Enough Food to Feed an an Armada

“Celebrities Cook for the UC San Diego Cancer Center” gala may have been very black-tie, very chic and tres gastronomique , but even the most formal in the crowd of 450 were unable to withstand the plangently pungent assault of garlic, which washed over the event like a Mediterranean rogue wave and swept all before it.

One guest pondered an appetizer of chicken in the most insinuating of garlic sauces, waved her fork tentatively over the plate and said, “I suppose if some of us are going to eat garlic, we all have to eat garlic.” That caveat delivered, she dug in, smiled and, displaying the most exquisite manners, held her breath.

If Saturday’s 11th annual “Celebrities Cook,” given as always in the Champagne Ballroom at the Sheraton Harbor Island Hotel, seemed a little more aromatic than previous versions, it was because co-chairwomen Diana Lombrozo and Carrie O’Brien decided that the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ inaugural voyage to the New World required recognition in the form of an event titled “Viva Espana!” The resulting affair, attended more or less evenly by supporters of cancer research and confirmed gastrolateurs (the French term for those who hold the stomach in unreasonably high regard), offered as its focus the efforts of a dozen recognized masters of the peculiar Spanish art of tapas , or elaborate snacks to be eaten as preface to a meal.

Because “Viva Espana” proceeded under the auspices of “Celebrities Cook,” the tapas themselves constituted at least one meal, or possibly two. After that, a seated dinner planned by menu chairwomen Pam Wischkaemper and Audrey Geisel plugged any stray holes in guests’ stomachs--but copious comestibles are in any case a “Celebrities Cook” trademark, and “Viva Espana” followed the tradition religiously.

Lombrozo, born in Guatemala of Spanish heritage, assembled the dozen tapas chefs, drawn from noted restaurants across the United States.

“This is 1992, and I wanted to celebrate 500 years of discovery,” she said. “This is the year of Spain, the year of the Olympics in Barcelona and of the World’s Fair in Seville. I wanted to introduce the food of Spain to San Diego, since it’s something I understand and something I want everyone to enjoy.”

To those ends, Lombrozo recruited some of the country’s truly distinguished tapas architects to help make the evening undeniably atmospheric. Among them were Gabino Sotelino of Chicago’s ultra-trendy Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba, who confected whimsical boats stuffed with smoked salmon, eggs and caviar (his “ carabelas de salmon ahumado ,” or “caravels” of smoked salmon, flavorfully referred to the three ships Columbus guided on his first voyage), and Bryce Statham of Two Sisters in Coral Gables, Fla., who dished up memorable morsels of lamb garnished with potato wisps and papaya sauce.

Spider crab, as unattractive as it may sound, starred in the Basque-style txangurro served by Josu Zubikarai of Taberna del Alabardero in Washington. Added together, the bites constituted at least one full dinner, a circumstance noted by guests when they sat down to the Sheraton-catered dinner of garlic soup, chicken in chilindron (pepper and onion sauce) and apple flan.

Among local chefs, Deborah McDonald Schneider, representing La Gran Tapa, offered mussels in a sherried orange vinaigrette, and Antonio Aguas of Cafe Bravo served pasteis de bacalhau , or football-shaped codfish croquettes. The list of chefs also included Mariano Aznar of New York’s Paradis Barcelona, who prepared a stew of white beans with spicy sausage, and Jose Ramon Andres of El Dorado Petit, also Manhattan, who wrapped blanched garlic cloves and sprigs of thyme in thin coverlets of smoked salmon.

The food, of course, was the means to an end. “We’ll make $100,000, which was our goal,” said co-chairwoman O’Brien. “That’s pretty exciting considering what a tough year this has been for fund-raising in San Diego. The money will help Dr. Hryniuk in developing new programs.”

William Hryniuk, the new director of the UCSD Cancer Center, agreed that the money from “Celebrities Cook” will have a significant effect.

“Your financial support is welcome, but your moral support is just as important in the battle against cancer,” he told the audience. “UCSD is third in the world in biomolecular research, but I think that, with a few adjustments, we could be first.” The applause indicated the local opinion that first place was a reasonable and desirable goal.

Guests at the event were not amused by bread alone. The ballroom, given the theme of a Spanish garden by the dozens of orange trees that marked the perimeter, the fountains at the centers of the two dance floors and the flower-decked, wrought iron centerpieces, echoed periodically to the staccato heel taps of professional flamenco dancers. The Benny Hollman Orchestra played, perhaps inevitably, “Spanish Eyes,” and innumerable pieces in the same vein afterward, almost to the point that eyes Spanish and otherwise glazed over. Since Iberian themes always incite the urge to dance, the floor flooded frequently with those equal to the flagrantly fancy footwork required by the music.

The event honored departing UCSD School of Medicine Dean Dr. Gerard Burrow, who is departing the school for Yale University, and memorialized the late Rear Adm. David Rubel, a recent victim of leukemia who served as president of the Cancer Center from 1987 to 1990.

Guests included present Cancer Center President Maury Kaplan and his wife, Charmaine, and incoming board chieftain Peter Preuss and his wife, Peggy.

Among others were Denice and Mitchell Lathrop, Flo and Rick Henrikson, cook-off founder Anne Otterson and her husband, Bill; Lee and Frank Goldberg; Harriet and Dick Levi; Barbara and Bill McColl; Marian and Tom Warburton; Marion and Whit Boardman; Tulie Trejo; Teddie and Jules Pincus; newlyweds Jeanne Jones and Donald Breitenberg; Joany and Bob Mosher; Belle and Paul Reed; Carol and Lee Druckman; Barbara and Duncan Pruett; Judee and Bill Feinberg; Isabelle and Melvin Wasserman; Marko and Mary Lindenstein Walshok; vintners Martha and John Culbertson; Ajit and Nissi Varki; Smokey and John Sutherland; Evelyn and Lawrence Solomon, and Georgia and Blair Sadler.