By A. Scattergood Photo of the fireplace at Lucques
If you don’t want to stay at home on New Year’s Eve, and most of us don’t, you might want to plan on a lovely dinner before you hit the bars — or maybe instead of hitting the bars. Many restaurants around town are having terrific, multicourse meals to celebrate the end of 2013, with early seatings if you do plan on bar-hopping (or going home before it gets too crazy), or late seatings if your idea of fun is clinking glasses over a plate of tagliatelle with wild mushrooms and truffles instead of over a bunch of drunk strangers. We checked in with 17 restaurants around town to see what they’re cooking for the last night of the year. (Seatings fill up fast, so maybe make your reservations now.)
Acabar: Acabar, Hollywood’s somewhat insane Moroccan lounge/international restaurant, is having an appropriately insane New Year’s Eve celebration, which they’re dubbing a “tribal disco.” This tribal disco involves hot shot DJs, fire eaters and a multicourse dinner. From 6-7 p.m. they’re serving a three-course, $75 menu. From 7:45-10:30, they’re serving a four-course, $125 menu, which includes a complimentary beverage of some sort for a midnight toast. And, uh, “tribal fashion” is encouraged. 1510 N. Stanley Ave, Hollywood; 323-876-1400.
A.O.C.: Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne’s wine bar is celebrating its first year in the new digs with a noche vieja, or Spanish New Year’s Eve. Chef de cuisine Lauren Herman is making six Spanish-style courses, including tapas of Spanish cured meats and bacalao with roasted peppers; grilled quail with chorizo; and A.O.C. paella. The first seating is $95; the second seating is $135 per person and includes a Champagne toast. 8700 W. Third St., Los Angeles; 310-859-9859.
Bucato: Evan Funke’s Culver City pasta palace is having a seven-course dinner on New Year’s Eve, with a Champagne toast at midnight. The reservation-only dinner will run you $125 with an additional $50 for wine pairings. What’s on the menu? An amuse bouche, Nantucket Bay scallops with cucumber and Santa Barbara uni; Maine lobster with hachiya persimmons; tagliatelle with wild mushrooms and truffles; pears and other fun things; Wagyu short rib with celeriac, chestnuts and truffled Brussels sprouts; and for dessert, pavlova with grapefruit curd, passionfruit granita and anise blackberry sauce. 3280 Helms Ave., Culver City; 310-876-0286.
Church & State: Our favorite downtown bistro is offering two options for New Year’s Eve: Before 8:30 you can get four courses for $75, and after 8:30 you can get six courses and a Champagne toast for $95. Either way, you can expect French awesomeness, likeVelouté de Champignons des Bois and Tournedos de Boeuf. 1850 Industrial St., #100, dwntwn.; 213-405-1434
Cooks County: On New Year’s Eve, Cooks County is serving dinner from 6 p.m. to midnight. On the menu: party gougeres; Santa Barbara sea urchin, avocado and American caviar; fisherman’s rice, with lobster, scallops, mussles, clams, roasted tomato and saffron; and Meyer lemon baked Alaska. Pricing is à la carte. If that doesn’t appeal (really??), the regular menu also is available. Call the restaurant to make a reservation. 8009 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles; 323-653-8009.
Crossroads: Vegans like to party, too, and Crossroads has an all-vegan party to accommodate. Two seatings are available: a 6 p.m., five-course, $75 option, or an 8:30, six-course, $125 option, which includes a Champagne toast and party favors. 8284 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood; 323-782-9245
Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar: On New Year’s Eve, Fleming’s will have a special three-course prix fixe menu for $69.95 per person. The menu starts with prosciutto-wrapped shrimp and a choice of salad, then features a filet mignon paired with an 8-oz. lobster tail. Dinner can include a wine pairing of Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut ($12 glass, $100 by the magnum bottle). 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles; 213-745-9911.
Girasol: Chef C.J. Jacobson is going foraging for your New Year’s Eve dinner. His five-course prix fixe menu is $100 per person for the 7-9 p.m. seating and $150 per person for the 9-11 p.m. seating at his Studio City restaurant. (There’s also a limited à la carte menu available from 5-7 p.m.) What’s he finding in the Angeles National Forest? Sweet clover, chestnuts, chrysanthemum, wood sorrel and pine, which will go into dishes such as tuna with California winter citrus, raw chestnut, wood sorrel and chrysanthemum; diver scallops with Italian black truffle, truffle jus, pine butter, smashed potatoes and white acorn; and wild sweet clover ice cream over warm chocolate cake with Meyer lemon milk foam, nori soil and aerated frozen chocolate. If you come to the later seating, you’ll also get a complimentary glass of sparkling wine and some New Year’s party favors. 11334 Moorpark St., Studio City; 818-924-2323.
The Hungry Cat: Both of David Lentz’s Los Angeles seafood-intensive restaurants, the original Hungry Cat in Hollywood and the newer iteration on PCH, are offering three-course feasts on New Year’s Eve. The menus at each location will be different, with the Hollywood menu going for $75 per person and the Santa Monica menu priced at $85, but both focus on the kind of stellar seafood for which Lentz is known (monkfish osso buco, pastrami cured sea trout, etc.). A full à la carte raw bar menu is available at both restaurants, along with excellent cocktails. 1535 N. Vine St., Hollywood; 323-462-2155. 100 W. Channel Road, Santa Monica; 310-459-3337.