Highlights From Wolfgang Puck's 2024 Oscars Governors Ball Menu
The Oscars love to honor the history and tradition of Hollywood filmmaking, but one of the most revered presences at the Academy Awards year after year isn't a star or director, it's chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck. The Academy Awards are celebrating their 96th year, and for the last 65 of those years the biggest after party of an event known for big after parties has been the Governor's Ball. Catering to thousands of the industry's biggest players, it's an event known not just for its luxury, but also its outstanding array of food choices coordinated by Puck himself. This year marks Puck's 30th year in a row running the food for the event, and to mark that occasion he just shared the new menu on a segment with "Good Morning America."
Puck says "We're going to have some traditional dishes and also some brand-new innovations," on a menu that includes a wide variety of styles and influences, from Puck's take on Peking-style duck to Italian specialties like wild mushroom and black truffle risotto and vegan lasagna. There will also be snacky bites like a honey butter toast with fennel marmalade and whipped crème fraîche. Some of the favorites from previous Governors Balls that are set to return include truffle mac and cheese, fish and chips cones, wood-fired pizza, and, of course, chocolate-covered Oscars.
Wolfgang Puck is creating dozens of dishes for the Oscar's biggest party
It's not just the creativity and quality of Puck's Governor's Ball food that impresses people, it's also the sheer breadth of options. The menu is split between three categories, passed trays, small plates, and desserts, with each category containing dozens of items, including vegetarian and vegan bites, and 37 desserts. Some additional savory highlights include wagyu burgers, Kung Pao cauliflower stuffed in coconut charcoal bao, and "Bougie" tater tots with crème fraîche and caviar. The desserts sound just as over-the-top and exciting, with luxury dulce de leche and hazelnut Oreos, a yuzu and coconut pillow cake, and Grand Marnier-infused chocolate cigars.
Puck himself is almost as much of an icon in Los Angeles as the stars he'll be serving. He became a breakout star of the California food scene — and one of the first celebrity chefs — after opening his still-revered Italian restaurant Spago in West Hollywood in 1982. It was there that he pioneered dishes that made him famous, like smoked salmon pizza, and won a James Beard Award for Restaurant of the Year in 1994. Some of his restaurant favorites have even moved into different forms for his Oscar parties, including a smoked salmon dish shaped like an Oscar statuette, and a buffet themed on his other beloved local restaurant, Chinois On Main in Santa Monica. It's a fitting menu for a true legend in the city of angels.