How to Eat and Drink Like You've Just Won an Emmy

Anyone pretty much the world over can turn on their television on Sunday September 20th and watch the 61st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. And even though Los Angeles is a company town, not everyone has a ticket to the show, which means once the show is over, only those on the guest list will get to head over to the Governor's Ball. The Emmy folks (that's the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, to be precise) have been busy planning this massive affair, and gave members of the media a sneak peak at the design and food and drink that will be enjoyed by the ball's attendees come Emmy night in L.A.

The theme is Xanadu, but there's nary a roller skate in sight. They mean to harken back to the og Xanadu as imagined in 1798 in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Kubla Khan." That means the 3,500 guests invited to the biggest sit-down dinner held in the country will see the Los Angeles Convention Center transformed into a Sultan's palace infused with, as one Emmy Ball Committee member said, "a riot of color"--Cerulean, Royal Plum, Zanzibar, Cerise, and Lime, specifically. Staggering floral arrangements by LA Premier will top each table and enhance the room. Food and drink will abound, and, thanks to the sample plates we were given by the Joachim Splichal and the Patina Group and the Grey Goose Emmy signature martini we sipped, will definitely taste delicious. Your invitation to the Governor's Ball may have been as "lost in the mail" as ours here at LAist, but we can give you this peek, and the drink recipe, so if you're hosting an Emmy soiree you can drink along with your favorite nominees and winners.

To duplicate the cuisine of Splichal at home is a daunting task, but you can strive to serve an appetizer that pays homage to the Flavors from the Farmers Market and showcases the season's best produce, like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons and more. For the entree it's filet mignon, polenta ravioli, a whole roasted zucchini blossom, bloomsdale spinach and pinot noir sauce. Dessert uses sponsor chocolate from Dove, infused with raspberry cream, paired with a yuzu gelee, mint lollipop and a macaroon (or you can buy some Dove and Fling chocolates to match the box each guest receives that night).

But what you'll really want to do is make the cocktail:

The EMMY
1 1/2 oz Grey Goose L'Orange
1/2 oz Licor 43
1 1/2 oz fresh orange juice with pulp
Splash of grenadine

Pour all ingredients into shaker. Shake vigorously and strain into martini glass. Garnish wih three green seedless grapes on a skewer.

Cheers to the Emmys, the Governor's Ball, and to your own celebration of the best in television!