Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck has prepared a feast of more than 70 dishes for film stars and movie-makers at the Governors Ball, held after the Oscars ceremony.
Puck and his team, in charge of the official Oscars after-party catering for the 32nd time, have put together a menu that offers 1,500 A-listers tastes from around the world.
A live izakaya station, or Japanese-style pub, and an Italian gelato machine whipping up fresh ice cream will be among the novel offerings, along with popular staples that feature year after year.
"Comfort food is always the people's favorite food, like our chicken pot pie, smoked salmon pizza, our macaroni and cheese or the mini Wagyu burgers," Puck said.
Trying to be innovative did not always pay off, he added.
"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 are often famished by the time they arrive at the post-Oscars bash, Puck said.
"It's all about the quality of the ingredients and the quality of the dishes," he said. "We have to cook for 1,500 people. We keep it simple. We don't need 10 sauces with it."
Putting together the banquet requires 75 savoury chefs, 45 pastry chefs and 325 front of house staff and managers, Puck added.
They will be responsible for some 600 home-made pizzas, 3,000 artichoke agnolotti and 2,000 mini chocolate Oscars.
About US$350,000 worth of luxury products are being packaged this year to be gifted to the top acting and directing Oscar nominees - a tradition curated for 24 years by marketer Lash Fary of Distinctive Assets.
Fary, who assembles the unofficial gift bags independently of the Academy, says the goal is simple: make nominees feel celebrated, while giving small and emerging brands a global spotlight.
"This is something we do independently of the Academy with the intention of elevating small businesses, female-founded brands, and minority-owned companies, and also because losing sucks," he said.
One of those small businesses is Rescue Spa, founded by Danuta Mieloch.
For Mieloch, participating in the Oscars gift bag is more than a marketing opportunity. "I think this is one of the most exciting moments," she said. "Coming from Poland 30-something years ago and now being at the Oscars - it means a lot."
Companies pay a fee to include their products, and Rescue Spa is contributing US$450 worth of treatments and goods this year per bag. It's the brand's third time being featured, and Mieloch says the exposure is worth the investment.
"I feel like it positions us in a better place. And it aligns with our philosophy. "To be nominated requires diligence, a lot of work and excellence - and I feel like my products are aligned with that," she added.
The gift haul ranges from inexpensive snacks to a home interior design package that could be anything from a six-figure full home rebuild to a more modest redo of a room because the nominee's kids have gone off to college, Fary said.
This year's gift bag - actually a small suitcase - also includes five vacations, whisking nominees from snow-covered villas in Finland to the beaches of Costa Rica.
While Fary doesn't always hear directly from recipients, the social-media trail tells him all he needs to know.
"Whenever they take a trip and post pictures, or they go in and get the waitlisted Sculpt and Lift facial at Rescue Spa - which one of the nominees already does - that's the best feedback of all," he said. - Reuters
The 98th Oscars will stream live on Disney+ on March 16 at 7am.
