Food & Drink Ideas For Your Oscars Party
Roll out the red carpet for these movie-inspired pairings. Featuring Anora’s Cosmopolitan, Conclave’s tortellini, The Substance's roast chicken, and much more...
The 97th Academy Awards are on in just under two weeks! I locked in the menu for my annual Oscars dinner party, in which I will serve ten courses linked with each of the ten Best Picture nominees, wine and cocktail pairings included. It’s the ultimate confluence of my main interests: movies, cooking, and drinking, and I’m very excited to execute after weeks of planning. Should be a really good one, and I’ll have a rundown of the meal next week.
This is the recap of last year’s, which was probably the best it’ll ever be:
Here’s the menu:
(Also I know the past couple months of this newsletter have been pretty Oscars-centric, so I’m sorry if that annoys you, but it’s been the main thing on my mind. Will have to really pivot to something new come March…)
For the night of the actual Oscars, I’m taking it easy and making ONE snack and ONE dessert, and will order pizza because in past years I made a whole fleet of snacks and then was too tired to engage with the big show. But I have a lot of ideas, many of which will necessarily go unrealized by me, but maybe you will be inspired? Whether you’re hosting a big viewing party or just chilling on the couch, here’s a handful (a lot) of suggestions for some themed food and drink pairings, organized by film1. A handful of these might have come from various Reddit threads or tweets or chatting with friends, but most are Andrew originals.
Best Picture Nominees
A Complete Unknown
Bob Dylan isn’t exactly known for being a gourmand, and in this biopic we see him eat a lot of Chinese takeout. So some beef and broccoli or fried rice, whether homemade or delivered to you, would be a proper dinner au Dylan. Or lean into the New York of it all with a slice of pizza. (So, yes, you can order pizza and consider that an Oscars themed dinner!) For something snackier, at one point in the film Bob tries to claim he ran away to join the circus, so you could make (or buy) honey roasted peanuts.
For drinks, coffee and cigarettes is an overriding theme. I’m playing around with a Revolver riff that does a split base of bourbon and peated scotch along with coffee liqueur.
Here are some punny drink names that you can try:
French 75 Revisited
Don’t Drink Ice It’s All Right
Blowin’ in the Gin
The Limes They Are A-Changin’
Like a Whiskey Stone
And for wine, Maria Banson, in her excellent food & wine newsletter Brunello Bombshell, suggests a classic French red like a Beaujolais.
Anora
Frozen pelmeni (aka Russian dumplings) is an obvious choice here, and adding caviar speaks to the high-low blend. I love Osetra caviar, but a more cost-effective option is ikura. The red color of the salmon roe matches nicely with the red tinsel in Ani’s hair.
I’ll be serving a cocktail that riffs on a Cosmo. I’m not a fan of the drink at all, but the beet-infused vodka grounds the flavors very nicely. Here’s the spec:
Cocktail Recipe: Ani’s Cosmo
The specs for this drink, and every cocktail I served at my Oscars dinner party, can be found below:
The Brutalist
I’m making a crême brulée for my dinner party, as the classic custard dessert looks kinda brutalist, especially if you pour it into a square ramekin. Toasting the sugar on top is sorta like forging steel, and of course there’s the crême brutalist pun of it all. If you have a fine dining toolkit this would be a great place to experiment.
The alcohol consumed throughout the movie suits the mid-century period: snifters of brandy after dinner, Harrison Van Buren’s vast collection of vintage madeira. You could try riffing on a Blood and Sand and turn it into a “Blood and Steel.”
Conclave
On the first day of the titular conclave, the nuns prepare a meal of tortellini en brodo. Making this from scratch is a true project, involving fresh pasta, grinding up a mixture of pork, and making a rich broth of chicken and beef. I’m taking that all on this week, but if you just want to get the frozen stuff from Trader Joe’s, I won’t tell the Italians. But at least make the broth from scratch!
It would be fun/blasphemous to serve the tortellini with communion wafers or hot cross buns.
And for wine? While it doesn’t pair particularly well with the pasta, you gotta crack open a bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It’s right there in the name!
Dune: Part Two
Your party guests will probably not want to eat anything resembling a sandworm, so maybe look to the Middle Eastern influences of Dune for tastier inspiration. I’ll be doing a braised lamb shoulder, shredded and served with a reduced jus and spiced rice. But you could probably slot in your favorite Middle Eastern dish here. Hummus is a no-brainer. Freshly made really is better, whether it be by your hand or purchased from an Arab grocer like Sahadi’s.
Drinks wise, I’m gonna make this cinnamon-sage whiskey sour from former New York bar Nitecap (RIP) called “The Mystical One.” (I add an egg white for the foam.) A fitting name, but perhaps an even better idea is to create a “Water of Life” cocktail that involves blue curaçao, or, if you truly want to make the cocktail life-threatening, UV Blue vodka.
Emilia Pérez
My original idea for the dinner party was a French tacos al pastor. For those not in the know, a “tacos” in France (yes, the “s” is used in the singular form) has no origins in Mexican cuisine. It was created by Lebanese immigrants: a flour tortilla is stuffed with meat, cheese, fries, and the sauce of your choice, then grilled on a flat top. It’s not at all a taco, but not too far from a California burrito, dorado style — which is the best kind of burrito. Anyways, you’d think this was a Mexican dish but it’s really French. Just like Emilia Pérez.
As tasty as that would be, I don’t have the setup to do this efficiently (and I’d have to make TINY “tacos” for a ten course menu). Another idea was a Croque Señora, which would be a croque madame but with jamón serrano and the queso of your choice. While it didn’t fit into my dinner menu, it might work with yours!
I’ve settled on making a cheese and charcuterie board: French, Spanish, and Mexican cheeses, Spanish chorizo, cornichons, and lime-chile spiced dried mangoes. (Karla Sofía Gascón, the star of this film, is Spanish in origin.)
Drinkwise, you can’t go wrong with a classic margarita (I personally prefer Tommy’s), and a couple of my friends came up with a French 75 riff that incorporates Mexican and Spanish flavors.
Cocktail Recipe: Mexican 75
The specs for this cocktail can be found on this post:
I'm Still Here
Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres) talks about making a soufflé for her husband when he returns from a chat with the secret police. He never returns, and the soufflé never gets made. That would be a solid food pairing for I’m Still Here. It’s unclear whether the soufflé is savory or sweet, so go with your preference here.
Is it too stereotypical to partner this film with a caipirinha? When I first moved to New York, I was in my early twenties and got immersed in the world of the Thursday post-work happy hour. This was before I became the alcohol snob that I am today, and back then the caipirinha was my drink of choice until throwing up in the office bathroom the morning after.
Nickel Boys
It was a struggle to think of food and drinks for Nickel Boys that wouldn’t be problematic. But a tribute to the Florida setting can be made with an orange granita or sorbet, or cook some alligator if you’re feeling adventurous. You can lean into a drinking pun with Pickle Boys (it’s just a pickleback).
The Substance
This film could power an entire dinner menu. You could read the body horror nominee as an allegory for eating disorders, and there is a lot of memorable eating throughout this wicked piece of body horror. The opening credits play over a shot of fried eggs (notably with double yolks), which you could serve on avocado toast. (I think that’s still popular in Los Angeles.)
Dennis Quaid disgustingly tears into head-on prawns, which look like they come with a weirdly orange aioli.
Later on, we see Demi Moore go to town on a roast chicken (spatchcock and dry brine that bird!), and she cooks a bunch of recipes from her French cookbook:
L’Aubrac Aligot (cheese blended into mashed potatoes)
Christmas turkey stuffed with foie gras
Blood sausage with apples
If you don’t have time to make a fatty French feast, just drink some Soylent. Or, in keeping with the film’s themes of Hollywood obsession with unrealistic beauty standards, take an Ozempic and eat nothing.
And if your Oscars party doesn’t have a Substance shooter, you’re doing it wrong! I’m playing around with a mix of chartreuse, lime juice, and Midori. Try a 4:1:1 ratio and go from there.
Wicked
There’s a zillion Wicked themed food and drink ideas that you can find elsewhere on the internet. I think a pink and green cake would be cool.
Some of the Other Nominees
These films weren’t deemed Best Picture-worthy by the Academy, but these food & drink ideas should still be for your consideration.
A Real Pain
Pierogi, pickles, sauerkraut: it’s set in Poland after all!
Or serve some really good bread: “Un Vrai Pain.”
At the New York Film Critics Circle gala, they had a drink on the menu called “A Real Painkiller” that listed Planteray Coconut Rum, Pineapple, Citrus, and Nutmeg. Unsure of the exact specs, as it seems to omit the standard cream of coconut.
Alien: Romulus
The facehugger looks a lot like an octopus or squid. And allegedly just as intelligent.
Better Man
Besides cocaine, Monkey Robbie chomps on sour cream and onion crisps.
Gladiator II
Of the four Roman pasta dishes, my favorite is bucatini all’Amatriciana (you must use guanciale! It really makes a difference!). Would Paul Mescal and Denzel Washington dined on this during the Roman Empire era? No, because tomatoes wouldn’t be introduced to Italy for another 1,500 years. But this pairing would be just as historically accurate as the film.
My favorite Italian wine is the Frappato from COS, which is great served with a light chill. Very crushable but mild so if you’re eating with food go for something with a bit more heart, like a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo.
Magic Candies (Short Film)
A father makes his son beef japchae with bean sprouts, but some fun, colorful candies (which may or may not be psychedelic) would be the more fun linkup with this animated short contender…
Maria
Apparently Maria Callas’s favorite foods were oysters and rare steak. But in the film more direct references are seen to omelettes (which her maid cooks every morning, flipping it with expert precision) and fajitas.
Memoir of a Snail
Is it wrong to cook escargot?
Nosferatu
Blood-red wine, served in a chalice. Or schnapps.
This is a great opportunity to eat beef heart, which has gotten more popular as folks look for cheaper cuts of meat. I’m a fan of the recipe at the end of that article, which marinates the organ in Thai curry paste.
The Apprentice
In “honor” of our President: McDonald’s hamberders or Haitian spaghetti, which I made for my ill-fated election night dinner party.
If you want to call back to the 80’s Manhattan time period, a stiff martini will do the trick. But famously, Trump himself is a teetotaller.
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
I think the name says it all. I haven’t tried making this cocktail, but this maple-fig old-fashioned called the Old Figgy looks good and is easy to put together.
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
This one’s easy: marmalade on toast, swiss cheese, English tea.
Snubbed, But Not Forgotten
These films weren’t nominated at all, which is a shame because it would have made for terrific food/drink pairings: churros for Challengers, jerk chicken for Hard Truths, and a dish of milk for Babygirl.
A few months ago I wrote about the Kerala-style fish curry featured in All We Imagine as Light. I really wanted this to be nominated for Best Picture, not just because it was one of the best but then I could serve this at my dinner party:
Saying Sorry with a Pot of Curry
“Cooking is a love language” is a well-worn trope within Asian-centered stories. I haven’t gotten tired of it yet, at least when it comes to movies: our food is awesome and (sometimes) telegenic. Cooking scenes are an efficient narrative shorthand to convey a character’s care and attention towards a loved one. Think of the mout…
Did I Miss Anything?
If you’ve got any other ideas for food or drink pairings with the Oscar nominees this year, I’d love to hear them!
Doing a big roundup like this is probably bad for SEO but whatever
This was one of the most enjoyable things I've read all week. I aspire to be as thoughtful and creative as you when it comes to mashing up movies and meals. Hope your Oscars party is lit 🎊
Fun ideas. The prawns made me shiver, again.