FED UP MEDIA CREWS SAVOR CALIFORNIA FARE DURING DNC.

Byline: Larry Lipson Daily News Restaurant Critic

So how do national television anchors and crews (technicians, camera men, video librarians, etc.) covering the DNC eat during the convention? Very well it seems - with breakfast, lunch and dinner dished up in trailers in the Cable News Network (CNN) and Fox News Channel compounds just a parking lot away from Staples Center.

Because a large number of the CNN work force covering the Democratic National Convention (DNC) is Atlanta based, caterer Bruce Hecker decided to feed them a Southern-accented dinner Thursday night.

There were pork chops with country gravy, catfish, mashed potatoes, collard greens, corn bread and macaroni and cheese. But Hecker, a resident of Hidden Hills who owns Bruce's Gourmet Catering in North Hollywood (a movie and motion picture catering company) and is the co-owner of two restaurants - Mo's in Toluca Lake and Woodland Hills - had added garlic to the potatoes, given the catfish a sesame crust and served it with a miso vinaigrette.

``Gotta be a little L.A.,'' he grinned.

Although Hecker began with a filet mignon in cabernet sauce the first night he started catering CNN's meals (Aug. 7) and will end with filet mignon with a shallot demi-glace (this Friday or Saturday), during this past week he has been serving such intrigues as grilled escolar with an Asian vinaigrette, seabass in roasted red pepper sauce, capellini in chardonnay sauce, baby coho salmon with an artichoke-tomato-corn salsa, farfalle with artichokes and mushrooms, swordfish with mango salsa and turmeric-scented rice.

The California-style cooking evidently goes over pretty well with the CNN crew and entire staff, that will amount to as many as 725 meal-takers that include the president of CNN Rick Kaplan and anchors Bernard Shaw and Wolf Blitzer.

``Much better than Philadelphia,'' opined Blitzer, seated in the 100- seat``dining'' trailer with Steve Redisch, executive producer of Blitzer's The World Today show, and Linda Roth, senior producer at CNN/L.A.

Blitzer, Shaw, and Bill Schneider, CNN's senior political analyst, who thinks L.A. food is `` `foofy,' glitzy like Hollywood, and has too many special effects,'' were sharing tables Friday at lunchtime with nearby stage-hands Michael McLaughlin of Burbank, Steve Newquist of South Pasadena and Gregg Hay of Palmdale.

``Great,'' ``plentiful,'' uttered the stage-hands as they dug into paper plates piled high from the buffet line.

Schneider, though, evidently likes plain, regional food like the cheese- steaks in Philly and the Tasty Cakes. ``Sometimes you just want a good hamburger,'' he said.

``In Philadelphia,'' said Blitzer, ``we had to take our plates to our work spaces. And this food is healthier. I'm very pleased.''

He rates it among the very best during this campaign. Referring to the food served to CNN at the primaries, ``New Hampshire was terrible, Iowa was the best,'' he said.

Everyone in the packed trailer on the CNN compound seems to be thoroughly enjoying the lunch of honey, lime, ginger, cilantro-marinated chicken breasts with optional creamy cilantro sauce; hoisin sauce-basted, mesquite grilled, baby back ribs; basmati rice flecked with tiny vegetables; steamed broccoli; and a choice of numerous salad bar items.

Meals for the New York-based Fox News Channel entourage - from anchors to interns - is being catered by Wolfgang Puck Food Company in a tented area on the Fox compound according to Dana White, a Fox News Channel publicist from Washington, D.C.

``We are doing breakfast for 150, lunch for 200 to 250 and dinner for 250 to 300 people,'' said John Bulla, operating manager and director of openings for the Santa-Monica based Wolfgang Puck Food Company, adding that the meal service started Aug. 8 and will run through Friday. The meals also have a California twist - and many of the items are similar to those served at the Wolfgang Puck Cafes.

Besides the usual yogurts, cereals, fruits, Danish and breads, breakfast possibilites run the gamut from quiches and frittatas to scrambled eggs, bacon and breakfast wraps.

Lunch might include items like bacon wrapped meat loaf, wood- burning pizzas, Caesar salad, fresh fruit salad, half-pound chargrilled hamburgers and hot dogs and grilled veggie sandwiches. Dinner offerings range from pork ribs and fried chicken to pasta primavera, sea scallops with pasta, beef quesadillas, lasagne, tri tip with Austrian potato salad and salmon with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus.

For dessert fanciers, there are cookies, brownies and biscotti and on some days special finales like bread pudding, lemon cake, creme brulee, key lime tarts or tiramisu.

``Everything is prepared fresh and served buffet style on heavy clear plastic plates,'' added Bulla, who arrives at 5 a.m. daily and stays until about 8 p.m. to help chef David Warren with the cooking tasks and preparations.

``About 50 percent of the prep work is done at the Wolfgang Puck Cafe in Woodland Hills and the rest in the full cooking facility constructed at the downtown site.'' Food is delivered daily - and stored in a 40-foot tractor-trailer with both refrigeration and freezing capacity.

Over the 12-day period, Hecker figures he will have served the CNN crew some 28,000 meals and that includes around 1500 chicken breasts each day they're on the menu and 400 pounds of filet mignon steak on the last night. CNN's thirst will be quenched by 400 cases of bottled water and 300 cases of soda per day.

Although Hecker fed CNN during the Academy Awards earlier this year, the difference at the DNC is security. The Secret Service searches every single box, poking through everything. And only one food delivery is allowed between 1 and 5 a.m. daily which means Hecker replaces the refrigerated food truck he keeps on site every day during the early hours to assure fresh, top quality items.

The television crews and anchors defintely won't be going hungry in Los Angeles.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) CNN anchor Bernard Shaw is served in the lunch buffet line by Anthony Ruff and Ray Bonoc in the CNN compound near Staples Center.

(2 -- color) Steve Redisch, Wolf Blitzer, Linda Roth and Sam Fiest of CNN enjoy a California-inspired lunch in the CNN compound in Los Angeles.

(3) Bruce Hecker, owner of Bruce's Gourmet Catering in North Hollywood, serves CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer lunch items from the buffet in the CNN dining trailer near Staples Center.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer