Table Talk

The cocktail set is pouring itself into Pat Buckley's gold-andsilver bedroom: the indefatigable hostess holds nightly court from six to eight while she recuperates from a hip operation. Nancy Reagan came, and stayed for dinner. Regular shakers include Jack Heinz, Bill Blass, and Reinaldo Herrera. The hubbub nearly drowns out the patient's calls for a pick-me-up.

Even the lowlife of Milan is fashion-conscious. People wearing Timberland shoes get mugged and left barefoot in the dark.

A top-secret memo circulated by Pinkerton and Pearlstine at the Wall Street Journal specifically prohibits W.S. Journalists from using these words: "crap," "screwing one another," and "butt-face."

There were two classes of guests at Annette Reed's daughter's country wedding. The A list were deposited at the head of the line, but the B list had to schlepp up the long drive after parking. Democratic fate took a hand, however: when king of the A list Henry Kissinger sat down, the chair collapsed.

Waiters in posher restaurants are making such big bucks they can sell their jobs for four-figure "fixture fees." (To keep their jobs they give the maitre d's weekly $500 kickbacks.)

Amtrak's gone nouvelle. No more superannuated cheese Amwiches, no more soggy Amburgers in the Amcafe car. Instead: microwaved burritos, egg rolls, and carrot cake.

Forget Regine's and Club A. The social place to go on Manhattan Thursday nights is Chippendales, the male strip joint for ladies. And we mean Ladies. Carmella Scaggs, Emi Matouk (the Evangeline Bruce of Cairo), Princess Lynn von Furstenberg (and Egon), plus Francos Zeffirelli and Rossellini, have all hung out in the V. I. P. Room with star stripper Brian Starcher.

Among the "mini courses" offered by N.Y.C.'s Gay U. (212505-2602) are: Cats & Dogs, John Cheever, Hair, You Swim with Dolphins, and Gay Dubrovnik (not to be confused with Gay Talese).

Area, still N.Y.C.'s top hot spot while everyone's waiting for the Palladium, gave a night for "Normals. ' ' Nobody came.