Culinary maestro Wolfgang Puck has orchestrated a lavish feast of over 80 dishes for Hollywood’s elite at Sunday’s Governors Ball, the exclusive after-party following the Academy Awards ceremony.
Puck and his dedicated team, marking their 32nd year at the helm of the official post-Oscars celebration’s culinary offerings, curated a menu designed to tantalise the palates of 1,600 people with tastes from across the globe.
Among the innovative additions were a live izakaya station, offering Japanese-style pub fare, and an Italian gelato machine serving freshly churned ice cream.
These complemented perennial favourites that consistently grace the menu.
“Comfort food is always the people’s favourite food, like our chicken pot pie, smoked salmon pizza, our macaroni and cheese or the mini Wagyu burgers,” Puck revealed at a preview event earlier in the week.
He admitted that attempts at excessive innovation didn’t always yield results.
“I did some parties saying, ‘I’m tired of making the pizzas,’ and they ate our stuff and they said, ‘Wolfgang, where’s your pizza station?'”
The glamorous guests, Puck noted, are often famished by the time they arrive at the glittering post-Oscars event.
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“It’s all about the quality of the ingredients and the quality of the dishes,” he explained. “We have to cook for 1,500 people. We keep it simple. We don’t need 10 sauces with it.”
Assembling the monumental banquet requires a formidable team: 75 savoury chefs, 45 pastry chefs, and 325 front-of-house staff and managers.
They are tasked with preparing some 600 home-made pizzas, 3,000 artichoke agnolotti, and 2,000 mini chocolate Oscars.
Puck estimates the kitchen will utilise approximately 200 pounds (91 kg) of dry-aged ribeye, 300 pounds (136 kg) of house-smoked salmon, 30 pounds (14 kg) of Kaluga caviar, 500 pounds (227 kg) of wild mushrooms, 200 pounds (91 kg) of Nishiki rice, and 400 pounds (181 kg) of cheeses.
A lavish touch includes two gallons of 24-carat liquid gold, destined for a chocolate Oscar spraying station.
