Spreading It on Thick : Champagne Wishes, Caviar Dreams Come True at Tasting

A caviar tasting during a recession? Maddening. You knew it was the wrong time to buy, but you wanted more, more, more.

And so it went for those who attended the $65-per-person caviar tasting seminar held Friday during the annual World of Wines festival at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Dana Point.

Each of about 40 guests sampled half-ounce portions of three domestic and three imported caviars, along with condiments such as creme fraiche and sieved egg whites spread on toast points and silver-dollar-size blinis.

Lest their throats get dry (after all, there was a Santa Ana wind ruffling the fronds on the palm trees outside) there was Laurent Perrier Ultra Brut and Rose champagnes to send those glistening globules down the hatch.

Orange County socialite Karen Hardin, dressed to kill in turquoise gabardine suit and matching feathered hat, came to the seminar, she said, because she “loves the elegant taste” of those shiny sturgeon eggs.

“I buy it as often as my husband (automobile dealer Victor Hardin) will allow,” she said. “Plus, I’m here to learn how to use my gorgeous St. Louis crystal caviar bowl.”

Hardin learned even more. Good caviar--Sevruga, Beluga, Osetra and Chinese--should taste “like an ocean breeze,” said Betsy Uehlein, president of Caviar and Fine Food Inc. in Beverly Hills (where stars such as Joan Collins and Ol’ Blue Eyes order their tins of the world’s costliest snack.)

And she learned that lumpfish--that black stuff from Iceland and Norway that turns your teeth black--is a no-no for entertaining. “It’s so bad you can probably take it out of the jar and bounce it on the sidewalk,” Uehlein joked. “And it’s so salty.”

Seminar guests also found out that caviar is not fattening. “It’s only 143 calories per ounce,” Uehlein said. “ Plus it promotes longevity and it’s an aphrodisiac. I eat 2 ounces of it every morning.”

Let the rest of the country’s caviar sales wane. According to Ritz-Carlton Vice President Henry Schielein, the recession is not hurting the hotel’s $85-an-ounce caviar sales.

“We sell caviar morning, noon and night,” Schielein said. “Caviar is like so many other things--it’s an acquired taste, like escargot. The more you try it, the more you come to like it. And before you know it, you’re an addict.”

It’s Magic: A tennis shoe and Lakers hat autographed by Magic Johnson will be on the auction block Dec. 13 when Parent Help USA stages its “Twelfth Night of Christmas” benefit at the Santa Ana Heights home of John and Donna Crean.

Magic Johnson was the honorary chairman of the organization’s first Champions for Children bash in 1989. Along with Lakers owner Jerry Buss and teammate Michael Cooper, Johnson attended the benefit at the Fullerton home of developer Sherman Solaas and his wife, Myrna.

“We don’t expect Magic to be able to attend this event,” says Sally Kanarek, a director of Parent Help USA. “His office is overwhelmed. They’re getting thousands of requests for benefit appearances per week.”

But Kanarek said representatives of her organization have sent Johnson a letter, saying how much they love him. “We know he is busy. We’re just glad to have his shoe and hat.”

Morsels: The Santa Ana Heights home of Tom and Elizabeth Tierney was the site of last week’s reception for supporters and leaders of KCET, Channel 28. Pianist Michael Prutsman performed the highlights of KCET’s upcoming special “Mozart on Tour” for guests who included Buzz and Lois Aldrin, Maria Crutcher, Don and Claudette Shaw, Al Nichols, Ninetta and Gavin Herbert and Darlene and Walter Gerken. . . .

Orange County philanthropists were honored at a National Philanthropy Day breakfast last week at the Anaheim Marriott. Among those who received awards were John and Donna Crean, Merritt Johnson, David Eisenman, Patricia Cox and Sherron Paul. The celebration was co-chaired by Arnold Beckman and Walter Gerken along with the National Society of Fund Raising Executives and the Orange County chapter of the Junior League. . . .

Tickets at are still available for Hoag Hospital’s 552 Club Christmas Carol Ball on Dec. 7 with the theme “Home for the Holidays.” The event is being held at the Newport Beach Marriott. . . .

Tickets are also available for the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s annual Christmas Candlelight Concert on Dec. 8 at the Hyatt Regency Irvine. Tiffany & Co. is coordinating the decor (and we hear their coveted champagne flutes will be party keepsakes). Pianists Steve Allen, Pete Jolly, Ross Tompkins and Paul Smith will perform a concert-in-the-round after the sit-down dinner. Ciel Woodman, special events chairwoman for the Center, is gala chairwoman. . . .

Arts activist Janice Johnson of Laguna Beach will chair South Coast Repertory’s 1992 gala, the do that annually launches Orange County’s social season. . . .

Watch for the new Escada boutique at South Coast Plaza to have a very special grand opening party in February.