Caterer Stars in Hollywood Dish Sessions

Caterer-to-the-stars Nick Grippo has a better idea for your next dinner party: Instead of trotting out the same old menu, hire a chef to conduct an at-home cooking class for your friends.

Actress Carrie Fisher has been a huge fan of the dinner-as-education method of entertaining, says Grippo, who appears today at the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach to tout his glossy new cookbook, “Hollywood Dish!” ($29.95, Angel City Press).

The star invites five or six pals over to get the lowdown from Grippo on a tasty dish. When dinner is ready, more friends show up to share the results.

Grippo supplies the ingredients--paid for by the hostess--and guests are invited to get up to their elbows in the food preparation.

“It’s all very hands-on and fun,” said Grippo, who has shared his culinary expertise with stars such as Barbra Streisand, Elizabeth Taylor, Meryl Streep, Anjelica Huston and Robin Williams. And because guests help with the meal preparation, “it’s less expensive than a regularly catered meal,” Grippo said.

Grippo laughs when he recalls a day at Fisher’s Beverly Hills-area hacienda (which she just put on the market for $4.25 million). He was trying to share one of his slicing techniques with Streisand: “We were doing a Mexican meal, and Barbra, with those wonderful nails of hers, was helping chop the cilantro.

“She was handling every little leaf and chopping. I showed her how to fan the blade back and forth to hurry up the process,” he said. “But when I walked away, she went right back to chopping it her way--one leaf at a time.”

Teaching stars to cook comes easily to Grippo, who did some acting. “I treat them like regular people,” he said.

Hosting an at-home cooking class goes a long way toward taking the heat off a hostess, Grippo observed. “It’s a casual way to entertain--with everybody gathered around the kitchen having a good time.”

While his classes are all the rage at Los Angeles charity auctions, Grippo still enjoys the opportunity to prepare formal meals for clients.

His secrets for a successful dinner party:

* Plan everything on paper, developing a menu that calls for as little last-minute activity as possible. “Choose recipes without deadlines.” Even better, “choose items that you can prepare the day before.”

* Look for recipes that provide the best possible taste experience for guests. “When I cook privately for a star, I watch the fat content--most stars have highly regimented diets,” he said. “But when I cook for a party, I don’t worry about calories; I go for the taste.”

Grippo appears today at a luncheon staged by Round Table West, a nonprofit organization. Information: (949) 645-5000.

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Auction prize: Newport Beach chef Pascal Olhats, owner of Pascal restaurant, helped local high-profile businessmen stage a gourmet meal at the home of Orange County Museum of Art patrons Victoria and Gil LeVasseur of Laguna Beach.

While Olhats and his crew whipped up a feast for about 15, Orange County executives such as Tom Sutton (Pacific Life), Don Koll (Koll Co.), Ted Smith (FileNET) and Charles Martin (Enterprise Partners) did the serving.

The men volunteered their time for the recent dinner--which was auctioned off last spring for $14,000 at the museum’s annual Art of Dining benefit.

Guests, dining under a tent, leisurely enjoyed seared ahi with shallot marmalade and veal tenderloin.

But there was little rest for the servers. Busy making runs between the house and the backyard, they snacked between courses--at a table set up near the kitchen.

Marsha Anderson of Newport Beach is chairwoman of this year’s Art of Dining, to be held May 23 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach. For information: (949) 759-1122.

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Cookbook named for Nicole Brown: Juditha Brown is overseeing production of a celebrity cookbook to benefit the Nicole Brown Charitable Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Dana Point named for her daughter, Nicole Brown Simpson.

Juditha Brown has gathered recipes from show-biz personalities such as Jay Leno, Carol Burnett and Phyllis Diller for the book, due for publication this spring.

Proceeds will benefit the foundation, which seeks to develop in the Dana Point area a long-term transitional housing program for abused women and their children.

Burnett wasted no time sending along this amusing recipe for cashew chicken:

* Take a trip to Gelson’s supermarket.

* Spend 20 minutes standing in line.

* Buy cashew chicken.

* Take to microwave. Heat and eat.

Authentic recipes will be included, Brown says: Uncle Louis’ Chicken Wings Marinara from Leno; George Bush’s Texas Broccoli from Diller; and Brown’s Old World recipe for German pancakes--a treat adored by her grandchildren.

Aunt Lulu’s Carrot Cake--a recipe from Nicole’s own collection--will also be featured in the book, Juditha Brown said, adding, “Nicole was an incredible cook.”

Information: (949) 443-4200.

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Mark Your Calendar: A 1,400-seat theater at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station--the site of USO shows during the 1940s--on April 16-17 will be the backdrop for an original musical to benefit Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

The third annual CHOC Follies--”Muskets, Missiles and Martians: a Madcap Salute to the Armed Forces!”--will honor Medal of Honor recipients Col. William E. Barber of Irvine and Walter Ehlers of Buena Park.

Ticket information: (714) 532-8690.