Mark Held of Mark’s Garden returned as the ball's floral vendor, designing highly stylized sculptures using white flowers like calla lilies, gardenias, ranunculus, phalaenopsis orchids, and succulents. He used about 10,000 blooms in total, flying them in from Holland, South America, and Mexico at the last minute for freshness.Â
Having moved years ago from a seated-dinner format, the ball once again had a menu from chef Wolfgang Puck of more than 50 dishes, including hors d’oeuvres and small-plate passed entrées. Among the many options were sriracha-candied macadamia nuts; braised short rib with cauliflower puree and golden raisin puffed Thai rice; white grape almond gazpacho; rye berry risotto with peas and asparagus; and poke, stone crab, made-to-order sushi, and other raw bar items served atop illuminated ice blocks. Keeping with Puck’s annual offerings, some of the menu items were presented in the shape of Oscar statuettes, such as smoked-salmon Oscars, and 14-karat-gold chocolate Oscars for dessert. Ball chair Jeffrey Kurland, who is a costume designer, designed the staff uniforms; the event had an army of more than 900 event staff.
