‘Art of Dining III’ Extravaganza an Evening of Excess and Ecstasy

It glittered. It sparkled. It glitzed. And it brought new heights of excess and ecstasy to the well-heeled crowd of 400 at the “Art of Dining III,” a gala for the Newport Harbor Art Museum on Sunday at the Four Seasons Hotel Fashion Island. The annual Art of Dining is fast becoming one of the most compelling events in the Orange County social calendar, and this year’s easily was the best yet.

That’s because Joachim Splichal, owner of the equally glittery Patina restaurant in Los Angeles, has gotten his act together and taken it on the road, having assembled the chefs and planned the evening’s menu. Just before the festivities began, Splichal couldn’t resist opining that the dinner was “just like Patina . . . it keeps getting better with age.”

“I’m trying to establish a network of chefs,” he continued, “ones I can invite back for years to come.” This year’s cast was the most cosmopolitan yet: Only one local, the host Four Seasons’ Michel Pieton, participated in the menu. Splichal commands enough respect from his fellow chefs to have attracted celebrities: Hubert Keller of Fleur de Lys in San Francisco, Susan Spicer of Bayona in New Orleans, Charlie Trotter of his namesake restaurant in Chicago.

Spicer left a restaurant that she opened only three weeks ago to contribute to the event. “I feel like a mother leaving a newborn baby,” she confided. No one was sorry she came. After a perfunctory warning by master of ceremonies Michael Mondavi about drinking and driving, Spicer’s appetizer was served: toothsome eggplant caviar and tapenade , the salty Provencale olive pate. It was wonderful, and it set the tone for the evening’s creations: light, flavorful, and intelligently conceived.

Trotter prepared the next course, which this reviewer considered the evening’s best. The timbale of salmon tartare with Sevruga caviar, sea urchin sauce and a trio of small mushroom salads also was the most complex and labor intensive preparation seen all evening. These dishes were accompanied by a spicy, delightful Robert Mondavi 1988 Fume Blanc (Eric Hansen of the Mondavi Food and Wine Center selected the wines, many of which were generously donated by Mondavi. This year’s wines far surpassed those served in previous years).

Next came Pieton’s smoked rabbit consomme with fresh corn, embellished by the surprise of a tiny leek custard in the center. It was a rich soup that, the waiters said, had simmered all afternoon, and it clashed beautifully with a 1986 Vichon Chardonnay.

Splichal’s own dish followed, something new from the menu at Patina, a scallop roll in potato crust with a brown butter vinaigrette. Splichal is a genius with a potato, and the crispy crust was perfection, wrapping a most intensely flavored scallop. The fact that the dish was plated four hundred times staggers the imagination.

The juggernaut rolled on. The next course came from Debra Ponzek of Montrachet restaurant in New York City: tripolini pasta, resembling small bow ties, with wild mushroom and truffle juice, an ephemeral course, delicate and fashionably al dente . Then a roast foie gras from Christopher Cross of Phoenix. Meanwhile, the crowd wore through a 1988 Byron Chardonnay and Mondavi’s Pinot Noir from the same year.

That left two spectacular courses to finish things, and most of us, off. Keller prepared the main dish, a roasted lamb chop wrapped in a mousseline of vegetable with shallot thyme sauce, accompanied by an ’86 Mondavi Cabernet. It was so good that even Christine Splichal, the chef’s wife, pronounced it her favorite of the evening.

The dessert was a three-part affair that left everyone gasping. Splichal invited three well-known patissiers from France--Andre Mandion, Pierre Herme and Michel Galloyer--and they didn’t disappoint with their respective raspberry sorbet tulipe , raspberry tart with cinnamon and caramel sauce, and bitter chocolate mousse. Plus, it was a real hoot to watch all those big, overgrown children in evening clothes digging in like 12-year-olds.

In the end, the event raised more than a quarter of a million dollars for the museum: 28 chefs, 4,550 pieces of china, 75 rabbits and a lot of imagination made for a smashing success. During dessert, Splichal came out and peevishly announced that the calorie count for the evening was 3,970. Art of Dining IV is slated March 10, 1991. You have until then to prepare yourselves.