Navigation Distributed Evenly

Having trouble centering and distributing this type evenly (with the left and right edges flush) in CSS without resorting to using graphical text. It's my own condensed font so was hoping to use @font-face on the navigation. It's a simple ul list with the sub title enclosed in an em.

I've tried using text-align: center on the ul, but display: block on the em and float: left on the li is causing me some problems.

It has been a frustrating day, any ideas?