New Year's Eve, the party night of the year, can be a hassle if you don't have a plan in place. Here are some ideas – from an all-vegan feast to a lavish seven-course spread.
If you're looking to enter the New Year cruelty free, you could do worse than head to Downtown Vegan Millennium, where the house will be cooking up a five-course, completely vegan, prix fixe meal ($80 per person; 415-345-3900).
Chef Ron Siegel is offering visitors to the tony Ritz-Carlton Dining Room a lavish way to ring in the New Year: a seven-course tasting menu with wine pairings accompanied by a three-piece band. Not lavish enough for you? After the three-piece band is through, there will be a five-piece band with a vocalist to let you dance the year away ($500 per person, inclusive; 415-773-6198).
At the slightly less tony Ritz-Carlton Terrace, toque Chang Sivilay is offering a smaller four-course tasting menu as well as an à la carte option ($98 per person; 415-773-6198).
CAV Wine Bar & Kitchen, meanwhile, is also ringing in the New Year with a prix fixe special, in this case a four-course tasting menu of the restaurant's signature Mediterranean dishes. And of course, their exhaustive wine list will be a useful social lubricant ($50 per person; 415-437-1770)
For the more romantically inclined, there's always the Fifth Floor, which is offering a seven-course prix fixe for the holiday, served in its famously speakeasy-like setting ($195 per person, with optional wine pairings; 415-348-1555)
Or as the midnight hour approaches, you could head to One Market for drinks and a view of the fireworks on the Bay. And if you want to get really settled in, the late seating at 8:30 PM includes a prix fixe meal ($120 per person for prix fixe dinner; 415-777-5577).