Make this year’s Super Bowl party ‘superbad’

Gary Carnivele
Special to FineLife Home
Photos by Ryan Lely

Millions of viewers will be glued to their televisions to witness the gridiron battle between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants during Super Bowl XLII in Phoenix, Ariz., on Sunday, Feb.3. Use this uniquely American event to gather together your fanatical sports fan friends – and maybe even the people in their lives who tolerate them – for a raucous Super Bowl party. It’s also a great way to justify the recent purchase of that expensive big screen television.
This is one event that doesn’t require very formal invitations. You already know who will become a complete couch potato for duration of the Super Bowl. A simple phone call or e-mail should suffice. Do press for an RSVP and the number in their party from all invited guests by a date that provides you with enough time to purchase the right amount of food and beverages. Make certain revelers arrive before kick-off so that you don’t need to play greeting host during the game.
The menu should include easy to prepare and serve grazing-type food. Slow cookers are a man’s second-best friend. Cooked entrees, like chili, meatballs, chicken wings and warm dips, can be kept warm throughout the game in these marvels when on the low setting and everyone can help himself or herself. One of my favorite crock pot recipes is a combination of cooked chorizo, a couple of cans of RoTel, some black beans and a brick of Velveeta cheese. My other sinful fave is bourbon cocktail weenies. Mix as many cocktail weenies that will fit with equal parts bourbon, brown sugar and ketchup.
Make things really easy for yourself by ordering pre-prepared trays of food from your local grocery store. Sonoma Market in Sonoma and Glen Ellen Village Market in Glen Ellen offer many delicious varieties of hors d’oeuvres. Choose from: grilled chicken skewers with honey hoisin saucy ($48); jumbo prawn platter with cocktail sauce ($60); mini Dungeness crab cakes with lime tartar sauce ($72); or stuffed mushrooms filled with a variety of fillings including shrimp and shallots, sausage and apple and zucchini and marinara sauce ($60).
The deli at Sonoma’s Safeway can provide trays of food perfect to satisfy the dietary needs of all your hungry guests. The Chicken Snack Attack is heaped with enough crisp chicken strips, tangy chicken wings, chicken nuggets and ranch dip to feed 16-20 people ($29.99). A tray of three racks St. Louis-style honey-smoke ribs with BBQ dipping sauce may be a perfect culinary call ($34.99). The many types meat trays include slices of Black Forest ham, roast beef, roasted turkey and salami ($34.99). Cheese trays may include cheddar, hot pepper jack, Muenster and smoked fontina and are available both cubed and sliced ($34.99).
Even though we live in wine country, football is best viewed while clutching an enormous plastic cup of frothy beer. Forgo all those bottles and aluminum cans and opt instead for a keg or kegs of beer for that that full-out frat party experience. Broadway Market in Sonoma is capable of getting most any variety of beer for your Super Bowl party when you place an order before the previous Wednesday. Domestic beers – all these Budweiser, Coors and Miller options – can be yours in a 15-½ gallon full keg ($105) or 7-½ gallon pony keg ($75). Imports, including Irish, German and Mexican beers, and beers micro-breweries come in 13 gallon kegs (starting at $120) and 5-gallon pony kegs (starting at $45).
“Definitely try and serve more local beers like Lagunitas from Petaluma or Red Tail from Mendocino, but remember to have plenty of soda, water and coffee,” said Martha Heyerly of Rocket Catering in Sonoma. “Let everyone know right from the start there should be a designated driver, but as a last resort, call Vern’s Taxi to get those guests unfit to drive home safely.”
Have some real fun with decorations. Stream crepe paper in the teams colors, tape yard lines on the floor or pull out all the football memorabilia, football jerseys and other notions to pin up on the walls. Scatter foam footballs of foam bricks for your rowdy guests to throw at the screen when a referee makes a questionable call. Food presentation offers more opportunities to expand upon the theme. Fill foil-lined football helmets with chips and pretzels. Use Astroturf as a tablecloth. Make goalposts from painter paper towel rolls and add them to your tablescape.
“My sister-in-law dresses her mannequin up in a football uniform and fills her house with team colors,” said Heyerly. “Seating can also become part of the decorations if you can find or rent bleacher seating of even a grouping of benches. If the weather is good, you can throw a tailgate party and serve food in your SUV or truck in the driveway.”
Keep in mind those in attendance who may not be as engrossed by the game, with its numerous breaks and sometime glacier pace, as die-hard fans. If you go choose to invite children, situate them in their own room and provide them with other activities so they don’t interrupt the adult’s viewing of the match-up. Barely interested adults can be asked to monitor the football pool or be on the lookout for cops.

Enjoy the game!

Broadway Market
20511 Broadway, Sonoma 707.938.2685
Hours: Sun. 7 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Mon. – Sat. 6 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Glen Ellen Village Market
13751 Arnold Dr. Glen Ellen 707.996.6728
Hours: Sun. – Sat. 6 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Rocket Catering
18818 Hwy. 12, Sonoma 707.939.8612

Safeway
477 W. Napa St., Sonoma 707.996.0633
Open 24 hours

Sonoma Market
500 W. Napa St., Sonoma 707.996.3411
Hours: Sun. – Sat. 6 a.m. – 9 p.m.