A Chance to Eat Your Art Out

We breathed a huge sigh of relief this week when we came upon an invitation to a fund-raiser that wasn’t in a huge hotel ballroom, didn’t have baked Alaska on the menu and didn’t list Marvin Hamlisch as the entertainment. That’s because the Los Angeles County Museum of Art went and got creative on us. Their Art of the Palate event is a series of 46 theme gourmet dinners given by various hosts over two nights, Sept. 29 and 30. The goal is to raise $250,000, which will allow the museum to open again on Tuesdays.

Of course, their creativity is sort of . . . borrowed from the New York City Public Library’s “Evening of 100 Dinners,” but what the hey, we’re not picky.

There is the “Avant-Garde Evening,” promising “some of the most luminous stars of the entertainment world.” We would hope so, considering the host is Jake Bloom, he of the entertainment law mega-firm Bloom, Dekom, Hergott and Cook. “A Hitchkockian Evening” will be held in the Bates Motel on the Universal Studios lot, and artist Billy Al Bengston is the guest of honor at a dinner at the Playboy mansion (don’t miss the grotto!). Anjelica Huston and Robert Graham show up at a dinner prepared by uber -chef Joachim Splichal.

The bad news is most of the dinners have sold out; the good news is there are still some spaces available. The bad news is some of the dinners are $500 per person; the good news is some of the dinners are $150 per person.

“The appeal for guests is that you get to go to dinner with some interesting people you may not have come across,” said Jann McCord, the event’s chairwoman. And she’s already been besieged by requests from people wanting to be hosts if the museum decides to do this again.

We’d love to host one--how about a burgerfest down at Meatty Meat Burgers, Hawaiian shirts optional?

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Soldier of Fashion: What to get for the urban guerrilla in your midst? We’ve found the perfect catalogue for the mercenary who has everything. It’s the U.S. Cavalry catalogue, offering the “World’s Finest Military and Adventure Equipment.”

When all 124 pages of it arrived in our mailbox recently, we knew we had hours of shopping fun ahead. Here’s a nifty item--the ranger tactical assault sling for only $14.95! Or how about some diamondback camouflage clothes, patterned to look like a diamondback rattlesnake?

If none of this ultra-macho stuff appeals to you, don’t worry. You can just get yourself a Purple Heart medal for a mere $49.95. Nothing will impress your friends more! Of course, you’ll have to figure out a believable story to go with it. . . .