Drai Hobbles Table-Hopping Bernard

Being popular isn’t easy for Bernard Erpicum. When he goes out to dinner, the longtime Spago maitre d’ and sommelier--no longer associated with Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant and planning to open his own restaurant in March--can barely walk through a room without distributing at least a few air-kisses. But Erpicum threw a few too many kisses at Drai’s, the hot, celebrity-filled restaurant on La Cienega, and now is no longer welcome there.

His schmoozing so incensed owner Victor Drai that Drai went out of his way to tell Erpicum to stay put at his own table.

“I told Bernard if he wanted to come back, to stop working the room,” Drai says. “He said, ‘OK, fine.’ Then he came back and started again, so I kicked him out.”

“I liked the place,” says Erpicum, “and (Drai’s chef) Claude (Segal) is a very close friend of mine--I helped him get a job at Rancho Valencia. But everyone kept stopping by my table--Ron Perlman because he had difficulties getting a table at Spago the night before, Sylvester Stallone who just stopped to say hello. Then I got up to go to the bathroom and everybody stopped me: Billy Wilder, Alan Ladd 1248996908get very offended if I don’t say hi.”

“The real problem,” says Drai, “is he annoyed my customers. They don’t like him coming to the table, asking them to invest in his restaurant, when they’re having dinner.”

“Victor is very frightened,” says Erpicum. “To mentally abuse people, to throw them out of his restaurant. I called Robert Rauschenberg in Florida and said Robert, ‘I am going to call my restaurant “Eclipse,” what do you think of the name?’ He said, ‘I just love that name. I am going to drop all my painting now and am going to paint an eclipse for you.’ Do you think I need Victor Drai?”

“I used to love Spago,” says Drai, “but I quit going there. I told Bernard, ‘The reason why is because I hate you so much.’ ”

GETTING TO THE POINT: Goldie and Swifty and Whoopi all the other Spago regulars will be eligible to earn free vacations and meals now that Wolfgang Puck’s West Hollywood restaurant is participating in Visa’s frequent-dining program. As Robin Leach reported on the Television Food Network, Puck recently signed a $1-million deal with the credit card company to stop accepting American Express at his restaurants and become a spokesman for Visa. Puck would not return phone calls.

Visa has signed up restaurants in New York, California and Florida for what it’s calling the “Frequent Dining & Giving Program.” When customers eat at one of the participating restaurants and pay a minimum $50 tab with a Visa card, they receive a point. A $100 restaurant tab earns two points. Fifty points will get you a $100 gift certificate for dinner. Visa will also donate money from each transaction to Meals on Wheels. Other local participating restaurants include Citrus, Valentino, Matsuhisa, Michael’s, Patina and L’Orangerie.

NEW FROM THE NORTH: Chef Thomas Keller, who left downtown L.A.’s Checkers more than a year ago, is trying to buy the French Laundry in Yountville, a wine-country restaurant known for its unique wine cellar. “French Laundry has been for sale for a long time,” Keller says, “I am interested, but if the bank doesn’t give me the money, I am not going to do it.” . . . California cuisine pioneer Jeremiah Tower, who owns Stars Restaurant in San Francisco, has opened the 50-seat Stars Oakville Cafe on Route 29 in Oakville. . . . New chef at Campton Place in San Francisco is Todd Humphries, who replaces Jan Birnbaum who replaced Bradley Ogden. Humphries’ new American menu will be in place by late November.

NEW INTERESTS: Steven Sponder, who opened Montecito’s Palazzio in February, has sold his interest in the place to his partner, Ken Boxer. The news comes less than two months after Sponder told The Times that he planned to clone more Palazzios in the near future. The Italian concept features simple decor, enormous portions at low prices and self-service Merlot for $2.95 per glass, sold on the honor system. Sponder owns Santa Barbara’s Palace Cafe, and plans a take-out/quick service version of the restaurant.

OPENINGS: Chris Michaels Desserts--a wholesale bakery with a line of pastries it sells to Starbuck’s, Neiman-Marcus, Carnegie Deli, Flora Kitchen and other businesses--is now open to the public in the old Kaplan’s bakery space on Fairfax Avenue. Some of its popular sweets include poppy seed cake, sweet potato pecan pie and New York-style cheese cake. . . . Tamara’s, an American Jewish family restaurant, opened Friday in North Hollywood serving everything from matzo-ball soup to beef stroganoff. Complete dinners start at $6.95. . . . Breadworks Cafe, a cafe and bakery on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, has been opened by the owners of Breadworks Bakery on Third Street in Los Angeles.

CLOSING: Nickodell, the American-style eatery near Paramount Pictures, will close Nov. 30, after almost 60 years in Hollywood.

MEAL DEALS: The 4-month-old Zack’s in Redondo Beach now offers a $12 brunch from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends. It includes a glass of California sparking wine, orange juice, homemade muffins and biscuits, an entree and coffee. . . . November is national pasta month (since when, we don’t know), and Emilio’s Ristorante in Hollywood is celebrating with an all-you-can-eat pasta menu for $15, Sundays through Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m. The three-course dinner, available through Dec. 22, includes six different homemade pastas, a variety of Abruzzo-style sauces, salad from Emilio’s garden and dessert. . . . And, on Monday and Tuesday evenings only, Xiomara in Pasadena serves bouillabaisse for $12.