Inside the Kitchen That Feeds Hollywood on Oscars Night

For 32 years, Wolfgang Puck and his team of more than 400 employees have catered to the whims and tastes of the film elite.

Wolfgang Puck and his team spend months preparing to cater the Governors Ball, the official Oscars after-party.Credit…

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By Priya Krishna, Photographs by Francesca Forquet

Priya Krishna spent two days reporting from Wolfgang Puck’s catering kitchen in Los Angeles.

March 13, 2026

After several hours of red carpets, photographs and speeches, there is one feeling that unites most Academy Awards attendees as they leave the ceremony: hunger.

“I see it in everyone’s face,” said MaryJane Partlow, the executive vice president of awards production and special events for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. “They are like, ‘Oh my gosh, can you just help me find some food?’”

And if they’re one of the 1,600 people invited to the Governors Ball, the academy’s official Oscars after-party, they’re in luck.

Two bite size offerings are visible: Eggplant over crispy rice and beet pave.

A person arranges small plates of steak and fries with forks on a tray.

Steak frites has always been one of the more popular dishes at the party, but Mr. Puck’s team must also cater to the tastes of vegetarian and vegan guests, as with these eggplant- and beet-based small bites at left.

Inside the soaring, amber-hued Dolby Ballroom — just one short staircase from the ceremony in the Dolby Theater — a luxurious larder awaits nominees, academy members and other Hollywood bigwigs: Truffled chicken potpie, its golden pastry emblazoned with the Oscars logo. Butter-soft sashimi sliced from fish that were swimming in the Pacific Ocean the day before. Cannoli filled with silken potatoes and caviar. Spun-to-order gelato served in still-warm waffle cones. And, of course, the signature Oscar-shaped chocolates statues, which receive a gold spray tan on site. All of it overseen by the famed chef Wolfgang Puck, who has catered the party since 1994.

Recipes: Spicy Tuna Tartare in Sesame Miso Cones | Wolfgang Puck’s Chicken Potpie | Chocolate Truffle Cakes

But Mr. Puck usually isn’t the one tweezing edible gold atop miniature s’mores, trimming slabs of smoked salmon into Oscar statue-shaped slices or microplaning pounds of Parmesan for a ricotta mousse. He has a team of 445 people working the event, and they’ve spent the last week preparing for their most high-stakes party of the year.