Movable Feasts.

With upsale eateries like Pinot and The Grill in Beverly Hills offering a tempting array of pre-arranged gourmet dinners, what's in the picnic basket is almost as important as who's on stage at the Hollywood Bowl 

ANGELENOS may be worried about the slowing economy, their jobs, inflation, high energy prices and more. But that won't stop them from plunking down $40, $50, $100 or more for a pre-packed picnic dinner to take to the Hollywood Bowl this summer, as the concert season gets underway June 29.

Sure, being entertained by such stars as Bonnie Raitt and Natalie Cole can be a kick, but it's almost as much fun seeing what your fellow concertgoers are eating. And this season's picnicking promises to be more elaborate than ever.

"I would say at least 50 percent of the experience is seeing what other people got to eat," said Jannis Swerman, director of communications at Wolfgang Puck Worldwide Fine Dining. "It's part of the experience. I would never go there and not plan a meal."

It was about two or three years ago that the picnic meals bought and brought to the Hollywood Bowl really started to get fancy, said Merrill Shindler, editor of the Zagat Survey, a yearly restaurant publication.

More than a dozen restaurants offer boxed meals, primarily for the Hollywood Bowl, he said. But these are not traditional picnic meals.

Consider Wolfgang Puck's Granita restaurant in Malibu, which offers a picnic basket complete with a bottle of wine (red or white), glassware, a corkscrew, breads and plasticware for a meal of smoked salmon with toast, salmon caviar, chopped vegetable salad, roasted beef salad, beluga lentils and goat cheese, grilled chicken with vegetables and an apple tart and chocolate tart for dessert.

All for $100 - and that includes the basket.

Another popular picnic-maker is The Grill in Beverly Hills, which upped its price by $1 a box this year. Its priciest item is a $47.50-per-person box with sliced filet mignon, chicken breast with herbs, grilled shrimp with marinated asparagus, gravlaaks, fresh fruit and New York cheesecake.

One of the most popular boxes at Bistro Garden in Studio City is Basket No. 5, which includes a whole artichoke, shrimp cocktail and filet mignon. It sells for $32, one of the highest-priced items on the menu, said Gregory Tappas, one of the owners of Bistro Garden.

Open-air elegance

Joan Cumming, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Hollywood Bowl, said she regularly sees picnic baskets with beautiful tablecloths and matching linens, flowers and vases, candles, crystal and wine.

"The most elaborate one I've seen would be the picnic basket from England with sterling silverware and cut glass crystal - starting with hors d'oeuvres," she said.

The elaborateness of picnic boxes can be best reflected by the backpacks, coolers and baskets that people buy. Even if they pick up a box from a local restaurant, they like to bring additional silverware and items with them as well, said Karen Burke, national sales manager of locally based Picnic at Ascot Inc.

The company's most popular items are coolers and backpacks, the most expensive of which sell for $155 and $115, respectively, she said.

"What we see is people going for picnic packs and coolers that are really full of additional extras," Burke said. "The ones we sell have cheese boards, cutting knives and linens. The backpacks are made to look very high-end, with an insulated section in the back and a place setting in the back with salt and pepper shakers."

Most Hollywood Bowl attendees choose to dine from the 22 restaurants owned and operated by the Patina Group, official caterer for the Hollywood Bowl. Last year, its first as Bowl caterer, the Patina Group was able to boost its company-wide sales dramatically thanks to its restaurants on the Bowl grounds, such as Patina at the Pool, The Rooftop and Staccato.

The Patina Group also has restaurants in close proximity to the Bowl -- Pinot Hollywood, Patina in Hollywood and Pinot Bistro in Studio City -- all of which sell picnic boxes.

The picnic-box menu items typically include three courses with an appetizer and high-end items like beef tenderloin, imported cheese, salmon, couscous tabbouleh and cod. The per-person boxes range from $16 to $48 each.

Innovative tweaks

With a slightly different set of picnic-box menus this year, the 11-year-old company expects to boost its sales even more, said Joachim Splichal, chef and founder of the Patina Group.

"We are creative people and are always bringing in new things," Splichal said. "We want it to be exciting for people to watch."

The Patina Group also expects more sales as a result of its direct mailings to more than 70,000 customers, and from cross-promotional deals and sponsorships.

On the promotional bandwagon as well is the Vons Cos. Inc., which operates the Vons and Pavilion's grocery chains. The company signed a deal this year with Hollywood Bowl to cross-promote its picnic boxes with tickets to the concerts.

With the purchase of a $54.99 box sold by the grocery chains, the buyer can get two free tickets to a Bowl concert.

Another grocery chain, El Segundo-based Bristol Farms, started selling boxes this year in preparation for Hollywood Bowl and Pacific Symphony Orchestra concerts after past attendees started asking why the store didn't pre-package picnic baskets, said Alma Ritter, corporate business services executive at Bristol Farms.

The high-end wholesale food chain sells a picnic basket with place settings for $49.99 that includes filet mignon, poached salmon, rosemary grilled chicken and a fruit dessert. It also sells a picnic box for $39.99, and both varieties of box can include wine as well, Ritter said.

"We thought it would be nice to offer something that is the whole package for two people, rather than to have customers get everything themselves," she said. "The nice thing about catering is you only buy the portion you need. People are so busy with their life that anything that will make it easier for them, they'll buy."

Of course, many Hollywood Bowl attendees are happy with a simple hot dog and corn on the cob.

To cater to this crowd, the Patina Group and Hollywood Bowl are kicking off a new food concept this year, in which attendees on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday nights can get sausage, corn on the cob and salmon cooked on a big grill and then eat it in the open air, like at a country fair. The grill offerings will be available only before the concert, during which time a Hollywood Bowl staffer will describe to the open-air diners the concert that they will hear that night.

For those who want to keep it even simpler than that, well, at Hollywood Bowl, there's something for everyone.

"If I was going to the Hollywood Bowl, I'd go to Trader Joe's," said food critic Shindler. "They have enough dips and chips and salads to put together a nice meal."