Celebrate New Year’s Eve in Chicago with Steak

Steak, perhaps the most celebratory of all meals, has never been more appropriate than on New Year’s Eve, THE annual night of all-out partying.

 

Whether it’s raining or snowing or (as sometimes happens) mild and breezy on December 31, Chicago’s best steak restaurants roll out the red meat carpet to welcome you with Midwestern hospitality and Midwestern meat. Many steakhouses are offering special dinners on the evening before the new year, but even those who are sticking to the regular menu will serve you a meal to remember.

 

Here are five of Chicago’s best steak restaurants, all open on New Year’s Eve, all serving the kind of meal you want on your plate as you begin the new year.

 

 

Chicago Firehouse Restaurant. On New Year’s Eve, the Chicago Firehouse Restaurant offers a four-course prix fixe dinner with optional wine pairings. Executive Chef Greg Biggers starts you with appetizers like shrimp cocktail and wedge salad, and then things get fancy: mushroom truffle ravioli, blue crab cake, you get the idea. For the entrées, prime ribeye, salmon wellington, and steak Diane for two. Champagne mousse and chocolate fudge cakes for dessert. It’s a good time.

 

III Forks. Taking reservations on December 31 from 5-11pm, III Forks in Lakeshore East kicks off your celebratory dinner with seafood-forward starters (ahi tuna, crab cake or lobster bisque), followed by some classic salads and then moves you right on into meat. And oh, what meat: certified prime Angus 42-day dry aged beef, Dunham Ranch Wagyu, tomahawk ribeye and filet mignon. There’s also some succulent seafood just for you (cold water lobster tail, Chilean seabass), some spectacular sides (lobster mac n’ cheese, fried Brussels sprouts) and lots more.

 

Gene & Georgetti. Gene & Georgetti in downtown Chicago is still recovering from a grease fire in the kitchen last October, but the Rosemont location is carrying on the tradition of a good time for the holidays. For the New Year, G&G’s is rolling out traditional slow-cooked Tuscan sausage and lentils, a platter of fishes, and oysters Rockefeller. The primi will be lobster diavolo or risotto; secondi is king crab legs, codfish in a light tomato sauce or a 45-day dry-aged bone-in ribeye. For dessert, there’s panettone (of course!), with mascarpone. Or you can order off the regular menu, which ain’t bad either.

 

 

Gibson’s. It’s a new year a’coming, but maybe you just want to kick it old school at one of Chicago’s landmark steakhouses. Located on Rush Street, the long-recognized party central for any kind of celebration, Gibson’s will give you the blast of protein you need to make it through the final hours of the year, along with a few superb cocktails, to keep you going all night. No specials, but no worries: you’ll be knocked out by the everyday menu,

 

Erie Café.  Less flashy than some of the other steakhouses mentioned here, Erie Café is nonetheless a place to go where you will be guaranteed excellent food, service and libations. Named by Chicago Magazine one of Chicago’s “best steakhouses,” Erie Café was founded by the Lenzi family, formerly of Gene and Georgetti, and carrying on the tradition of superior red meat in an unpretentious atmosphere. Want to spend a romantic and intimate, rather than a raucous and riotous, New Year’s Eve? Erie Café would be a perfect choice.