Where To Dine on NYE

Say goodbye to 2013 with the best Dallas restaurant events for New Year's Eve

Before you head out to your New Year’s Eve bash — or just home for some quiet reflection — you need to eat. For that, there is a veritable menagerie of restaurants of every cuisine offering up special dinners for the evening.

Though the list below is far from comprehensive, it has plenty of options for even the choosiest of diner, with prices ranging from $15 to $200. Good luck finding your ideal NYE meal.

Abacus
The highlights: A four-course meal with choice of salmon pastrami, jambalaya cake, vegetarian flatbread, oysters, chowder, Cornish hen, Gulf shrimp, beef tenderloin, Arctic char or pork chop.
Price per person: $80 from 5 to 6:30 pm; $125 from 7 to 11 pm
Reservations: 214-559-3111

Barter
The highlights: Specials include a 32 oz. bone-in rib-eye, boar chop with kimchi greens, and chocolate buttermilk tart with Laphroaig caramel. Available from 5 pm to 1 am.
Price per person: A la carte
Reservations: 214-969-6898

Belly & Trumpet
The highlights: First seating is a four-course menu; the second seating boasts five courses. Live entertainment by Joel Cross.
Price per person: $75 from 6 to 7:30 pm ($40 optional wine pairings); $85 from 9 to 10:30 pm ($45 optional champagne toast and wine pairings)
Reservations: 214-855-5551

Canary By Gorji
The highlights: Avocado with poached shrimp, feta with pomegranate and toasted pita, spinach salad with roasted pistachios, traditional Caesar with egg yolk, tenderloin with garlic smashed potatoes, Pacific salmon and shrimp, lamb and quail with tabbouleh and tzatziki, wild boar and Scallop with gnocchi gorgonzola. Champagne toast and party favors at midnight. Seatings from 5 to 10:30 pm.
Price per person: $69
Reservations: 972-503-7080

Bolsa
The highlights: A la carte special NYE menu includes oysters, caviar parfait with crispy potato cake, lamb sweetbreads crepinettes, Buffalo tartare, lobster bisque, beet carpaccio, goat cheese gnocchi, duck leg confit, pork osso bucco, lamb chops and merguez, Diver scallops, butter poached lobster and bone-in tenderloin. Dinner is 5:30 to 11 pm, with seatings every 30 minutes.
Price per person: A la carte
Reservations: 214-367-9367

Central 214
The highlights: Five-course prix fixe menu with choice of entrees from crab-stuffed filet of sole, beef tenderloin and lobster tail, Cornish hen with crispy gnocchi, and vegetarian risotto; includes bubbly toast.
Price per person: $75, $100 with wine pairings.
Reservations: 214-443-9339

Cool River Cafe
The highlights: A special menu featuring ahi tuna, calamari, shrimp cocktail, crab cakes, filet mignon, prime rib, Chilean sea bass, pommery salmon and lobster tail. There are also drink specials and live music.
Price per person: A la carte with a $25 minimum in the dining room. Dinner is served from 5 to 11 pm.
Reservations: Online

Dallas Chop House
The highlights: A fixed-price dinner with choices including lobster bisque with lobster spring roll, beet salad, oysters, filet mignon, rib-eye, pork chop with mascarpone polenta, sturgeon and quail. For dessert, Valrhona chocolate ganache cake with egg nog ice cream or Meyer lemon tart. Dinner is served from 5 to 11 pm.
Price per person: $65
Reservations: 214-736-7300

Dee Lincoln's Steak & Burger Bar
The highlights: Two special prix-fixe dinners with seatings beginning at 6:30 pm. Choice of Diver scallop, jumbo prawns Scampi-style, arugula and fennel salad, Brussels sprouts salad, rack of lamb, duck, surf and turf with bacon wrapped filet and lobster tail, striped bass and chicken, with pumpkin crème brûlée or chocolate torte for dessert.
Price per person: $50 or $90
Reservations: 214-754-4949

Ellerbe Fine Foods
The highlights: New Orleans style celebration with oyster Rockefeller, gumbo, jambalaya, blackened redfish and beignets. Served from 5 to 11 pm.
Price per person: $75, $105 with wine pairings.
Reservations: 817-926-3663

Fearing’s
The highlights: Three and four-course seatings featuring main course selections of beef Wellington, pheasant à l'orange, sole Meunière with lobster Thermidor, and double-cut lamb chops. First seating features three courses while the second seating features four courses and a champagne toast. Followed by no-cover-charge late-night celebrations in the Rattlesnake Bar.
Price per person: $95 from 5:30 to 7 pm; $195 from 7:30 to 10 pm
Reservations: 214-922-4848

Five Sixty by Wolfgang Puck
The highlights: A five-course tasting dinner with Thai snapper sashimi, Peking duck dumplings, pork belly, lobster and Wagyu strip. Two seatings at 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm.
Price per person: $175 (optional wine pairings for $45)
Reservations: 214-741-5560

Holy Grail Pub
The highlights: A beer dinner from 6 to 8:30 pm with seared scallop on a sweet potato-bacon latke, tempura-battered skirt steak roll, Hatch chile soup with smoked chicken and corn, grilled swordfish with purple potatoes, lemon caviar and fried kale, and butterscotch pudding.
Price per person: $65
Reservations: 972-377-6633

Hotel St. Germain
The highlights: Five-course and seven-course dinners and live music by the Memphis Soul Band, with glass of champagne at midnight. The first seatings offer a five-course menu; the second seatings have seven. Courses include lamb and winter squash ravioli; lobster bisque with white asparagus tips; quail on foie gras risotto; crab cake remoulade with avocado-stuffed sweet pepper; and choice of entree from beef tenderloin, duck breast, or sea bass on spinach. There is also a cheese course and then Valrhona chocolate souffle, with caramel and nutmeg ice cream.
Price per person: $95 at 6 and 6:30 pm; $160 from 8 to 10:30 pm
Reservations: 214-871-2516

III Forks
The highlights: Celebrate New Year’s Eve Mardi Gras-style. Dinner downstairs features expanded menu with filet mignon and lobster tail. Party upstairs has a four-course meal, champagne toast with party favors and live music. Courses include shrimp remoulade, gumbo, she-crab soup, swordfish, blackened redfish with crawfish etouffee, pork chop, filet Oscar with crab and asparagus points, rib-eye. For dessert, choose from pecan praline parfait, chocolate ganache cake, banana bread pudding or Key lime pie
Price per person: $80 for dinner from 5 to 11 pm; $100 for the party
Reservations: 972-267-1776

Jasper's Plano
The highlights: Kabocha squash ravioli, five-spice calamari, cashew-crusted Dallas goat cheese with beets, Texas quail, chicken masa soup, gumbo, Caesar salad, Arctic char, Dr Pepper-glazed lamb shank, surf and swine pork and prawn, swordfish, Black Angus filet. Early seating available from 5 to 6:30 pm; late seating from 7 to 11 pm.
Price per person: $55 for early seating; $75 for late seating
Reservations: 469-229-9111

Malai Kitchen
The highlights: A la carte specials and a five-course menu with glass of Rodez Grand Cru Champagne. Highlights include oysters on the half shell, curry short rib with jasmine rice, and Thai eggplant. Dinner is served from 4 to 10 pm.
Price per person: $55 ($30 for wine pairings)
Reservations: 214-599-7857

Max's Wine Dive Fort Worth
The highlights: A Gatsby-themed menu with blini and caviar and lobster Thermidor. Guests who arrive in 1920s attire receive 15 percent off their food. Dinner is served 4 pm to midnight.
Price per person: A la carte
Reservations: 817-870-1108

Oak
The highlights: A four-course menu with first seating from 5 to 7:30 pm, as well as a vegetarian four-course menu. Second seating is from 8 to 11 pm with a five-course menu and vegetarian five-course menu.
Price per person: $80 from 5 to 7:30 pm; $55 for vegetarian (both with optional $40 wine pairings). $95 from 8 to 11 pm; $65 for vegetarian (both with $50 optional wine pairings).
Reservations: 214-712-9700

Pakpao
The highlights: Steamed blue crab and other Thai street food, buckets of beer, half-off champagne. Live band rocks out a mix of ’80s and Thai rock. Goes from 5 pm to 2 am.
Price per person: A la carte
Reservations: No reservations required.

Pappas Bros. Steakhouse
The highlights: Four-course fixed-price dinner with steak, fried oysters, shrimp cocktail and more. Service begins at 4:30 pm.
Price per person: $100
Reservations: 214-366-2000

Rathbun's Blue Plate Kitchen
The highlights: Four-course dinner with clam chowder, fried green tomato BLT, chicken-fried lobster, sea scallops, New York strip, mushroom-ricotta ravioli, and shrimp and grits. Dinner served from 5 to 11 pm.
Price per person: $65
Reservations: 214-890-1103

Sera Dining & Wine
The highlights: Four-course dinner with oysters, artichoke croquettes, lamb, butter-poached lobster, persimmon tart, blueberry arroz con leche and more, plus celebratory glass of bubbly. Dinner served from 5:30 to 9 pm.
Price per person: $75
Reservations: 817-927-7372

Shinsei
The highlights: Dinner specials including oysters, sea urchin and black rice risotto, King crab legs, crab bisque, and Korean BBQ. At 9 pm, DJ Andre spins in Shinsei’s upstairs lounge. Complimentary champagne toast at midnight. Dinner starts at 5 pm.
Price per person: A la carte
Reservations: 214-352-0005

Sissy’s Southern Kitchen & Bar
The highlights: Beginning at 5 pm, the "Bottle & Bucket" special features Sissy's fried chicken and bottle of Moët for $75 or Moët Rosé for $95. There’s also a six-course tasting menu available. For regular menu, complimentary champagne toast is offered at midnight.
Price per person: $80 for tasting menu; $150 with wine pairings
Reservations: 214-827-9900

Spoon
The highlights: A tasting menu is available beginning at 5 pm with wine pairings or vintage champagne pairings. The regular menu is also available.
Price per person: $125 (wine pairing for $75 or vintage champagne pairing for $150)
Reservations: 214-368-8220

Stampede 66
The highlights: A three-course dinner menu kicks off the party, and there’s also a dinner and dance at 10 pm featuring the Jackson Eli band. Food a la carte with party favors.
Price per person: $60 beginning at 6 pm ($25 optional wine pairing)
Reservations: 214-550-6966

Stephan Pyles
The highlights: A first seating has a four-course menu, while the second seating offers five. There is a DJ, party favors and a midnight champagne toast.
Price per person: $75 ($125 with wine pairings) at 6 pm; $125 ($175 with wine pairings) at 9 pm
Reservations: 214-580-7000

Also open with regular menus on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day: Meso Maya, El Fenix, Taqueria La Ventana and Snuffer's.

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Fair Everywhere

Dallas restaurants get into State Fair spirit with fun and funky fare

Photo is courtesy of Rodeo Goat.

Rodeo Goat's Big Tex Burger is one of of myriad State Fair-style plates found around town in October.

The State Fair of Texas this year introduced the Butter-Dipped Toffee Crunch Nutty Bar, Deep Fried Bourbon Banana Bread, and nearly 40 other wild foods, and plenty of its 2 million-plus visitors will gleefully gobble them up.

Inspired by the annual extravaganza, which runs September 25-October 18, restaurants across Dallas are getting in on the action, offering their own State Fair-themed dishes and specials, from Frito Chili Soufflé and Hot Cheeto elote to funnel cake fries and deep fried churros.

Check out these Dallas restaurants offering State Fair-inspired specials, all of which are available during the run of the fair:

Crown Block
The two-time Michelin recommended restaurant atop Reunion Tower is celebrating The State Fair with a seasonal menu featuring Elote Wagyu Dogs — that’s an ultra-tender beef hot dog fried in Fletcher’s signature batter beneath firm cotija cheese, corn, and cilantro. Crown Block State Fair specials also include the sweet Crown Fair, a dessert made from cotton candy, cinnamon churros, caramel sauce, and deep-fried Oreos topped with powdered sugar, and chocolate sauce. The Cotton Candy Cowboy craft cocktail features Texas whiskey, blackberry, citrus, and, obviously, cotton candy, which you can sip on some 560 feet above the fair, which is about four miles southeast of the dining room.

Lochland's Irish Pub
Irish pub in northeast Dallas is going all out with a list of fair-inspired fare that includes Shepherd’s Balls — Lochland’s signature shepherd's pie rolled into balls and fried — plus foot-long corn dogs, smoked turkey legs, breakfast dogs (breakfast sausage dipped in pancake batter), funnel cake fries, and deep fried churros.

Rodeo Goat
The Texas-born burger chain is bringing back its oversized BIG TEX Burger throughout the fair, featuring an all-beef patty topped with a chicken-fried mashed potato cake, crispy bacon, a fried onion ring, and chorizo gravy for $13.99. It’s going head-to-head with the Honey Bacon Blue burger, an all-beef patty stuffed with blue cheese butter and topped with honey bacon bits, fried kale, and curry mayo. There’s also a seasonal Pumpkin Spice Goat Balls dessert: deep-fried, cheesecake-filled bites coated in pumpkin spice and served with mascarpone dip. Rodeo Goat has 10 locations across Dallas-Fort Worth.

Lucky’s
As one of Oak Lawn's longest-lasting diners, Lucky’s tips its cowboy hat to the Big Tex Award winners of the world, but claims a closer kinship to enduring classics. And the State Fair’s arguably most enduring classic has to be the Corny Dog. Thus the restaurant will offer two State Fair Corn Dogs with fries for $10.99, along with Funnel Cake Ale from Community Brewing for $5.50. Specials run throughout the fair days.

Maple Leaf Diner
North Dallas’ Canadian-themed diner is leaning into the fried-food spirit with a lineup of State Fair-inspired specials. Options include a Buffalo fried cheese curd five-cheese grilled cheese, fried pickles, fried Oreos, and the Carnival Burger — a beef burger topped with a fried block of cheddar and a corn dog skewer. Cotton Candy Mimosa, Churros and Cream Soda, and the returning Maple Bacon Iced Latte round out the cocktail and beverage menu.

Rise No. 1
Of course it's a soufflé. Anything else would be silly here at Dallas’ favorite French restaurant. And Rise's Frito Chili Soufflé is serious, with Texas chili, crunchy Fritos, cheddar, and fresh toppings baked into Rise’s signature airy soufflé. Viva this France and Texas collab. The seasonal special is a returning fair-time favorite.

Flying Fish
This North Texas seafood staple's State Fair-inspired specials include Grits-on-a-Stick and Gumbo — grits deep-fried on skewers and served with seafood gumbo — plus fried alligator nuggets with Papous Comeback Sauce and a Nashville Hot Catfish Sandwich topped with sweet-heat sauce, coleslaw, and pickles.

Bluebonnet and Thyme
After her Wagyu Bacon Cheeseburger Deviled Egg Sliders won Most Creative at last year's State Fair of Texas Big Tex Awards, Chef Kendall Williams opened her own Victory Park restaurant. The award-winning dish is on the menu along with charcuterie nachos, Cajun cream pastas, and more crave-worthy, if heartburn-inducing, dishes. The restaurant, which only opened in August, is in the former Dirty Bones space across from American Airlines Center.

The Stix Icehouse
The sprawling indoor-outdoor entertainment venue in McKinney tends to go Big in the name of Tex, turning its 14-acre property into a mini State Fair, September 25-October 18. Festivities include live entertainment, family activities, and a full menu of fair-inspired food — deep-fried footlong corny dog with queso and BBQ sauce, Frito pie, Hot Cheeto elote, a mac stack burger topped with a fried mac-and-cheese ball, deep-fried Oreos, and funnel cake fries with chocolate and caramel syrup. Bartenders will serve Texas cherry limeade, a cotton candy margarita, and a zero-proof cotton candy lemonade. The month-long celebration culminates October 18 with the fifth annual Good Ol’ Days Fest, featuring pony rides, a petting zoo, pumpkin patch, vendor market, field-day games, and a celebrity dunk tank for a cause.

fried food desserts dining state fair of texas funnel cakes corny dogs state fair food

Where To Dine on NYE

Say goodbye to 2013 with the best Dallas restaurant events for New Year's Eve

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Dallas restaurants get into State Fair spirit with fun and funky fare

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