Entertainment

Fear not, fans of Bravo TV's The Real Housewives of Orange County : Those saucy Southern California women will be back for a fourth season. There is a new cast member named Gretchen Rossi, and she has some ties to Texas. The word is that she attended Baylor in Waco.

The housewives all turned up in Dallas last week, but the cameras were largely focused on Gretchen, who was meeting friends. On Thursday, she checked into the Stoneleigh Hotel.

Bravo got shots of her arriving in the lobby, in her suite and with pals in the bar.

All of the housewives gathered for dinner nearby at Perry's steakhouse. Among the group were Jeana Keough, Lauri Waring Peterson (she married fiancé, George, last fall), Vicki Gunvalson, Tamra Barney and Gretchen.

From the Small World file: While Bravo's real housewives were dining at Perry's, A&E's real homicide detectives from the show The First 48 were also at the eatery with their own camera crew.

The show takes its name from the first 48 hours after a homicide when it is critical to find a lead. The show follows detectives in Dallas, Detroit, Miami, Phoenix and other cities. For last week's Dallas shoot, seven Dallas cops were celebrating the solving of a particularly brutal murder.

Tomas de la Mata, the recently retired long-time catering director at the Fairmont, will get a little roasting next month thanks to the Press Club of Dallas.

A "Toast and Roast" honoring Tomas will take place Sept. 26 in the Fairmont's Venetian Room.

My former columnizing colleague Helen Bryant Anders will join the panel, which will be emceed by former TV newsman Tracy Rowlett. Camille Keith and Liz Oliphant are chairing.

Proceeds will go to establish a scholarship in Tomas' name through the Press Club of Dallas Foundation.

"The office of president is a bastardized thing, half royalty and half democracy, that nobody knows whether to genuflect or spit." Jimmy Breslin