Guess Who’s Paying for Arts Dinner?

George Argyros isn’t thrilled about making this public. A little on the shy side, he’d prefer to keep it hush-hush, play it lower-than-low-profile.

But when a donation makes fund-raising history for Orange County’s premier museum of contemporary art, well, it simply has to go on the record.

So, here it is: Forbes 400 developer Argyros and his wife, Judie, have donated a whopping $100,000 to totally underwrite the Art of Dining III fund-raiser for the Newport Harbor Art Museum.

“This is the first time in our history that a major event has been completely underwritten,” said an ecstatic Margie Shackelford, the museum’s director of development. “The event is significant for us because it gives us the chance to please those people who don’t necessarily love contemporary art but love food. And this time, the Argyroses’ generous donation makes it possible for us to have a very high level of profit.”

The first Art of Dining--the event features the hottest chefs from around the world whipping up specialties for a few hundred at the Four Seasons Hotel--netted about $40,000. The second, staged in 1988, came in at around $65,000. But the third will be the charm. Thanks to the Argyroses, proceeds from the April 29 black-tie event are expected to exceed $200,000.

What makes a couple toss megabucks at a dinner party? “Judie loved the last affair,” says Sam Goldstein, co-chairman of the fund raiser with Sam Haynes, chairman of the museum’s Business Council. “After the dinner, she said to me: ‘If I’d known it was going to be this wonderful, Sam, I’d have bought three tables!’ ”

The next thing the Argyroses knew, Sam was on the phone telling them how the next $250- per-person gala would benefit the museum’s operating and permanent collection funds. And the rest, as they say, is fund-raising history.

Masterminding the sophisticated repast will be Joachim Splichal, owner of the sleek new Patina restaurant on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.

On Tuesday, exhausted from a demanding luncheon crowd, Splichal plopped down in an out-of-the way booth (where the likes of Bette Midler, Harrison Ford and Lionel Richie prefer to dine) to say he’d already secured firm commitments for Dining III from nine hot chefs: Michel Galloyer of Le Trianon in Angers, France; Christopher Gross of Christopher’s in Phoenix; Pierre Herme of Fauchon in Paris; Hubert Keller of Fleur de Lys in San Francisco (“the best French restaurant in that city,” Splichal says); Andre Mandion of Mandion in Biarritz, France (a renowned pastry chef who just happens to be the father of Splichal’s lovely wife, Christine); Michel Pieton of the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach; Susan Spicer of the Bistro in New Orleans; Debra Ponzek of Montrachet in New York; Charlie Trotter of Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago. And Splichal himself, natch, will be the 10th.

One only needs a glance at the Patina menu to see why Los Angeles’ in-crowd gathers there. For lunch, there are mouth-waterers such as pork medallion with potato and garlic cannelloni; black-pepper roasted tuna with bok choy, scallions and ponza sauce; and a vanilla doughnut with caramel fudge. For dinner: squab fillet in potato crust with port wine sauce; salmon with Manila clams vinaigrette; and chocolate lasagna with chicory sauce.

When Dudley Moore has dinner there, Splichal says, he often chooses the suckling pig with cabbage and herb gnocci. Midler loves the gratin of lamb. Henry Winkler can’t resist the strawberry rhubarb pie with creme brulee ice cream. And Sidney Poitier cherishes the blinis with salmon.

Recently, when Harrison Ford was dining in the corner booth, Splichal says, a female fan spotted him. “She sent him all 10 of my desserts!” And what did Ford do in return? “He smiled,” says Splichal.

Also on the drawing board for the art museum: Levi’s jackets decorated by artists and designers will go on the auction block when Barneys New York celebrates its opening at South Coast Plaza with an auction to benefit the museum March 17. So far, New York clothing designer Joan Vass is among those who have said yes to creating a singular masterpiece in denim for the fund raiser. Others who have said oui include Byblos, the Italian design firm; designer Michael Kors, and artist Adelle Lutz (girlfriend of David Byrne of Talking Heads fame).

The avant-garde auction idea is nothing new for Barneys New York. They had one two years ago to benefit the AIDS unit at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York. Madonna, along with super-model Paulina Porizkova and musician Peter Allen, modeled the jackets, some of which landed bids of $1,000.

Take five: Developer Timothy Strader, a member of the UC Irvine Board of Overseers, and his wife, Susan, will stage a dinner party for UCI Chancellor Jack Peltason and his wife, Suzanne, March 3 at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach. “Jack and Suzanne have been at UCI for five years now,” says Strader, a vice president of the Orange County Performing Arts Center. “They’ve done wonderful things for Orange County. And I think this is a good time to celebrate.”

Among those on the invitation list are UC Irvine founding Chancellor Daniel Aldrich and his wife, Jean; Donald Bren; and Ken Khachigian, speech writer for President Ronald Reagan and Gov. George Deukmejian, and his wife, Meredith, a member of the University of California Board of Regents.