Pavilion Bows Out of Catering Gig

The Music Center company with the longest run (and the most mixed reviews) has never had anything to do with dance or opera.

It’s Pavilion Catering.

The firm has had an exclusive 15-year contract to provide food for the center’s three restaurants and for any on-site event, including opening-night galas.

Now it looks like the run is over. The company that owns Pavilion Catering has decided not to exercise its option to continue for another 10 years.

The leading contender for the job is Restaurant Associates which, among other things, provides catering for New York’s Lincoln Center.

“They’re known for being very innovative,” said Music Center operating company President Sandra Kimberling. “One thing they’ve done in Manhattan is showcase many of the city’s chefs.”

If the deal happens, it would go into effect sometime this summer or, at the latest, by Sept. 27 when the current contract expires.

Meanwhile, perhaps among our regrets--after years of grazing at parties in the Pavilion Restaurant--will be the roast reindeer we spurned at the 1992 world premiere of the Finnish opera “Kullervo.”

*

Namely, Art: The Beverly Hills Hotel has finished its $100-million face lift and guests who attend the black-tie reopening June 3 will be glorified along with the new walls.

According to a note included with the elaborate invitation (it comes in a diploma-like case) the 1,000-person guest list “will be memorialized in an original work of art which will be permanently displayed at the hotel.”

Plans haven’t been finalized as to how or where the names of the Immortal One Thousand will be inscribed, but it’s most likely to be in the lobby, perhaps part of a mural. While the rest of the world might call having your name written on a wall “graffiti,” in Beverly Hills, it’s called “art.”

*

Barb on a Dolphin: “Baywatch” might not have survived on American network TV, but it’s mega-huge overseas. So big that Barbie’s latest incarnation is as Baywatch Barbie. “We’re always looking for different careers for Barbie,” said Mattel spokeswoman Lisa McKendall, “and this was a fun way for her to be a lifeguard.”

The doll, wearing a tank swimsuit accompanied by a dolphin that squeaks when a lever is pushed on its back, hits stores this month.

Unlike characters on “Baywatch,” neither Barbie nor the dolphin has had breast implants.