Nantucket New Year’s Eve Guide
BY MARLI GUZZETTA

29 Fair 29 Fair Street, 228-7800 The darling Fair Street establishment is offering a la carte dinners from 6 – 9 p.m., when its tables will be dressed for a six-course a la carte feast. For $125 each, diners can enjoy champagne and wines picked to complement the amuse bouche sampler (caviar on blinis, Nantucket Bay scallop and smoked salmon roll and foie gras mousse on a toast), the venison consomme with chevre quenelles, the roasted prawn in Kataif Champagne Sabayon (loosen the belt), the Limonicello Sorbet palate cleanser, the tenderloin of beef Rossini in a truffle Madeira sauce finished with foie gras and then the dessert: baked Nantucket flambee (Chef Charles’s version of Baked Alaska) along with a coffee service, chocolates and petits fours. Call in advance for reservations.

56 Union 56 Union, 228-6135 There will be a party at the spirited and sumptuous eatery across from the Lightship Basket Museum, beginning with a $95 prix fixe dinner featuring an amuse bouche and four courses. Everyone gets a fun New Year’s prop to help break the January ice, and after the last meals go out, the carpets get rolled up, so to speak, and everyone can party “until the cows come home,”* according to co-owner and chef, Peter Janelle. (*1:30 a.m., per Nantucket law.)

Arno’s 41 Main Street, 228-7001 For $50, you can savor a four-course, prix fixe sampling of some of Arno’s best entrees and dinner specials of the year on New Year’s Eve. Though the restaurant is accepting reservations, ‘walk-ins’ might also be able to find a place at the table for Arno’s last dinner service of the season. Because of this, Arno’s is offering 45 percent off all bottled wines and champagnes, along with a complimentary champagne toast at 11:59 p.m. (The bar will probably stay open just past midnight.) Arno’s is also opening its doors on New Year’s Day at 8 a.m. for breakfast and lunch, with all plates sold at half off their normal cost as a way to clean out the refrigerators and “thank patrons for a wonderful 2006 season.”

Bamboo Supper Club 2 Chin’s Way, 228-0200 It’s business as usual at the popular watering hole. If you like good company, but not too much hoopla on New Year’s, stop by the Bamboo, where bartenders Mike and Jess will be pouring drinks until 2 a.m.

The Brotherhood of Thieves 23 Broad Street, 228-2551 You may have caught Aaron Castellano’s soulful,

emotive acoustic set during the Nantucket Arts Festival. This New Year’s, he’s playing with a friend at the always-cozy Brotherhood, which will be hosting dinner specials and a complimentary champagne toast. Open until 1 a.m.

Cambridge Street Victuals 12 Cambridge Street, 228-7109 Closing out a strong season of Gen XY love, Cambridge Street is selling tickets for its firstever New Years-aganza. (Our word, not theirs.) For $15, patrons will have at their fingertips lots of hors d’oeuvres, a complimentary champagne toast and tickets for door prizes, including a Hannah Stone portrait. The Undergraduates will also execute a finely honed set of synth rock. Doors open at 8 p.m. and stay open until The Undergraduates frontman Ted Lothian gets naked. (Our idea, not theirs.) Tickets are going fast, according to co-owner Trish Collette, so get yours if you’re coming.

The Chicken Box 14 Dave Street, 228-9717 Atried and true local favorite, Boston acoustic pop band The Bright Wings will be rocking a cover set when you walk in to shoot the Auld Lang Syne with your old friends at The Chicken Box. (That is, they’ll be playing if you walk in past 10 p.m.) The $10 cover charge also includes a complimentary champagne toast at midnight. Open till 1 a.m.

Cinco 5 Amelia Drive, 325-5151 Champagne wishes and caviar dreams will be on-hand at Cinco this New Year’s. Weather permitting, the Amelia Drive eatery will also have jazz on the patio. With a bar certain to be open until 2 a.m. (and a kitchen serving until 11 p.m.), Cinco is a fine idea for those who like to keep it smooth, simple and savory (and late) on New Year’s.

Faregrounds Restaurant/ Pudley’s Pub 27 Fairgrounds Road, 228-4095 Why wait to start your New Year’s reveling, when Faregrounds is offering an all-you-can eat buffet from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, before the bar gets busy to countdown the clock? Reservations are now being made, but walkins are welcome. So walk-in!

The Muse 44 Surfside Road, 228-1471. Great music. Drinks. Pizza. Everything you need is right here. You could live there for at least the first week of 2007 before having to go home for more rations.

Rose and Crown 23 South Water Street, 228-2595 “Welcome to Vegas!” with no cover charge at the Rose and Crown this New Year’s Eve. (Owner Rick Ulmer said the free passage is a gesture of thanks to patrons for a great season.) Per usual, the wood-faced drinkery will offer an arcadium of visual and aural distractions, including a set by Top 40 mixer DJ Fizzle and also an Elvis impersonation contest. (Costume welcome, but not

required.) “It’ll be pretty glitzy. We’ll have it all decked out with silver and gold shiny stuff,” Ulmer said. Per usual, the R&C will be open all day — in case you have any air to clear with your liquor before company comes at 10 p.m. and the party starts — and stops at 1 a.m. Tickets are free, but needed and available at the R&C if you want V.I.P. service.

Starlight Café 1 North Union Street, 228-4435 (movie hotline), 228-4479 (restaurant) You can end your year with dinner and one of two sweet, hopeful movies this New Year’s Eve at the Starlight Café, which is serving a fourcourse prix fixe meal. At $60, the first (6 p.m.) seating will include admission to the 8 p.m. showing of “Pursuit of Happyness” (PG-13). (At 4 p.m., the Starlight is screening the newly released film adaptation of “Charlotte’s Web.”) The 8 p.m. seating will not include a movie and will cost $55. Those who stay until the bar closes at 1 a.m. can toast the New Year with a complimentary flute of champagne. Call for reservations.

Water Street 29 South Water Street, 228-7080 If you think you’ve seen everything and know everyone on Nantucket, you may want to surprise yourself with a New Year’s Eve at Water Street’s Masquerade Party. The restaurant will begin its Dec. 31 service with two seatings for dinner. The early seating will include a four-course prix fixe meal ($75) with a selection of appetizers and set entrees. The second seating will offer a five-course prix fixe meal ($100) with a selection of appetizers and set entrees. After the second seating, the restaurant will open itself up for a promenade of masqueraders. Diners from the second seating are immediately invited, while non-diners can get in on a firstcome, first-served basis to access the stocked bar. Water Street will stay open at least until 1 a.m. Fancy dress encouraged, and masks provided.

New Year’s Eve hours of operation for:

Annye’s Whole Foods, 14 Amelia Drive, 228- 4554, Open from noon - 5 p.m. on New Year’s Eve; Closed New Year’s Day

Hatch’s Package Store, 133 Orange Street, 228-0131, Open until 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve; Closed New Year’s Day

Lucky Express, 13 W. Creek Road, 228-6615, Open until 7 p.m. on New Year’s Eve; Closed New Year’s Day

Murray’s Beverage Store, 228-0071, Open until 8 p.m. (maybe later) on New Year’s Eve; Closed New Year’s Day

Nantucket Wine and Spirits, in Stop & Shop Plaza, 228-1136, Open noon – 6 p.m. on New Year’s Eve; Closed New Year’s Day

Cumberland Farms, 115 Orange Street, 228- 7071, Closing midnight on New Year’s Eve; opening 5 a.m. New Year’s Day (but you can call the store with emergencies from 3 a.m. – 5 a.m.)

Stop & Shop, Pleasant Street, 228-2178, Open from 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

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