Event Food & Drinks

The Corcoran Gallery of Art's annual spring fund-raiser Artini is all about creative cocktails. Held at the Washington Museum on March 22 this year, the event featured a fancy pairing from local restaurant Bandolero: gold-leaf caviar with a gin cocktail of ginger beer, blood orange liqueur, and absinthe.

At the 575-guest gathering at New York's Pranna on April 2, chef Grant Achatz served up a culinary spectacle. He placed pieces of Wagyu short ribs on cinammon sticks, then lit the sticks on fire for a fragrant touch.

A tequila bar made of ice chilled shots at the Discovery U.S. Hispanic station.

On March 27, Gc Watches hosted its "Moments of Smart Luxury" event at Malaparte in the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto. The event, part of the company's global "Smart Luxury" campaign, was produced by Candice & Alison. It featured an elaborate dessert display from cake artist Alexandria Pellegrino of Cake Opera. Pellegrino was one of the evening's featured "rising stars" whose work embodies smart luxury, and her decadent display offered chocolate cupcakes, toasted almond meringues, and ganache butter cookies.

Marcy Blum Associates built a bakery-style display case to offer guests breakfast-to-go treats from New York bakeries at the end of a wedding reception.

Candies filled tabletops in a Food Network lounge-dining section. (Other tables had lazy Susans for easy dessert sharing.)

At the doughnut station, guests could top freshly baked plain doughnuts with white or milk chocolate sauce, powdered sugar, chopped nuts, or colored sprinkles.

Guests at the Lacoste Live pool party during Coachella in 2012 could cool off with snow cones at a station provided by sponsor Fiji Water.

At the 2012 Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Colorado, presenting sponsor Belvedere offered refreshing beverages made with the brand's Lemon Tea vodka, including the Lemon Tea Classic Punch, a drink that featured sherbet, black tea, and a mint sprig garnish.

TEDActive guests scooped up logo water bottles upon their arrival that served as giveaways, as well as a way to stay hydrated without the use of disposable plastic bottles. Hydration stations allowed guests to fill up easily and as often as they liked.

At the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's Butterfly Ball in Chicago on May 3, the gala had a farm-like atmosphere. Playing off the event's "Savour Nature" theme, Event Creative brought in vegetable-centric decor. Tables were decked with miniature gardens potted with tomatoes, colorful peppers, asparagus, and kale; around the centerpieces, fairy lights in miniature Mason jars added to the elegant yard-party vibe.

From Serena Bass for Special Attention Caterers in New York, the updated take on sliders contains grilled sirloin meatball skewered with romaine hearts, tomato, cheddar cheese, bacon crisp, brioche crouton, and chipotle mayo.

Park Hyatt Washington recently launched several interactive culinary breaks in its meeting space, the Gallery, including a tutorial on fine tea from tea sommelier Robert Rex-Waller. Event planners choose three varieties for guests to sample while they also learn about the art and principles of each tea and why they were chosen. The hotel's tea cellar includes more than 50 rare and vintage teas.

Belgian surrealist René Magritte was the focus of a major Art Institute of Chicago exhibition this year as well as the inspiration behind the decor and food of the museum's Woman's Board and Board of Trustees gala on June 20. Matching HMR Designs' visuals for the event, the institute's in-house caterer Bon Appetit Catering provided whimsical offerings. That included a first course of king crab, lobster tail, cauliflower, baby zucchini, squash blossom, sweet corn, and lobster essence, which referenced the famous Magritte quotation "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" (or, "This is not a pipe.")

In 2010, food artist Jennifer Rubell created a one-night-only exhibition called "Icons" for the Brooklyn Museum. The food-focused exhibit was designed to be interactive and serve as the meal for the art institution's annual Brooklyn Ball. Among the pieces Rubell created were lifesize cheese heads that hung from the ceiling, with heat guns slowly melting the sculptures onto a bed of crackers below. The inspiration? Artist Bruce Nauman, whose work includes sculptures of heads.

As part of its involvement with Art Basel Hong Kong, the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong's executive chef Uwe Opocensky created a series of dishes inspired by iconic works of art. That included the Lily Pond—Alaskan king crab, scallop, dashi, and frozen grapefruit—designed as an ode to French impressionist Claude Monet's "Water Lilies."

To build buzz for its opening, New York's Sanctuary Hotel hosted three dinners in its unfinished lobby dubbed the "Pop Art Pop Up" in March 2011. Pop art was the overriding theme of the concept and as such teenage chef Greg Grossman paid homage to the works of Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Keith Haring, and others through the shapes and colors of his dishes. One plate was inspired by Damien Hirst's spot paintings and consisted of scallop, potato, apple, tamarind, and Thai basil.

The Adler Planetarium's Celestial Ball on September 13 had a "Starry Night" theme taken from Vincent van Gogh's famous piece. As such, the dessert by Food for Thought was inspired by the Dutch artist and the swirling patterns in the painting.

Performance art organization Performa is known for its quirky events that put art at the forefront of the experience. In 2012, the nonprofit's fall gala was inspired by Relâche, Francis Picabia and Erik Satie's surrealist ballet of 1924. In keeping with that, the menu from Bite Food played off the surrealist works of Salvador Dali and René Magritte and included a dinner that started with whole lady apples—a nod to Magritte's iconic self portrait, "The Son of Man."

Jennifer Rubell's exhibition-cum-event catering for the 2010 Brooklyn Ball also included unmarked paint tubes filled with dips like orange-chipotle mayonnaise, which guests could spread on potato chips. The piece was a nod to artist Paul McCarthy's "Painter" piece.

In December 2012, the Andy Warhol Museum and KIWI Arts Group launched the print portfolio "William John Kennedy: The Warhol Museum Edition," a limited-edition box set of five signed and numbered photographs of Andy Warhol. At the launch party, which took place during Art Basel Miami Beach, a chocolate sculpture of the famed artist served as decor as well as the catering.

For the V.I.P. showing for the Pop Austin International Art Show on October 17, downtown restaurant Frank created a menu of hors d'oeuvres that referenced art and artists, including Andy Warhol and Banksy. The passed bites were served on trays decorated with cards to help guests identify the inspiration behind the dish. For instance, Robert Indiana's "Eat-Die" diptych was a pretzel cracker with peanut butter, banana, antelope, bacon relish, and marshmallow crema.

The cocktail at the Art Institute of Chicago's Magritte-inspired gala was dubbed the "Magritte-Ahh," a concoction made with tequila, agave, and lime-kaffir salt, and topped with cotton candy.

The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong's art-inspired dishes also include one inspired by Vincent van Gogh—his sunflower still lifes and the infamous tale of when the Dutch painter cut off his own ear—that includes foie gras, chicken, and, of course, sunflowers.

Jennifer Rubell's art-meets-food menu for Performa's 2009 benefit in New York included seven chocolate versions of Jeff Koons's "Rabbit" sculpture made by chocolatier Jacques Torres. Guests were given hammers and invited to smash the edible work into pieces that they could then eat.

At the 2010 Brooklyn Ball, eight blank canvases fitted with spigots, dubbed “drinking paintings,” invited guests to pour their own cocktails and wine. The splashes made by the liquid were a subtle reference to Jackson Pollock's drip painting style.

Chef Greg Grossman's menu for the Sanctuary Hotel's 2011 "Pop Art Pop Up" included beef, lamb, salmon, and bass plated atop different colored sauces—in imitation of Andy Warhol's monoprint style.

During Art Basel Miami Beach last year, Heineken and Saveur hosted a dinner to honor Alexander Mijares (pictured) and celebrate the work he created for the beer brand. Courses at the private, 25-person event were designed after the Miami-based artist's pieces.

The Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong's art-focused menu is not only served at banquet events, but also at its Mandarin Grill & Bar restaurant and intimate eatery the Krug Room. Dubbed "Paint," the dish inspired by Jackson Pollock's abstract paintings sees guests top a plate of beef calotte with different colored sauces in pipettes. Those include the truffle (black), pepper (red), spinach (green), and potato mash (white).

Takashi Murakami's style is hard to render in food—the Japanese contemporary artist is known for his intense, cartoon-like pieces that mix bright colors, pop culture, and recurring motifs. But Greg Grossman' effort for the Sanctuary Hotel's pop-up dinner series, included the chef's take on Murakami's "Flower of Joy" icon that used fennel, yuzu, mango, white chocolate, and strawberry.

Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain" inspired the champagne fountains at the 2010 Brooklyn Ball.

As a reference to Magritte's pipe painting, the Art Institute of Chicago's Woman's Board and Board of Trustees gala put trays of edible licorice pipes on the bar during the cocktail reception.

Miniature bottles of Round Pond Estate’s olive oil and vinegars, $9 each, allow guests to take home a taste of Napa Valley. The 50-milliliter vessels contain artisanal flavors like Meyer lemon olive oil and Cabernet-Merlot vinegar. Items can be shipped throughout the United States and Canada.