A Sneak Peek at the 151st Kentucky Derby Menu

"One of North America’s largest single-day sporting events requires year-long menu planning to feed roughly 157,000 visitors — more than half in premium spaces — and to serve a base menu for about 60,000 dine-in guests plus some 20 additional, higher-end menus. “This year we took a really good look at the seasonality of things,” Robert Lopez, senior executive chef for Levy, tells Food & Wine, and the menu reflects that regional, spring-forward focus: a pair of salads (the Bluegrass Fields salad with Kentucky bibb lettuce topped with seasonal berries, toasted almonds, a raspberry, and poppyseed vinaigrette; and a grilled corn and tomato salad with baby arugula, cherry tomatoes, grilled corn and a creamy pimento cheese dressing), three sides (duck fat roasted fingerling potatoes with crispy rosemary, brown butter farro, roasted root vegetables) and three entrees (pan-roasted chicken breast with local Vidalia onions, a slow-cooked beef tip with Kentucky peppercorn sauce, and an Old Forester butter shrimp with orzo). The scale is specific and staggering — “That’s just for one salad,” Braxton Cubero, the produce procurement expert at Piazza Produce, tells Food & Wine, referring to the 5,100 heads of lettuce allocated for the Bluegrass Fields salad — the event will bring in 6,000 pounds of spring mix and serve a total of 25,000 pounds of lettuce; chefs will source 3,000 pounds of shrimp and require 3,120 pounds of brussels sprouts for the lemon honey harvest brussels sprouts side. Menu execution is equally layered: “This is not just burgers and hot dogs,” Lopez says — more than 100 chefs from around the country and nearly two dozen local farmers and producers are enlisted to deliver “fine dining at a mass level,” and the team “stress-test[s] [dishes] to make sure they don’t only last 30 or 45 minutes”: “We try to break these dishes,” Lopez says. “We stress-test them to make sure they don’t only last 30 or 45 minutes.” Drinks center on the Mint Julep, with wine from Jackson Family Wines and cocktails from Woodford Reserve offering subtle mint-and-bourbon nuances, while premium spaces layer in surprises — from live cooking by James Beard Award-winning chefs to oysters, wagyu prime rib, bourbon cherry brisket burnt ends and black truffles — because “We keep mystery behind it,” Lopez says about providing new elements each year. Charcuterie and cheese play a large role (Indianapolis’ Smoking Goose Meatery and multiple Capriole Goat Cheese varieties, including the popular aged Old Kentucky Tomme, are heavily used), and dessert choices are designed for practical glamour and social sharing: tens of thousands of Kentucky whoopie pies, mini bourbon cakes, bourbon balls, and the traditional jockey silks cookies (with an upgraded cookie style this year). Operationally, chefs begin arriving around 2 a.m. for a day that flips the menu at least three times before the nearly 7 p.m. running of the Derby, and presentation is purposeful — handheld desserts and photogenic items are chosen so guests “want to get that one item, and go show the world. We are looking to make memories,” Lopez says." - Tim Newcomb