Best NYE eats

Photo: Martha Williams

Avec
(615 W Randolph St, 312-377-2002)
The upcoming year might be the year of the ox, but pig-happy chef Koren Grieveson is making it the year of the boar with a $50 four-course dinner starring the wild beast. And for one night only, the restaurant will take reservations, so make ’em now.

Blackbird
(619 W Randolph St, 312-715-0708)
Need some luxe in your life? Mike Sheerin’s $100 seasonal NYE tasting menu has you covered, starting with caviar, moving through oysters, foie, lobster, black-truffle pasta and rack of lamb, then ending with Tim Dahl’s black-walnut sponge cake with Camembert and chocolate sorbet.

Bonsoiree
(2728 W Armitage Ave, 773-486-7511)
Want to save cash on New Year’s? Bring your own bubbly to this Logan spot’s $110 six-course dinner, which kicks off with sashimi, includes 10-hour smoked abalone and ends with chocolate galore.

The Bristol
(2152 N Damen Ave, 773-862-5555)
The choice is yours with chef Chris Pandel’s wallet-friendly $39 three-course meal: Choose from Sicilian tuna, blini with trout roe and chicken-liver mousse for a starter, then young chicken, bouillabaise or onion tart with greens for an entrée. Everyone gets chocolate-date pudding cake for dessert.

graham elliot
(217 W Huron St, 312-624-9975)
Go for the gutbuster and do the $90 five-course meal (which includes a housemade wine-cooler aperitif and Kentucky-fried pheasant with buttermilk biscuit and fois gravy). Or, eat like a bird and do three courses for $65.

Green Zebra
(1460 W Chicago Ave, 312-243-7100)
Proving that celebrating isn’t all about caviar and foie, chef Molly Harrison will put out a $75 five-course tasting menu of seasonal, meat-free dishes. The only cruelty involved would be not getting the wine pairings for an additional $45.

Province
(161 N Jefferson St, 312-669-9900)
Get a table between 5:30 and 8pm, and you’ll get Randy Zweiban’s three-course dinner for $36. Come between 8pm and midnight, and it’s $65 for the meal—but, hey, you also get a glass of cava. Early bird gets the (cheaper) worm.

312 Chicago
(136 N LaSalle St, 312-696-2420)
By now, you must have heard that chef Dean Zanella is leaving his post in 2009, and as a parting gift to diners, he’ll roll back prices to 1998, when it all began, to offer a $35 five-course prix fixe of signature rustic Italian eats.

Uncommon Ground
(1401 W Devon Ave, 773-465-9801)
Four courses for $50 is tough to beat, especially when options include grilled arctic char with housemade tarragon gnocchi and lemon-ginger cheesecake with cranberry glaze.

Vie
(4471 Lawn Ave, Western Springs, 708-246-2082)
It’s seasonal as usual for chef Paul Virant’s $100 seven-course NYE dinner, so expect the famed-and-fleeting Nantucket bay scallops, wild mushrooms, root veg and preserved plums to dot the menu.