put a low price on their dignity in the first place--a fact I have been reminded of by a lot of the cheapskate comments this whole tipping argument has engendered.

SIDE DISHES: Prego in Beverly Hills presents their third annual “Sagra del Vino” grape-harvest celebration next Sunday. The picnic-style event, featuring Italian country-style food, plus wine and music, runs from noon to 5 p.m. and will benefit the UCLA Medical Center’s Child Development Program. Ducats are $40, with children under 10 free. . . . Barrymore’s on the Sunset Strip has a new menu and a new chef--Jean-Pierre Couly, formerly of Max au Triangle and the Seventh Street Bistro. . . . Rockenwagner in Venice is now open for lunch Monday-Friday from noon to 2 p.m., featuring light dishes, salads, pastas, etc. Chef Hans Rockenwagner’s wife and partner, Mary, herself an accomplished chef, will be doing most of the cooking. . . . Abbe Hofstein’s Cooking School, in Chatsworth, begins a program of “dining experiences” in five of L.A.’s best resaturants (as yet unspecified) this coming Wednesday. Call (818) 709-8887 for information. . . . Chez Melange in Redondo Beach presents a program entitled “Culinary Directions in the South Bay--Where Are They Going?” tomorrow night, featuring top South Bay restaurateurs and some of their best dishes with wines to match. Tariff is $55 per person. . . .Taylor’s Prime Steaks, in the Wilshire District, is now open for lunch on Saturdays (as well as the usual Monday through Friday) for the first time in its 33-year history.

SO LONG: Henry Africa’s in San Francisco--widely considered to have been the original “hanging plant” or “fern” bar--has closed its doors after 17 years of operation. . . . And the acclaimed New Boonville Hotel up Mendocino County way--one of the most talked-about temples of contemporary American cooking in the West--shut down suddenly late last month, with proprietors Vernon and Charlene Rollins disappearing in a hail of accusation and denunciations from ex-employees and local residents.

GOING SOUTH: The American Institute of Wine and Food stages a benefit “Salute to the Southwest” on Monday, Oct. 6, at 6:30 p.m. at Lawry’s California Center. Participating chefs include John Sedlar (St. Estephe, Manhattan Beach), Jimmy Schmidt (Rattlesnake Club Denver), Stephen Pyles (Routh Street Cafe, Dallas), Robert Del Grande (Cafe Annie, Houston) and Brendan Walsh (Arizona 206, New York). Tickets are $125 each for AIWF members and their guests, $175 for non-members (with a one-year AIWF membership thrown in). Call (213) 453-2855 for further information. The day before the event, Diane Rossen Worthington will conduct a panel discussion about contemporary Southwestern food featuring the participating chefs. The event starts at 2:30 p.m. at the Miramar Sheraton Hotel in Santa Monica; a seminar ticket is included with the cost of the dinner.

NEW TABLES IN TOWN: The Gumbo Pot is new at Farmer’s Market, serving Cajun-Creole specialties and run by Charles Myers, former manager of L.A.’s Ritz Cafe. . . . A new menu has been introduced at Perino’s in the Wilshire District--including a selection of meat, fish and fowl grilled on “carbon dolce” (mesquite to you). . . . And Valentino in Santa Monica now has a new menu, copied almost verbatim from its menu of half a dozen years ago--but with updated specials listed. This marks a return to simpler, more traditional dishes for the restaurant--and also to lower tariffs. Top entree price on the new menu is $21.