// Declare the MainMenu control.
internal System.Windows.Forms.MainMenu MainMenu1;

// Declare MenuItem2 as With-Events because it will be user drawn.
internal System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem MenuItem2;

private void InitializeMenu()
{

    // Create MenuItem1, which will be drawn by the operating system.
    MenuItem MenuItem1 = new MenuItem("Regular Menu Item");

    // Create MenuItem2.
    MenuItem2 = new MenuItem("Custom Menu Item");

    // Set OwnerDraw property to true. This requires handling the
    // DrawItem event for this menu item.
    MenuItem2.OwnerDraw = true;

    //Add the event-handler delegate to handle the DrawItem event.
    MenuItem2.DrawItem += new DrawItemEventHandler(DrawCustomMenuItem);
    
    // Add the items to the menu.
    MainMenu1 = new MainMenu(new MenuItem[]{MenuItem1, MenuItem2});																													  

    // Add the menu to the form.
    this.Menu = this.MainMenu1;
}

// Draw the custom menu item.
private void DrawCustomMenuItem(object sender, 
    DrawItemEventArgs e)
{

    // Cast the sender to MenuItem so you can access text property.
    MenuItem customItem = (MenuItem) sender;

    // Create a Brush and a Font to draw the MenuItem.
    System.Drawing.Brush aBrush = System.Drawing.Brushes.DarkMagenta;
    Font aFont = new Font("Garamond", 10, 
        FontStyle.Italic, GraphicsUnit.Point);

    // Get the size of the text to use later to draw an ellipse
    // around the item.
    SizeF stringSize = e.Graphics.MeasureString(
        customItem.Text, aFont);

    // Draw the item and then draw the ellipse.
    e.Graphics.DrawString(customItem.Text, aFont, 
        aBrush, e.Bounds.X, e.Bounds.Y);
    e.Graphics.DrawEllipse(new Pen(System.Drawing.Color.Black, 2),
        new Rectangle(e.Bounds.X, e.Bounds.Y, 
        (System.Int32)stringSize.Width,
        (System.Int32)stringSize.Height));
}