A La Carte: Make your New Year’s Eve dinner reservations

SONOMA COUNTY: Restaurants ringing in the New Year

If you don’t have plans yet for New Year’s Eve, there’s still time to make a reservation at one of the local restaurants offering special dinners, often with champagne toasts and other fun extras.

Here are a few of the many restaurants offering New Year’s Eve festivities:

Aventine, 14301 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen: A five-course prix fixe dinner menu with wine pairing flight will be served during two seatings, at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. (includes midnight champagne toast). There will be dancing and a live DJ starting at 10 p.m. Cost is $100 for 5 p.m. seating, $150 for 8 p.m. seating. Reservations required. 934-8911.

Backyard, 6566 Front St., Forestville: New Year’s Eve dinner includes choice of a three-, four- or five-course prix fixe dinner menu. Cost is $55 for three courses, $65 for four and $75 for five. The restaurant will also serve a brunch on New Year’s Day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 820-8445.

Barndiva, 231 Center St., Healdsburg: A three-course prix fixe menu, with optional wine pairings, plus special cocktails created for the night. Cost is $85 with an additional $55 for wine pairing. There will be an after-party with music in the new gallery bar next door. 431-0100.

Centre du Vin Bistro of Ledson Hotel, 480 First St. E., Sonoma: A five-course menu and wine pairings. Here’s the caloric lineup: Oysters Rockefeller, Roasted Chestnut Soup, Butternut Squash Ravioli, Filet Mignon and Chocolate Orange Pot de Crème. The first seating begins at 6 p.m., and the 9 p.m. seating will take guests through midnight for a champagne toast. Cost is $100 per person, $150 with wine pairing. 996-9779.

Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch, 738 Main St., St. Helena: A four-course prix fixe dinner with optional wine pairings will be served starting at 5 p.m., with cocktails, live music and a sparkling wine toast at midnight. Cost is $65 for dinner, $90 with wine pairings. 963-9181.

French Garden, 8050 Bodega Ave., Sebastopol: A four-course prix fixe dinner, with choices of vegetarian and gluten-free dishes, will be served from 5 to 10 p.m. There will be a dance party from 9 p.m. to midnight featuring Honey B and the Pollinators, plus a champagne toast. Cost is $75 for dinner only, $85 for dinner and dance, $25 for dance party only. 824-2030.

Spinster Sisters, 401 South A St., Santa Rosa: A three-course menu with champagne toast will be served from 6 to 10 p.m. Reservations required. Cost is $65. The kitchen will serve a New Year’s Day brunch from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with reservations required for parties of six or larger. 528-7100.

HEALDSBURG: Jazz dinners back at Dry Creek Kitchen

From December through March, the Dry Creek Kitchen will serve a special, three-course Jazz Dinner from 6 to 9 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday nights, featuring jazz duos and trios.

The cost of the dinners are $36, or $51 with paired wines. Two dollars from each meal will be donated to the Healdsburg Education Foundation.

The Dry Creek Kitchen is located at 317 Healdsburg Ave. 431-0330.

HEALDSBURG: Spoonbar hosts Feast of Seven Fishes

Chef Louis Maldonado and his team at Spoonbar will serve a special, five-course menu for seven nights, starting Thursday, Dec. 18, as a celebration of the Feast of Seven Fishes.

Each dinner will feature seven different types of seafood, such as sashimi, oysters, fluke, abalone, clams, striped bass, sea urchin, Dungeness crab, lobster, tuna, squid, black cod, ocean trout, prawns and Gulf snapper.

Each five-course meal costs $78. Spoonbar is located at 219 Healdsburg Ave. 433-7222.

SANTA ROSA: Chef reappears at Station 1870 kitchen

Chef Helena Gustavsson-Giesea, who cooked at the former Whitetail Winebar in Guerneville, is now running the kitchen in the Station 1870 wine bar in Santa Rosa’s historic Railroad Square.

The wine bar, which highlights three main brands of local wines - Fritz Underground, Lost Canyon and Vino Valbrero - serves tapas such as Baked Brie with Fig and Late Harvest Zin Reduction ($10) and small plates like Truffled Mac ’n’ Cheese with Garlic Bread ($10).

“I also do a three-course dinner every week from 6 to 9 p.m.,” Gustavsson-Giesea said of the Wednesday through Sunday dinners. “I’ve been doing a soup, entree and a dessert for $20, or with wine pairing for $35.”

Although the menu is based on California cuisine, the chef adds a bit of her Swedish heritage, with dishes such as Swedish Meatballs with Cranberry Rice.

“I like to try the wine, and then create the food for it,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun because it makes it more of an art.”

Station 1870, which is named after the year the first train pulled into Railroad Square, is located at 123 Fourth St. It is open from 3 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 3 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 to 10 p.m. Sunday. 623-9619.

Compiled by Staff Writer Diane Peterson, who can be reached at 521-5287 or diane.peterson@pressdemocrat.com, and wine writer Peg Melnik, who can be reached at 521-5310 or peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com.