Where to bring good food home for New Year’s Eve. (Hint: It’s not all expensive.)
I hear you.
It’s too risky right now to dine indoors if a restaurant is crowded.
So this is a different kind of New Year’s Eve roundup.
It’s about elegant takeout or delivery dinners, for a safe and personal celebration of 2021.
(If you do choose to dine out, pick a patio table or one in a well-ventilated room. Sit only with members of your household, wear masks except to take a bite or drink, and keep anyone else 6 feet away.)
See what I mean? Dining at home is better, and the valet parking is free.
Some takeout/curbside picks for Thursday night, Dec. 31:
▪ Grace, 777 Main St., one of Fort Worth’s three top fine-dining restaurants, has a special deal for New Year’s Eve: no special.
Grace is serving its regular menu at regular prices, not some jacked-up holiday dinner.
For $40-$60 inside or as takeout, enjoy chef Blaine Staniford’s Maine scallops, lobster, rack of lamb, steaks or a whole roast chicken to split.
(That’s one trick to ordering fine-dining dinners to go. Order one dinner and split it. That saves for extra dessert or wines.)
Grace serves curbside every night; along with casual cousin Little Red Wasp. Both also have streetside patios; 817-877-3388, gracefortworth.com.
▪ Ellerbe Fine Foods, 1501 W. Magnolia Ave., usually matches Grace for fine dining but has a more limited New Year’s Eve menu.
You have to call by Monday to order Ellerbe’s $140 ready-to-heat dinner for two ($195 for two with wines).
Chef Molly McCook’s entree is beef bourguignon, with a seafood salad and a Doberge trifle.
The dine-in menu ($105, $140 with wines) offers more choices. There’s an enclosed patio; 817-926-3663, ellerbefinefoods.com.
▪ Clay Pigeon Food + Drink, 2731 White Settlement Road, leads the steakhouse menus.
Clay Pigeon’s $75 dinner, served indoors or as takeout, includes a choice of a ribeye or monkfish with an appetizer, soup or salad and a choice of mocha pot de creme or almond bread pudding.
Takeout orders get 20% off wines; 817-882-8065, claypigeonfd.com.
Chef Marcus Paslay’s other restaurants will offer their regular menus and prices.
Piattello Italian Kitchen’s curbside menu in the Waterside shops features moderate-price appetizers, salads, pizzas and a choice of four pastas, roast chicken or eggplant parmigiana. There’s also a large, safe patio; piattelloitaliankitchen.com.
Provender Hall’s excellent moderate-price menu in Mule Alley has steaks, trout, burgers and chicken-fried steak; provenderhall.com.
▪ Bonnell’s and Waters will offer special menus in the dining room or as takeout. (Note: Bonnell’s will not offer its $40 curbside takeout family meals New Year’s Eve or Day.)
▪ Winslow’s Wine Cafe, 4101 Camp Bowie Blvd., will offer a dinner in the dining room and a la carte specials for easy curbside pickup including a $27 prime rib dinner with mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts, or $28 scallops. The menu also includes soups, salads and chocolate-covered strawberries.
Steakhouses such as B&B Butchers, The Capital Grille, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, Del Frisco’s Grille and the Silver Fox will offer takeout menus. Call or check the websites.
The best chain deal might be at Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille in Grapevine, serving a $60 three-course takeout dinner with a choice of steaks, seafood or the restaurant’s signature triple-cut pork chop. Order online; perryssteakhouse.com.
▪ FnG Eats, 201 Town Center Lane, Keller, is serving a $45 three-course dinner in-house or as takeout, featuring a choice of a filet, salmon or halibut.
Note the desserts from co-proprietors Bob Stephenson and Carlos Arevalo: a Kahlua chocolate ganache cake or a cheesecake with almond-brown sugar caramel; 817-741-5200, fngeats.com.
▪ Blue Mesa Grill, 612 Carroll St., is serving a $120 ($102 for new customers ordering online) ready-to-heat family dinner for six, featuring red chile-glazed ham and smoked chicken enchiladas;
There’s also a takeout ready-to-heat dinner or New Year’s Day brunch for six ($120, $102 for new customers ordering online). with tacos, red chile cheese enchiladas and egg dishes.
Yes, you could order both and feed 12 for the same price as other restaurants’ dinners for two.
Hurray for Blue Mesa Grill; 817-332-6372, bluemesagrill.com.
This story was originally published December 22, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
