The excitement was palpable at Beverly Hills’ Hilton Hotel as the menu for the 72nd Golden Globes ceremony was unveiled. Press jockeyed for position for a glimpse of the exclusive items that will grace the tables of attending guests. On display were the dishes concocted for executive chef Troy N. Thompson and the aroma wafting through the air was positively mouth-watering This year chef Thompson prepared his recipes with an eye to cutting calories while maintaining taste. Guests will start by savoring a scrumptious julienne of apple, celery and grapes in an emulsion of whipped egg white and lemon juice – rather than the traditional mayonnaise – settled on a bed of romaine lettuce, topped with a crouton, drizzled with
walnut oil. One of the challenges is settling on a menu that everyone is happy with and then making sure that the ingredients are still at their peak a few months later when we have to produce the dinner. This year the heads of lettuce are smaller – but the taste is intense. The three-course meal was inspired by the abundance of fresh produce that grows on farms in California. The entrée is a duo of onion-marinated filet Mignon and slow-baked arctic chard with a potato croquette and heirloom cherries, a tomato fondue and black Tuscan kale. One of the concerns is accommodating food preferences and allergies. Staff must be able to accommodate gluten-free requests, and vegans at a moment’s notice. If someone only wants fish they can leave the filet and still present a palette pleasing experience. If anyone has room after that feast, dessert follows with a trio of flavor. Cassis lemon cheesecake, chocolate alliance salted caramel and hazelnut dacquoise form little turrets of taste-bud seduction. Linked by a bolt of pure chocolate sauce and a slender finger of white chocolate, fruit reductions of intense mango, raspberry and lemon punctuate the ensemble; one of the turrets balances a ball of gold. The visual is sublime. For those interested in creating the fruit sauce at home, Thomas Henzi, The Hilton’s Pastry Chef, suggests cutting the fruit, adding 10% sugar and setting the blender to puree. He then slow cooks it to a reduction of explosive flavor, while cautioning that if you try it at home, to make sure it doesn’t overcook – as with anything that tastes this good, the process is delicate and can easily go wrong. Intense too, is orchestrating service to the almost 1,300 A-listers in the ballroom during the live show. We have over 150 serving staff, more than 700 lbs. of beef tenderloins that have to be turned into beef cylinders, more than 400 lbs. of fish, 1,000 heads of Romaine, 10,000 silverware and plate settings, 600 full-sized bottles of wine and 400 Moet & Chandon magnums, not to mention 1,500 Champagne Mini’s specially adapted to convert the bottle into a flute. Finally a special cocktail has been created for the 72nd Golden Globe Awards by Ingrid Bergman’s granddaughter, Elettra Wiedermann, whose Mom, is Golden Globe nominee, Isabella Rosellini. The drink is a marvelous blend of clementines and Moet Imperial Rose. To complement the food, a visual feast has been created by Mark Held’s Mark’s Garden, using a fusion of six varieties of roses, miniature orchids, and hydrangea accented with Lisianthus. “Normally we go with something more serious”, Held said, “but this year
they wanted something playful as is befitting the best party of the year, that is the
Golden Globes”. Margaret Gardiner To check out the menu CLICK HERE!