00:01After the Oscars end, more than 1,500 hungry guests head upstairs to eat.
00:07Welcome to Wagyu Alain.
00:09And famed chef Wolfgang Puck is in charge of feeding them all.
00:13Most of the people didn't eat all day. You want to fit in your dress, you know, they make it
00:18as tight as possible.
00:20But this isn't your standard party fare.
00:22Chefs are dishing out Wagyu flown in from Japan, caviar, and pot pies loaded with truffles.
00:30Four grand worth of truffles right there. We spare nothing for this party. This is the party of all parties.
00:36To juggle it all, Wolfgang flew in top chefs from places like Istanbul and London.
00:42Together, they'll whip up 30,000 plates in just a few days.
00:46Once they announced the press director, all hell breaks, everybody starts to shout.
00:51This is Wolfgang's 32nd year catering the Oscars. And he's calm at the helm.
00:57Don't look so serious. It's okay. Monday will come no matter what.
01:01In sports, they have Super Bowl. We have the Oscars.
01:04We have the Oscars.
01:05We went behind the scenes with Wolfgang Puck to see how his team feeds Hollywood's biggest stars after the Oscars.
01:15It's two days before the Academy Awards, and the kitchen at the Dolby Ballroom is in full swing.
01:22We're starting today to make all this wonderful food, but nothing is cooked today. It's just prepared.
01:29That's Chef Eric Klein, the VP of catering and Wolfgang's right-hand man.
01:34He started with me how many years ago?
01:37Over 30 years.
01:38Over 30 years ago. He had three wives, but he has more luck with me than with all the wives,
01:44no?
01:44Well, yeah.
01:47Eric is one of 120 chefs Wolfgang flew in from across his restaurant Empire, which spans seven countries.
01:54I would have never imagined being here where I am today.
01:57When I was a kid, I just dreamt to get out of my stepfather's house and start something.
02:04He and his executive team started planning the 84-item menu roughly three months ago.
02:10I know better than anybody out there what they eat. I'm doing that for 40 years.
02:15This year, for a fact, we have a very, like, last-minute-oriented menu, because there's a lot of Austrian
02:19desserts for Chef Wolfgang.
02:21Those you can't really do, like, a day before. Like, you have to do it, like, a minute of.
02:26And there are a lot of new dishes, like the Wagyu steak frites. Chefs can't drop the fries until the
02:33hour of the party, but they can start butchering steaks.
02:37Right now, I'm going to cream all the fat.
02:39Like American Wagyu New York strips. And this Miyazaki Wagyu shipped in from Japan.
02:45Miyazaki won the big prize in Japan. Like we do dancing with the stars here, they have the championship for
02:52the beef.
02:53So this is the marbling right here.
02:55Chefs can season them now, but they'll wait to sear them until the day of the event.
03:02Some menu items come back year after year, like the Oscars with caviar.
03:07They'll go through nearly 30 pounds of the fish eggs alone, which cost $50 per ounce.
03:14The team has served the truffle chicken pot pie for 25 years.
03:18And Wolf says he'll never take it off the menu.
03:21All hell will break. There would be no more Hollywood.
03:24Like Barbara Streisand, when she had it the first time, and then she gave it to John Travolta and said,
03:29taste this chicken pot pie. They ordered three or four of them.
03:33It takes two days to make the chicken broth for the sauce.
03:37That sauce meets up with the veggies, peas, carrots, and celery in this industrial vat.
03:43Chefs hand pull piles of chicken. That also gets mixed in with the veggies.
03:50Each of the 1,200 ramekins gets the same amount of pot pie mixture.
03:55We put the final touch, which is a special little shaving of truffle.
03:59So that way when you open up the pot pie, it has a little aroma of the truffles inside of
04:05it.
04:06I think about seven hours of sitting in the theater, the red carpet.
04:10And everyone at the end of the show that comes upstairs really looks forward to this.
04:15Those get covered with pastry dough and coated with an egg wash.
04:19Ooh, look at that. You can see the color from the black truffle.
04:23We can serve a thousand of them and they're all gonna be hot,
04:27because it's hermetically sealed with the puff pastry.
04:32Despite the scale of this operation, Wolfgang's team makes everything from scratch.
04:38A lot of catering companies, you know, they buy things and then just warm it up.
04:42We cook exactly the same way as we do at Spago or Cut, any or any of our restaurants.
04:48So everything is cooked to order.
04:49They're hand rolling and filling 3,000 artichoke annulati.
04:54And during prep days, they're also mixing and shaping dough for 600 pizzas.
05:00This flour, water and butter will become 750 tiny wagyu slider buns.
05:06The dough is ready. Now the next step is to divide the dough in 35 grams.
05:13They're also hand measuring and portioning the patties.
05:16Everything needs to be scaled on the correct part to make sure the patties and the buns make only one.
05:23You know, you don't want it too soft because it will be mushy-mushy or we call that.
05:29We have a nice coloration, perfect buns, very round, light, exactly what we're looking for.
05:37To handle all this chaos, Wolfgang relies on his team from around the world.
05:41This is a sample here also, he's in Austria.
05:44So he's grading all the Parmesan cheese right now.
05:46Your hand hasn't cramped up yet?
05:48I've been training.
05:49Yeah.
05:50Like Arnold Schwarzenegger, you know?
05:52Yeah, just grading, just grading.
05:54Sushi chef Hiroyuki Fujino came in from Hawaii.
05:58How long have you guys been working together?
06:00Uh, it's about 29 years now.
06:02Only?
06:03He had hair like that, as much as me.
06:07There's one background that you're missing.
06:10It's mine.
06:11We need a Jamaican chef in here.
06:12Eric, do we have a cooking jacket?
06:16Yes, absolutely.
06:17The young lady wants to start making jerk chicken, like from her native country.
06:22Wolfgang walks around the kitchen, offering tips.
06:25No finance.
06:26No finance.
06:26No finance.
06:27Because when people are allergic, we don't want to send anybody to the hospital.
06:30A hand.
06:31Put a lot of them together.
06:33It's okay.
06:34It doesn't have to be so precise.
06:37If not, you won't finish.
06:39And if anybody tells you anything, tell them that's the way it has to be.
06:43Okay?
06:44And some jokes.
06:45And if you have any problems with the guys, you call me.
06:49Okay?
06:49Of course.
06:50I will straighten them out.
06:51Yes, thank you.
06:52Okay.
06:53At the end of the day, I'm like a coach, I'm like a teacher.
06:59But I have such a great team who actually can execute.
07:03You know, and Phil Jackson, when he was a coach, he never shot a three-pointer because
07:08he knew he had the right guys.
07:10Part of his coaching, always having a spoon at the ready.
07:15Okay, a little more salt.
07:21They say, a chef doesn't eat, a chef always tastes.
07:27After the Oscars, we go on a diet.
07:29I'm starting Monday.
07:34It's the day before Oscars Sunday, and the team's kicking it into high gear.
07:39How we do with the macaroni and cheese?
07:41Don't mess it up again, okay?
07:4340 pounds of fontina cheese and 40 pounds of mozzarella cheese.
07:49And then we make it a little spicy, it will be delicious.
07:5380 pounds of pasta.
07:5480 pounds.
07:55Wow.
07:55I remember when Viola Davis came and she tasted it and said,
07:59oh my God, the best macaroni and cheese ever.
08:02You have more cheese?
08:03Yes.
08:04Okay, let's put more cheese.
08:06They portion out exactly two ounces into each of the 1,500 ramekins.
08:12Over in the butcher room, Chef Fujino slices 100 pounds of ahi tuna flown in from Hawaii.
08:19Big size of uni.
08:21This is going to be our cheers afterwards.
08:23We're going to crack them open.
08:25We'll swoop and take a nice uni for you.
08:28He portions the salmon for sushi and an Oscar-shaped classic.
08:33We smoke our own salmon here and everything.
08:36They pound a cracker Oscar base, top it with smoked salmon and creme fraiche.
08:42That's not the only Oscar shape they're using in the kitchen.
08:46Pastry chefs also fill molds with dark chocolate.
08:50They'll go through two gallons of 24k liquid gold for the coating.
08:55Every star goes home with an Oscar from us.
08:57I don't want anybody to have tears in their eyes and say I lost.
09:00You know, they all are winners for us.
09:02His team pumps out 3,500 mini statues and 25 large ones.
09:08The dessert team handles the most dishes.
09:11They're responsible for the gelato station, which is new this year.
09:15And they're also piping out madeleines, constructing macaron towers, and filling cups with tiramisu.
09:23Now we know the Italians are here, so we're in good shape.
09:26I think it's very, like, army-like as far as, like, being organized.
09:29So you have the generals, the captains, and then we divide, right?
09:33So I think the stress level is managed by the peers of each department.
09:38That stress comes to a head on Oscar Sunday.
09:42Today, they can tackle the foods that have to be served fresh, like sushi rolls and chicken skewers.
09:49It's not a dessert. It's a crab chow mushi, which is a traditional Japanese egg custard.
09:54We're topping it off with crab.
09:55Those mini wagyu patties can finally be fired and added to the buns.
10:00Steaks hit the grills, and racks of chicken pot pies and mac and cheese come out of the oven glistening.
10:08Wolfgang gives his final seal of approval.
10:10I still feel very calm.
10:12I think we're getting everything together, making the final adjustments.
10:16Out in the ballroom, the team begins setting up.
10:19Most dishes are served at stations, like the desserts, complete with freshly churned gelato.
10:26By 4 p.m., the ceremony begins, and a hush passes over the kitchen.
10:32Most of the chefs gather around a TV to watch.
10:35Once they announce the press director, all hell breaks news, everybody starts to shout, but I tell them to stay
10:41quiet.
10:42Everyone takes to their stations.
10:45One chef dollops caviar on the smoked salmon Oscars.
10:49Another shaves truffles.
10:51Everything is plated in a mad rush.
10:54Assembly lines get sauce, and garnish is on at lightning speed.
10:59Even Wolfgang jumps in on the line.
11:03325 front-of-house staff stand ready to whisk the trays away.
11:09Working the pass is Wolfgang's son, Byron.
11:11All right, Snake River Farms beef with chimichurri.
11:14You got it?
11:15Put your thumb on the napkin so they don't fly.
11:18There you go.
11:18I started working at Spago Beverly Hills as a dishwasher, and me coming in so high-minded at 12 years
11:25old, I fell in love and found myself with the same passion as my father.
11:29So I ended up with the best mentor you could possibly ask for.
11:33The first hour, you're like, we gotta make it happen.
11:36Then eventually it slows down a little bit, and then you can step back and be like, okay, this is
11:41going well.
11:42And off we go having the greatest party in the world.
11:46Some celebrities brought the party to the kitchen.
11:50Oscar-winning director Ryan Coogler stopped in to say thank you to Wolf and his team.
11:57We've been waiting for a half hour, chef.
11:59So over time.
12:00Yes?
12:01All right.
12:01Well, I think everybody did such an amazing job.
12:06Cheers to next year.
12:12How many years have you been getting busted?
12:14Well, I think that question you have to ask God, how much time he gonna give me?
12:18There will be no passing of the torch.
12:20I don't think so.
12:21I'll take the torch with me into my grave.
12:24But if anyone here were to pick up that torch, Wolf says it's his son.
12:28He's really amazing with the guests.
12:31He's good in the kitchen.
12:32I'm proud of this legacy that my goal is to continue for another 44 years and beyond.
12:37And I know I will do just that because there is no other thing on this planet that I've been
12:43put here for.
12:44Cheers to the next generation.
12:48Dave?
12:49drinking trip.
12:50Cheers.
12:50Thanks a lot.
12:54Cheers.
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