Last Minute New Year’s Eve
No plans? No problem.
So it’s two days until New Year’s Eve and you have no idea what your plans are. Cabs are impossible to get on this drunkest of nights, so you don’t want to venture too far.
Tickets to the $200 black-tie-something-event have been sold out for months. And honestly, you’ll be damned if you’re hosting a party and cleaning up the next day with a hangover.
So, what to do?
Don’t worry: The Late Shift got you covered. Here are three options for last-minute locales to eat, drink and toast in, with room still available for you and yours. Now all you have to do is figure out who to kiss at midnight.
On December 31, Thistle Hill Tavern (441 Seventh Avenue), also known as Time Out New York’s “best new neighborhood bar" and the place part-owned by NOFX front man Fat Mike, is doing “a non-event, event” according to owner/manager Dave Massoni.
“So much about Park Slope is the ethos, the vibe, the energy of not making a plan or doing a fancy prix fixe,” Massoni explained. “The Brooklyn thing to do is to say, ‘I’m not going out at all. I’ll just cook dinner and stay in.’”
If you want to go out and have fun (without having to dress up) Thistle Hill will make it easy. Normally the popular corner bar and eatery doesn’t take reservations, but for New Year’s Eve only, they’re making an exception. (For reservations call: 347-599-1262).
There will be no forced special menu—just regular favorites, celebratory specials, and free champagne and party favors at midnight. So far, only insiders have known that reservations can be booked, so tables are still up for grabs!
New chef Jon Wallace (formerly of Buttermilk Channel in Carroll Gardens) will feature a scallop appetizer and a rack of lamb, but if that sounds too fancy, Thistle Hill has also nabbed awards for the best burger and fries in Park Slope.
Adding to their over-achiever accolades, Metromix’s 2011 “best bartender,” John Bush, has a special cocktail on deck, The China Town. This spicy rum drink is built on muddled cherries, citrus, brown sugar and just a hint of black pepper for a savory, sweet finish. Go down to China Town all night for just $8 a pop.
Another acclaimed Park Slope spot that can still squeeze you in for NYE is Beer Table (427B Seventh Ave). One of Draft Magazine’s “Best Bars 2011,” Justin Philips and his wife Tricia have been running the place since 2007.
For the past couple of years they’ve done a blowout five-course beer pairing dinner to sold-out crowds. This year, the couple is expecting their second child any day (New Year's baby perhaps?) so Philips (as in Justin) decided to take it easy. Of course that’s a relative thing.
For 2012, Beer Table will make the beer pairings optional. Philips says he’ll probably do three different flights, with three glasses each.
“One will be an inexpensive and celebratory flight that will probably include a glass of sparkling wine, and a beer finished with a champagne yeast to compliment the wine and a mystery third.”
The other pairings will run the gamut from “lean and delicate to gooey and sweet.”
If you’d prefer to pick a beer on your own, the Kuhnhenn Loonie Kuhnie is light with bit of lavender; the Dieu du Ciel Route des Epices has a fun black pepper finish; and the Kuhnhenn Prometheus is a big, dense Belgian that makes your correspondent a cheap date at 11 percent alcohol.
If you like porters, they’ve currently got some excellently named ones on draft—Mean Old Tom (bitter, coffee flavored) and Evil Twin Christmas Eve at a NYC Hotel Room (sweeter).
Drop by from 5 to 6:30 p.m. for happy hour and get complimentary sparkling wine with any beer. From 7 to 9:30 p.m., for $40 per person, there’s a farm-to table style three-course meal with an optional beer pairing.
Philips is extra excited about the main course—a Rancho Gordo (California special varietal) bean stew with rich and decadent duck sausage. Or, you can make them your final stop and go for the $30 “Cheese, Beer and Bubbles” from 10 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. and get a complimentary glass at midnight. (For reservations E-mail: events@beertable.com).
Philip’s resolution this year is, “Survive.” Toast to him for luck, but it seems like he’s got plenty.
To keep things a little more traditional, there’s still space for you at the Parisian throwback, Belleville Bistro and Lounge (330-332 Fifth Street).
Bartender, booking manager and sax-horn player, Sylvester Onyejiaka is throwing a New Year’s party with a three-piece jazz quartet to play classic standards. Onyejiaka plays in a hip-hop band and a jazz quintet, and in 2012 he’ll be in Greece touring with a dancing folk band.
This may be the last act he brings to the Slope for a while, so do your best"Midnight In Paris" impression and wander into this cozy bistro to dance like it’s another age.
The regular menu will be available all night. Or if you feel like going Rockefeller, for $100 you can have a six-course tasting dinner put together by Fabian Pauta with: oysters, lobster, fois gras, tuna tartar, venison and a flourless chocolate cake. That’s what is known in French as, “a celebration.” (For reservations: 718-832-9777).