Auld lang dine: Sonoma restaurants have New Year’s Eve menus ready

Ring in 2018 with these Sonoma New Year menus|

Unless you prefer to stay home either alone or with a good friend or family member and cook a special dinner, maybe open a good bottle of wine and watch the fireworks in various time zones, Sonoma offers some great opportunities to dine out one last time this year. Here they are alphabetically; most include specialty desserts.

Aventine Glen Ellen in Jack London Village boasts DJ Brett Pinkin along with a five-course tasting menu that starts with truffle popcorn, followed by Ahi tuna tartare or Wagyu filet with quail egg. Third course brings lobster arancini with caviar or eggplant. Then choose between seared monkfish with trumpet mushrooms, roasted duck breast with parmesan polenta and asparagus, or beef tenderloin with foie gras and shaved black truffle. Cauliflower Parmesan flan is the vegetarian option. $100 at 5 p.m. with kids menu $50, $125 at 8 p.m. includes champagne toast. Reserve at 934-8911 or toni@aventinehospitality.com.

Breakaway Café offers a three-course prix-fixe menu of Italian wedding soup with grass-fed beef meatballs, orzo and Bloomsdale spinach; surf-and-turf of petit filet, Dungeness crab, caviar butter and Perigord sauce. $45, or $65 with paired wines. 5 to 9 p.m. No reservations. 19101 Highway 12, Sonoma. 996-5949.

Café La Haye makes it simple, serving both its regular menu and a delicious four-course prix fixe menu starting with an amuse bouche, classic steak tartare, miso glazed sea bass, Wolfe Ranch quail with porcini sourdough stuffing and cauliflower purée. $125. 140 E. Napa St., Sonoma. 935-5994.

Della Santina’s à la carte menu includes prosciutto di Parma, crab cake, smoked salmon salad, Caesar salad, and flat-grilled quail as antipasti ($15 to $29). Entrée choices include grilled filet mignon with pancetta, Chilean sea bass with capers and baby artichokes, chicken breast with prosciutto and Fontina cheese, gnocchi with Italian black truffles and grana padano Parmigiana in a brown butter sauces; ribbon noodles with wild boar ragu, or eggplant lasagna with tomato and béchamel sauces ($21 to $42). Deserts are all $12. 122 E. Napa St., Sonoma. 935-0576 or dellasantinas.com.

Depot Hotel Restaurant will have a four-course menu starting with potato leek soup, followed by a choice of green salad with roasted beets or Nantucket Bay scallops crisped with Arborio rice, or a venison terrine. The four choices of the third course will be Dungeness crab cannelloni, Alaskan halibut with white asparagus and Swiss chard, risotto with cauliflower and Perigord black truffles, or boneless beef short ribs with horseradish potato puree and roasted root vegetables. $68. 5 through 9 p.m. 241 First St. W. 938-2980.

Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn offers an extensive prix fixe menu of canapés, cauliflower florets tempura with caperberries, Hamachi crudo with hearts of palm and avocado, winter chestnut ravioli with Perigord truffles, butter poached Maine lobster pot-au-feu, and Mishima Ranch Wagyu beef as roasted loin, short rib, and bone marrow, or Pacific John Dory with black truffle mousseline and winter vegetables. Vegetarian options available. $299 inclusive. Wine pairing additional $135 per person. Reservations at 938-9000 or Fairmont.com/Sonoma.

Fig Café & Wine Bar in Glen Ellen will have its regular menu plus a Brussels sprouts salad with candied bacon, roasted pears and pickled shallots, braised short ribs with creamy polenta and delicata squash, and persimmon pudding cake with vanilla whipped mascarpone and candied cocoa ribs. $45. 5 to 9:30 p.m. 13690 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen. 938-2130 or thefigcafe.com.

Girl & the Fig on Sonoma Plaza will offer lobster bisque, grilled rib-eye steak with butternut squash gratin and braised greens, and a chocolate-hazelnut torte with whipped caramel, vanilla crème fraiche and candied citrus, plus their regular menu. $55 per person. 3 to 11 p.m. 110 W. Spain St., Sonoma. 938-3634 or thegirlandthefig.com.

Palooza Brewery and Gastropub in Kenwood pledges loads of fun starting at 10 p.m., loads of bites and four drink tickets, a champagne toast, a DJ and dancing, along with a full bar available. Ages 21 and older only. Palooza will serve their full menu until 10 p.m., with their own craft beer on tap as well. $40 from 10 p.m. 8910 Sonoma Highway, Kenwood. Reserve at 833-4000. Paloozafresh.com.

Saddles Steakhouse will serve a glass of champagne and a red pepper and avocado mousse amuse bouche. Next choices: Tomales Bay oyster bisque; spinach salad with beets, candied walnuts and Laura Chenel cheese. Entrées include six-ounce filet of beef with Rosenberg blue cheese and crispy onions, Rock Cornish game hen, seared local salmon, and ravioli with ricotta cheese, sun-dried tomato and wild mushroom, and accompaniments. $100, $25 children 12 and under. 29 E. MacArthur, Sonoma. 938-2929.

Sonoma Grille adds a four-course menu with choices of raw oysters, polenta with asparagus, or grilled tiger shrimp; tomato bisque or Blood orange salad; entrée selections of homemade gnocchi with truffle cream sauce, shaved truffles, and white truffle oil, seared scallop risotto, wild King salmon, or filet mignon. $75 adults, $34 for kids wine pairing $30 additional. 165 West Napa Street, Sonoma. Reserve at 938-7542. Sonomagrilleandbar.com.

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