Dinner of Century at L’Hermitage : Pre-Revolutionary Teaser for July 16 Benefit Picnic, Fair

The evening began with the French way of greeting, hellos followed by a flurry of kisses on both sides of the cheeks. The French also have their way of putting on a dinner party, which was really what Sunday night’s festivities were all about.

The dinner laid to rest the theory that too many cooks spoil the consomme. Michel Richard of Citrus, Jean-Claude Bourlier of Le Dome, Patrick Healy from Champagne, Claude Alrivy from Le Chardonnay and Michel Blanchet from L’Ermitage toiled together in Blanchet’s kitchen preparing a five-course meal--the caloric count of which, one guest pointed out, was “off the wall.”

As the evening’s hostess, Dora Fourcade, the glamorous 30-year-old Tahitian-French owner of L’Ermitage restaurant put it, “the French love to have fun and they love to throw an elegant fete and any excuse is good.”

Her excuse is good: The upcoming bicentennial of the French Revolution.

Richard’s Brainchild

It was actually the brainchild of Citrus’ Richard to gather some of Los Angeles’ top French chefs to create a sort of three-star picnic and fair on July 16. (The fair will be held at Hollywood Park and is open to the public.) So the July 16th Committee was born, chaired by Fourcade and including on the committee Patrick Terrail of Ma Maison, Madeleine Don Salat of Le Cellier, Pierre and Esther Pelech of Pierre’s Los Feliz Inn and Robert Robaire of Robaire’s. The restaurateurs agreed that any proceeds of the July 16 celebrations would go to the Pro Musicis Foundation, supporting young musicians in France and the United States, and another yet-to-be-determined children’s charity.

Sunday night’s “Diner Grand Siecle” at L’Ermitage was the pre-revolutionary teaser, as it were, setting the mood in all its extravagance for what will follow. Taittinger Champagne flowed like, well, water from a garden hose before a drought. Strains of lute music filled the air. Decorator Claude Lecourt piled the restaurant with antiques--paintings, vases and the most precious pieces, a pair of 18th-Century girandoles, which he admitted were not exactly French. “They are Hungarian,” Lecourt said, “but they are period.”

Guests were also encouraged to dress in period, which a few actually attempted. Artist Andre Miripolsky in a Napoleonic blue velvet frock coat (and psychedelic painted shoes) noted that the “major advantage of living in the 18th Century was wig wearing.” He allowed that his own hair, beneath the dense brown ponytail, was “sparse.”

Candidate for Guillotine

Wearing an elaborate court dress, Marceline A. de la Poterie, president of the Club Culturel Francais, volunteered that she felt very much at home. “I come from a very distinguished French family. We were landowners, and I’m sure in another life I was at the court. I’m not kidding,” she said intently. “But on the 14th of July (Bastille Day) I will be guillotinee ,” she added giggling.

Fourcade admitted that the wardrobe she found at Western Costume for herself and the restaurant’s entire staff was a bit of a geographical stretch: “Everyone is in costumes from ‘Amadeus,’ ” she shrugged, as she and her skirt swished through the room.

The meal was also period, or as period as possible, starting with appetizers of crepes filled with celery root and caviar (“they used to eat a lot of root veggies,” Richard said), followed by consomme, duck pate, salmon, venison and a trio of desserts. “When you look at those old cookbooks, they used to eat 14 courses--it was endless,” noted Francine Bardo, general manager of the Hermes shop on Rodeo Drive. “This is meant to be a representation. They couldn’t put us through that.”

Richard denied that there was a clash of egos--or recipes--in the kitchen, and just to make sure, he insisted that the menu (replete with spelling errors) listed courses without the names of the corresponding chefs.

Second Kick-off Dinner

Yet another kick-off dinner will be held June 3, headed by Jennifer Grant, who was at the party wearing a non-revolutionary gown by Christian Dior. The daughter of the late Cary Grant will set sail for Paris this fall to study French cooking.

Explaining why he was “gung-ho” on the upcoming salute to the revolution, honorary co-chair actor John Forsythe, who as vice president of Hollywood Park arranged for the race track’s cooperation, said: “We are recognizing one of the great human events of our time. The French gave us Marquis de Lafayette, Brigitte Bardot, crepes suzette, Monet, Manet, Degas, Debussy--why shouldn’t we recognize them?”

Celebrations on July 16 will include a re-created French street, regional foods, jugglers, fire-eaters and musicians, the special $100,000 Bastille Stakes horse race and a French village ball in the evening. Admission will be $7 at the gate, children under 12 free, or $5 if purchased in advance at participating French restaurants.