If you’re going to be eating out New Year’s Eve, you might as well do it right and ring in 2009 at one of the area’s ritzier restaurants.

Corbett’s, an American Place, will greet the New Year with a seven-course dinner for $100 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Chef Dean Corbett has created an elegant menu just for the occasion. His culinary team, including chef Chris Howerton and corporate chef Kevin Rice, will prepare the meal, and director of wine and spirits Troy Ritchie will ensure that each guest has a glass of bubbly for the New Year’s toast.

This year’s menu will include corned beef and cabbage rolls as the first course and then move on to lobster medallions with white lentils and pickled yellow beets, followed  by a salad of Bibb lettuce, blood oranges, applewood smoked bacon, and blue cheese vinaigrette.

The fourth course attraction will be sautéed bluenose grouper with fried Weisenberger grit cake, asparagus, and chestnut cream sauce, and mimosa sorbet will set the stage for the fifth course, which is seared Tanglewood duck breast, accompanied by bourbon-smoked barley, winter squash, and huckleberry reduction. For the sixth course, diners will tuck into Creekstone prime beef tenderloin with creamy fingerling potatoes, haricot vert, and truffle demi-glace. The meal will conclude a chocolate trilogy, followed by mignardises, those tiny, bite-sized goodies that have become all the rage at trendy restaurants.

Corbett’s, located at 5050 Norton Healthcare Boulevard in Old Brownsboro Crossing in east Louisville, will have New Year’s Eve seatings available until 10:00 p.m., and reservations can be made my calling (502) 327-5058.

More New Year’s Choices after the Jump…

At Equus, chef Josh Hillyard will wow guests with a celebratory five-course dinner for parties of five to 10 people, which will cost $85 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Seating will be available through 10:00 p.m., with a complimentary champagne toast at midnight.

The special New Year’s Eve menu will feature signature modern-American dishes with sophistication and an emphasis on the edible delights found across the Bluegrass. “Having been open for over 20 years, we’ve learned how important it is that guests end the year on a high note,” says Hillyard. “This year, in order to reach that goal, we’ve contacted our very best Kentucky suppliers and created five-courses that will not only please our guests for the evening, but give them a sense of Kentucky pride to take into the New Year.”

This year’s menu will begin with pumpkin-lobster bisque with crème fraîche and then progress to Kentucky Bibb salad with pickled pearl onions, and orange-fennel citronette. The third course will feature pan-roasted Kentucky striped bass served with creamed leeks and roasted chestnuts, and for the fourth course diners will be treated to Creekstone Farms beef tenderloin with roasted parsnips and apple compote. The repast will end with a “banana prepared three ways.”

Jack’s Lounge, located next door to Equus, will also be open and serving its regular menu. However, they will also offer some special dishes and drinks. Equus is located at 122 Sears Avenue. Normal hours of operation are Monday through Saturday from 6:00 to 10:00 pm. For more information or to make reservations, call (502) 897-9721.

At the English Grill in the Brown Hotel at Fourth and Broadway revelers can enjoy a five-course New Year’s Eve Dinner that includes an appetizer of sautéed scallops followed by Malpeque oyster soup and an intermezzo. A choice of entrees such as sautéed marlin log, filet mignon or pan-seared venison loin comes after that, and the meal concludes with a salad of butternut squash and eggplant goat cheese terrine on winter baby spinach and a dessert of chocolate Grand Marnier mousse cake. The price is $135 per person, which includes tax and gratuity, party favors, live music and dancing, and a midnight champagne toast. Seating times are 7:30 p.m., 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. For reservations, call Neal Ward at 502-736-2998.

In addition, hotel packages are available that include the Private Party for Two (a club deluxe room; an elegant three-course dinner for two in your room; a bottle of Moët et Chandon Impèrial Rosè; continental breakfast in the club lounge and valet parking) for $459, the Celebration Package (a luxury king room; bottle of sparkling wine; chocolate-covered strawberries; breakfast buffet for two in J. Graham’s Café and valet parking) for $269, and the English Grill Gala Package (a five-course dinner at The English Grill; a midnight champagne toast; party favors; live music and dancing; choice of a deluxe, luxury or club room; breakfast for two in J. Graham’s Café and valet parking) that starts at $469. Reservations for room packages can be made by calling 502-583-1234. For more information, visit The Brown’s website or call 502-583-1234.

Bardstown Road’s Asiatique will offer a spectacular four-course dinner that features flavors of the Pacific Rim for New Year’s Eve. For $65 per person, which does not include alcohol, tax or gratuity, guests will start off with a salad of local hydroponic baby lettuces and sweet chili-basil or hoisin-truffle vinaigrette and then choose a “first flavor” as an appetizer.

On offer will be Asiatique crabcake, sashimi of ahi tuna, Indocine-inspired grilled angus beef satay and asian pesto, wok-fried spicy lamb with red pepper and maui onion on sweet potato basket, Vietnamese-inspired shrimp-pork ‘cha gio,’ slow-cooked bbq pork rib and pickled root vegetables, and ‘Capriole Farms’ goat cheese with crabmeat spring roll and spiced miso aioli. For the main course, choices will include triple-crusted ahi tuna, wok-seared Pacific salmon with roasted shallot and Sichuan hot oil, lemongrass-scented angus beef medallion with sauteed grilled vegetables and wilted spinach, wok fried tiger shrimp with scallop and garden vegetables, and bacon-wrapped pork roulade with goat cheese, spinach and red pepper, just to name a few. To finish the whole thing off, dessert options such a trio of creme brulee with blackberry gastrique, and vanilla cheese cake with strawberry compote and peppercorn caramel sauce will be available.

All reservations made and seated before 6:00 will only cost $50 per person. However, all seatings are for two hours from the reservation time and are subject to additional charges for reservations seated past the two-hour limit. All reservations must be accompanied by a credit card and are subject to a 48-hour cancellation policy. Call (502) 451-2749 for reservations or for more information.
Over in Midway at Holly Hill Inn $75 will get you a multi-course menu designed by chef owner Ouita Michel with chive-and-potato blini, pulled lobster that is folded into sauce verte and served with basmati rice and avocado and sweet pepper aioli, creamy parsnip Vichyssoise with crispy Jerusalem artichoke chips, a salad of Belgian endive with sliced orange and spiced walnuts, extra-petite poussan on fallen mushroom soufflé with sauce supreme, a choice of carved filet mignon or roasted sea bass, and “spectacular desserts by Stella.” You’ll also be sent home with brioche for New Year’s morning. For $65, a vegetarian option can be had. Make reservation with Donna at (859) 846-4732.

by David Dominé, The Bluegrass Peasant