From Stew to Nuts, Your Ultimate Tony Party Menu!
Tony night is coming, which means a party is in order! But how exactly to fete Broadway's best this year? When party-planning on a recession budget, it's probably best to leave black-tie to the actual nominees, and theme parties are tres passé and your landlord would never forgive digging a pig-roasting pit in the apartment for that South Pacific luau. But a Tony-inspired dinner menu complete with high-drama cocktails? That's easy for even the most domestically challenged Broadway enthusiast! Check out our infinitely tasty and slightly tongue-in-cheek menu for an immaculate Tony Awards party.
Hors d'oeuvres
As guests arrive to mix and mingle, why not kick things off by passing plates of A Catered Affair canapés? Go appropriately 1950s retro with classics like deviled eggs, pineapple and bacon kebabs, fruit cocktail and cream cheese-filled celery. Your guests will feel like members of the Hurley family in no time. "I came for the party—'I Stayed' for the canapés!"
Amuse-Bouche
A classic French cookery-style tease, an amuse-bouche whets the appetite before the main course. So what better to ready revelers and those Best Featured Actor/Actress nominees for the big awards than Young Frankenfurters-in-a-blanket? Simply wrap mini German or Transylvanian sausages in puff pastry, zap with bolts of lightning and ta-da! It's alive!
More Munchies
Guests can't always wait for the next course to arrive, so try scattering bowls of Boeing-Boeing Airline Nut Mix throughout your venue. Blend New York salted peanuts, Italian pine nuts and German roasted almonds in small bowls and hope the ladies don't fight over them. For extra style points, add those Terra Blue chips airlines like Jet Blue are so fond of. This swinging '60s interlude should be accompanied by the music of Pink Floyd, the Velvet Underground and other classic bands featured in Rock 'n' Roll.
Four words: Little Mermaid sushi rolls. Need we say more?
Main Course
Now that your guests are ready to tuck into something a bit heartier, it's time to dish out steaming bowls of Passing Strange Stew. Just combine meat, potatoes, onions and carrots, and simmer in your mother's overbearing disapproval for four to five years. As this is a family event, you may want to avoid seasoning with any herbs purchased in Amsterdam. Follow up with Xanadu's Greek goddess lamb skewers with tzatziki sauce and August: Osage County green bean casserole. Yum! For pickier eaters, have Momma Rose's Gypsy Chinese takeout extra eggrolls, please on hand as a backup, but beware—you'll just be hungry again in half an hour.
Coffee and Dessert
If you want to make it all the way to the end of the awards, your guests will need a pick-me-up. You can't go wrong with In the Heights bodega café con leche: strong coffee with hot, scalded milk lottery ticket garnish optional. And no party is complete without a dazzling array of sweet treats. We suggest a dessert buffet featuring Cry-Baby's Jailhouse Rock Candy served on vintage license plate trays, The Seafarer Devil's Food Cake and Sunday in the Park with George French Pastries a la Louie. They're sweeter than actually winning a Tony…almost.
Cocktails
Food is all well and good, but a real party is all about the drinks! We suggest a classy Tony cocktail like the Broadway.com Half and Half: fill a champagne flute halfway with sparkling wine, then top with one half Guinness Irish Stout or other dark beer don't stick up your noses—it's delicious. What else represents a season equally mixed with bubbly musicals and dark dramas? For those who prefer sweeter drinks, go for a South Pacific Bali Ha'i-Ball: mango nectar spiked with rum, served in coconut bra and garnished with a shrunken head. And if you find yourself nursing a Tony party hangover Monday morning? Just reach for South Pacific's other signature drink: a fabulous Bloody Mary.