Francis Ford Coppola inspired the menu at Hollywood & Vine dining event

By Peter Covino
Entertainment Editor
You may not be able to dine with Academy Award-winning director Francis Ford Coppola but you can sample some of his finest wines at the Hollywood & Vine Dinner at the Rosen Centre.
The special Friday, May 28, event features an inspired menu and fine California wines to go with it.
It is part of the Rosen Centre’s Vine & Dine series of themed dining events.
This is the third Vine & Dine event at the Everglades Restaurant and the focus this time is a menu inspired by the Governor’s Ball dinner menus from each of the years that Coppola and his daughter, Sofia, have won Academy Awards.
The Rosen Centre, in cooperation with Coppola’s staff, performed extensive research to locate the exact menus from Governor’s Balls dating as far back as 1970 in order to recreate the excitement and luxury of Oscar night for Hollywood & Vine guests.
The evening includes a red carpet reception, a five-course dinner with wine pairings, stories about the Francis Ford Coppola family and their wines shared by a Coppola winery representative, as well as Hollywood trivia and fun prizes, including movies and wine gifts, plus a few surprises.
The star-studded evening begins at 7 p.m. with a red carpet reception featuring Sofia Blanc de Blanc Sparkling Wine and a surprise twist on a classic movie snack. The "Premiere” course features melon carpaccio and prosciutto croutons with goat cheese, baby field greens and fig balsamic vinaigrette, a dish inspired by the traditional “Melon & Prosciutto” served at the 1970 Governor’s Ball dinner, the year that Francis Ford Coppola won an Academy Award for Best Writing-Screenplay for the film “Patton.”
The “Second Act” will feature cedar smoked salmon with a potato crisp Oscar, which is inspired by the 2003 Governor’s Ball Menu, when Sofia Coppola won an Academy Award for Best Writing Original Screenplay for "Lost in Translation."
An “Intermission” of grapefruit and Campari sorbetto precedes the “Feature Presentation,” a Classic beef tenderloin Rossini with Madeira Sauce, served with truffle macaroni and cheese. This dish was inspired by the entrée at the 1972 Governor’s Ball, the year that Francis Ford Coppola won an Academy Award for Best Writing-Screenplay for the film classic “The Godfather.”
Finally, the “Closing Credits” lend a sweet ending to the glitz and glamour of the night. The chocolate mousse” from the 1974 Governor’s Ball, the year that Francis Ford Coppola won three Oscars for The Godfather II, serves as the inspiration for a melt-in-your-mouth gold dusted chocolate Oscar that’s almost too pretty to eat-almost.
Although Francis Ford Coppola is best known as an Academy Award winning writer, director and producer, winemaking has been a Coppola family tradition for many generations. Coppola and his wife, Eleanor, began their own winemaking tradition 30 years ago when they searched Napa for a “small cottage” to purchase so they could make “a little”homemade wine. They ended up buying and restoring the Niebaum Mansion on the famous Inglenook Estate and building a new winery to give a home to their first brands, the Diamond Collection and Rosso & Bianco.
Today, the Francis Ford Coppola Winery boasts nine brands spanning an assortment of award-winning wines including the 2007 Francis Coppola Reserve Chardonnay and the 2007 Votre Sante Pinot Noir, which both won gold at the 2009 Sonoma County Harvest Fair competition. The Francis Ford Coppola Winery is located just outside Napa Valley in Geyserville, Calif.  For more information, visit www.francis
coppolawinery.com.
Cost of the Vine and Dine dinner is $65 per person, plus tax and gratuity, and includes complimentary valet parking. For more information, visit www.evergladesrestaurant.com or www.rosencentre.com.