MORE COMMENTS ON THE VEGETARIAN RHUBARB

When I caught a quick glimpse of the “Walking Heads”--members of the Lovers of the Stinking Rose garlic-appreciation society dressed up as heads of garlic to march in Pasadena’s Doo-Dah Parade--on television a few weeks back, I fantasized for just an instant that they might be headed my way, in the company of colleagues dressed up as, say, carrots, zucchini and, maybe, baby eggplant to protest my recent remarks in this column about vegetarianism and what I consider to be the unreasonable expectations of some vegetarians.

Alas, this was not to be. (I had the water boiling and the caldron full of extra-virgin olive oil perched on the roof.) Instead, what I got in protest was a veritable salmagundi of cards and letters, several of which appeared in Calendar Letters last week. (The rhubarb continues. See Page 112.)

A few of these, of course, dripped venom (thereby calling into serious question, I think, the old saw about how vegetarians are less violent than meat-eaters). But several offered useful advice for the vegetably inclined: James D. Higson of Newport Beach, for instance, says that he can find excellent non-meat dishes to order in almost any restaurant: “Merely begin with a soup or salad,” he counsels, “and follow it with any pasta or vegetable dish prepared as a main course.”

Robert Pettit of Los Angeles reports that he discovered plenty to order, and a helpful attitude on the part of the waiter, at Emilio’s in Hollywood (“This is the first time I have ever felt so much at home being a vegetarian in a restaurant other than a health food restaurant”). Chris Chapman, owner of the Siamese Princess Thai restaurant in Hollywood, reminds me that they have an all-vegetarian menu in addition to the regular one, with some 23 different dishes offered (ranging from deep-fried bean cake with spicy honey to long bean and coconut salad and Malay sweet yam and onion curry). I’m sure many other Thai restaurants can do almost as well.

I might also mention the procedure followed by noted vegetarian author/chef Martha Shulman: She calls or writes to the chef at a particularly good restaurant she wishes to visit for a special occasion, explains what she can and cannot eat, and in effect challenges the chef to create something wonderful for her within those limitations. (She makes it clear, of course, that she will be dining with at least two or three friends, and that she will gladly pay a tariff in keeping with the restaurant’s usual prices.) Almost every restaurant she has asked this of--even some of the gastronomic stars of Paris, where she lives--has complied and done well by her. Though this obviously isn’t a practice to follow every time you wish to have a meatless meal, it is a wonderful idea, I think, once in a while. It is also far more realistic, fairer and less clamorous than simply sitting down in a conventional restaurant and demanding special treatment. And that, not vegetarianism itself, is what I criticized in the first place.

MORE HOLIDAY HOOPLA: The Dick Romano Carollers, in Dickensian garb, perform Thursday through Dec. 24 from 4 to 6 p.m. (i.e., teatime) at Trumps in West Hollywood (which is celebrating its sixth year, incidentally, with newly designed dining rooms, a new menu and a seafood, caviar and champagne bar). . . . An elegant French-style Christmas Eve dinner, five courses for $65 per person, will be offered at L’Ermitage on La Cienega, as will a five-course New Year’s Eve banquet from 6 to 9 p.m. ($80) and a seven-course one at 9 p.m. ($110). . . . Mischa’s in Hollywood serves three-course Christmas duckling dinners on the 24th and 25th at $15.50 and $16.50 (depending on the sauce), and a New Year’s Eve feast for $85 (with a bottle of champagne per couple included). . . . Bruno’s in Mar Vista presents harp music and carols on Friday, Saturday, next Sunday and Dec. 24, and a $42.50 New Year’s Eve banquet (including a bottle of Domaine Chandon per couple). . . . Ciatto on Los Feliz Boulevard asks $25 for their “authentic Italian Christmas dinner and show” Friday through next Sunday, and $65 for New Year’s Eve (with champagne, dancing, etc. thrown in). . . . Roy Yamaguchi at 385 North will dish up a four-course Christmas Eve dinner for $35 per person, special holiday dinners (remarks in this column notwithstanding) on Dec. 28 through 30 in celebration of Hanukkah, and a five-course New Year’s Eve bash at $80 (with live entertainment, dancing, even--are you sure this is a good idea?--a photographer).

Elsewhere on New Year’s Eve: Four courses, three cocktails, and dancing to a live band are on the menu at the Calabasas Inn in Calabasas for $55 per person.

WHAT’S NEWS: The Wine Cask in Santa Barbara turns Spanish today with a book-signing party and wine tasting with Marimar Torres (author of a new book called “The Spanish Table” and U.S. representative for her family’s Torres wines), followed by a special Spanish food and wine dinner. . . . New menus are in place at the Pelican’s Nest in Santa Monica and Bistango on La Cienega.