Best Bird in a Supporting Role

In honor of Spago going dark Monday night as a memorial to the late Swifty Lazar and his legendary Oscar parties there, we advise that it would be Very Hollywood to pop a Wolfgang Puck frozen pizza in the microwave before zoning out with the Academy Awards show on your TV.

But your Social Climes staff has to wonder what we’ll be eating at all those Oscar parties. Unfortunately, not even our most respectful form of groveling, all the way to the head office of Vanity Fair in New York, could pry loose a description of even one tiny, inconsequential hors d’oeuvre to be served at the party at Morton’s, co-hosted by the aforementioned celebrity-happy magazine and producer Steve Tisch.

But if we could put money on it, we bet the main course will be . . . chicken. You see, we think we’ve discovered a trend.

Elton John, at his AIDS Foundation party at Maple Drive, will be dishing up a choice of grilled Chilean sea bass, penne with grilled vegetables or grilled chicken. And at the official, post-Oscar Governor’s Ball, the black-tie crowd will be dining on grilled king salmon and breast of chicken .

For dessert, apple dishes seem to be very in. There will be caramelized apple tarts served at both Maple Drive and the Governor’s Ball.

Brett Butler, star of TV’s “Grace Under Fire,” is right with the trend setters. As she is hosting her first annual Academy Awards party to benefit “We Have a Dream for Better Days,” (supporting efforts to get children off the streets and to end hunger and homelessness), we had to ask if there would be chicken and an apple anything. The event at Chaya Brasserie, open to the public for $50 per person, indeed promises a dinner that includes chicken and apple strudel.

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Stars and Hope: Although the Oscar bash is without a doubt the ultimate A-list gathering of celebs, there is another event that runs a close second. That distinction belongs to the star-studded Carousel of Hope ball chaired by Barbara and Marvin Davis, who will host the 11th annual party Oct. 28 at the Beverly Hilton. The event benefits the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes and the L.A. chapters of the American Diabetes Assn. and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International.

The seven-month break between parties allows the stars to catch their breath and find something new to wear.

So far lined up for this year’s mega-event are Jay Leno as emcee and Merv Griffin as host (he does own the hotel, after all). Performing will be Phil Collins, Neil Diamond and Placido Domingo in a show produced by George Schlatter, with musical director David Foster and musical chairman (boy, we like that title) Quincy Jones.

The evening also includes a silent auction. Last time bidders paid good money for a date with model Claudia Schiffer and lunch with Luke Perry. But since she’s engaged and he’s married, the committee will have to keep looking. for fresh blood this year.