Let Them Eat Cake

THE PARTY To launch the New Children’s Museum’s fourth interactive exhibition, Feast: The Art of Playing With Your Food, the downtown museum conjured the ultimate in bygone luxury with a lavish, Versailles-themed gala. THE SCENE Months in the planning, NCM was entirely transformed. Glittering chandeliers hung from the ceiling and brocaded fabrics draped the stage, where culinary theater ensued. In a salute to the court of the Sun King, chefs introduced course after course of their extravagant dishes. Gourmet delights like uni custard topped with trout roe and gold leaf, pheasant with truffles, and slow-cooked pork tenderloin with foie gras were then carried on elegant litters through the crowds. In keeping with the theme, guests sported feathers and corsets, bejeweled their beauty marks and went for over-the-top elegance befitting the era of Marie Antoinette. THE HIGHLIGHTS Inside, Grammy-nominated jazz artist Sacha Boutros performed. Outside, guests posed on the museum’s new Paint Farm structure, a vintage tractor that will be slowly covered in layers upon layers of paint by budding Picassos. Photography by Tim Hardy, shotbyhardy.com