The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Welcome the new year with fun, feasts
Welcome the new year with fun and feasts
Once Christmas has passed, plans shift into high gear for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day celebrations.
A new decade in 2020 needs an auspicious beginning, with Jan. 1 meals framed around pork.
Asians originated the idea of eating pork to start a new year; pigs root forward, so the idea is having park on Jan. 1 helps a person move ahead. (Relatedly, chicken is not to be eaten because chickens scratch backwards.)
Pork is always served with sauerkraut on New Year’s Day at Rider’s Inn, 792 Mentor Ave. in Painesville, although other dishes also are featured for the start of the year in the dining room.
Rider’s Inn also hosts a New Year’s Eve dinner beginning at 5 p.m., and some families choose to spend the night in one of the inn’s guest rooms. After tucking in the youngsters, Mom and Dad go back downstairs for dancing, noisemakers and New Year’s Eve traditions such as the traditional televised ball-drop at midnight.
“We serve a menu of foods that have been holiday favorites over the past 200 years we’ve welcomed guests,” said innkeeper Elaine Crane. “We’ve researched the dishes and explain their history on the menu, which guests are welcome to take home.”
Beyond the cost of the meals, there is no cover charge or minimum for either New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day dinners at Rider’s Inn. But reservations will be necessary at 440354-8200.
Prosperity Social Club, in Cleveland’s Tremont neighborhood, has a New Year’s Day brunch that also features lucky pork dishes, including Three Piggy Cassoulet, the French peasant casserole built around ham, sausage, roasted pork loin and white beans sprinkled with buttery breadcrumbs and topped with a sunnyside-up egg. Also consider spicy shrimp and grits or fluffy buttermilk pancakes along with Hoppin’ John Benedict.
An array of festive cocktail options also will be on the menu, including an apple cider margarita, a maple-ginger old-fashioned, an almond maple hot buttered rum and a holiday sangria — a cheerful blend of chablis, hazelnut, cinnamon, brandy, caramel, nutmeg, cider and juices.
Prosperity Social Club closes on New Year’s Eve but has made its New Year’s Day brunch a popular tradition for more than a dozen years. It’s a sprawling space with dozens of activities, so it most likely will be able to accommodate those who haven’t made a reservation. But if you’d rather be seated close to the fireplace and not eat from a place at the bar, it’s best to call ahead at 216-937-1938. Prosperity is housed in an original tavern at 1109 Starkweather Ave.
Noosa Bistro in Mentor has resurrected a tradition begun years ago when the six Stanovsek children served dinner so staff who wanted New Year’s Eve off could do so.
The children have grown up and spread to the four corners of the earth, with two of them living in Australia and others on the West Coast of the United States. But all six are back in Mentor for the holidays and will serve diners who have reserved a Noosa dinner for New Year’s Eve.
“We’re requesting reservations for tables of four and will be serving from 4 to 10 p.m.,” said patriarch Rob Stanovsek.
Noosa will offer a special menu that includes dishes such as surf and turf, crab stuffed salmon and twin lobster tails with a filet mignon.
“We tried serving foie gras one year, but it didn’t go over well,” Stanovsek said. “So we’re sticking with dishes our regulars love to eat.”
Noosa is at 9500 Diamond Center Drive. Reserve at 440-953-1018.
LaVera Party Center in Willoughby Hills expects lots of groups of friends celebrating New Year’s Eve at its gala dinner, party and full-course breakfast. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with butler-passed hors d’oeuvres and a top-shelf open bar followed by individually served dinners at 7:30 p.m. Choices include aged filet mignon and chicken marsala. Imported gourmet pastries will be served at 9 p.m., followed at 9:30 p.m. by a brick-oven pizza bar. Champagne will be served and noisemakers distributed as midnight approaches, followed at 12:30 a.m. by a full-course breakfast. Entertainment for dancing or listening will be available all evening in two different rooms. It’s $85 per person. Reserve: 440943-0087.
Seeking a place to celebrate the New Year with your kids?
Consider the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, where the daylight Noon Year’s Eve will celebrated from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 31. Kid-friendly activities take place throughout the morning, followed by a countdown at noon to welcome the new year. Noon Year’s Eve, presented by KeyBank, is included with regular zoo admission. But a VIP Experience at the zoo’s Stillwater Place includes a brunch, a character meet-and-greet, dance party and family activities. It’s $25 and includes zoo admission for everyone 2 and older.
Details: clevelandmetroparks.com/zoo/visit/tickets.
Cleveland Metroparks also is hosting a Kids New Year’s Eve event, with brunch in three different timeframes at Merwin’s Wharf, nestled into a bend of the Cuyahoga River in an industrial neighborhood in Cleveland’s Flats. A brunch buffet, face painting and magic show a will be available from 9 to 11 a.m., noon to 2 p.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. Space is limited, so reservations are needed at 216-664-5696.
Pork is always served with sauerkraut on New Year’s Day at Rider’s Inn, 792 Mentor Ave. in Painesville, although other dishes also are featured for the start of the year in the dining room.