New Year’s Eve on the Island: Parties and Prix Fixes

Where to spend the last night of 2014 on Martha’s Vineyard.

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Photo by Michael Cummo

If you’re still unsure of where to celebrate New Year’s Eve, we’ve done the honors and rounded up some local happenings to help you usher in 2015 on the Island. There are new options and the reliable old haunts too, from sumptuous menus to live music and costumed dance parties.

Plan to check out your favorite-looking event, or better yet, hop around to a few different spots. There’ll be no shortage of fun, so suit up, go out, and make this New Year count.

Edgartown

The Harbor View Hotel hosts its annual New Year’s Eve party, and promises an evening packed with good food, live music, and bright lights. Beginning at 9 pm, guests can enjoy live music by the Sultans of Swing in the hotel’s Water Street restaurant, or dance to the tunes of the Mike Benjamin Band in the Grand Ballroom. A selection of gourmet hors d’oeuvres will be served, and partygoers can choose a purchase from an extensive list of beer, wine, and seasonal cocktails. At midnight all guests are welcome to kick off 2015 with a celebratory champagne toast on the hotel’s expansive wraparound porch overlooking the fireworks display on Edgartown Harbor. Tickets can be purchased online at brownpapertickets.com/event/975566for $95. Guests must be 21-plus, and semiformal attire is required.

On New Year’s Day, the Harbor View will also serve a savory bloody mary breakfast in the Water Street restaurant from 10 am to 2 pm. A variety of hot and cold dishes, including made-to-order omelets and waffles, maple-smoked Atlantic salmon, crispy apple-smoked bacon and an assortment of fresh fruit, pastries, and cereals, will be available. Breakfast is $25 per person and includes a complimentary bloody mary.

Isola’s New Year’s Eve celebration includes a carefully crafted four-course prix fixe menu starting with local oysters, cocktail shrimp, and a complimentary glass of prosecco. The dinner is $75 per person and is finished with housemade tiramisu or their affogato dessert with vanilla-bean gelato and fresh espresso. Call 774-549-9446 for reservations.

Party like it’s 1922 at Atria with a three-course menu, endless champagne, and the music of Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish at the restaurant’s Great Gatsby dinner and dance party. Menu highlights include mushroom consommé with herb and braised short rib amuse-bouche, lobster bouillabaisse with cod, shrimp, scallops; bruschetta with saffron aioli, and a dessert sampler. Space is limited. Call 508-627-5850 to reserve your spot. Seating from 6 pm to 9 pm, music 9 pm to midnight, tickets $100.

Hob Knob is partnering with Atria to offer couples reservations to Atria’s Great Gatsby party, a luxurious king room with late checkout, and a New Year’s Day brunch at Hob Knob for $400 a couple. Call 508-627-9510 for availability.

If the ’70s were more your style, get down with the Island’s favorite disco cover band, the Boogies, at the Funk Party at The Wharf. The 21-plus show starts at 10 pm, and tickets are $10 at the door. Costumes are encouraged and “dancing shoes required.”

If you still haven’t checked out The Wharf’s sister restaurant, newly opened tapas bar and lounge Rockfish, NYE might just be the time. They’ll be hosting their first New Year’s soirée, including passed hors d’oeuvres and their trademark flatbreads, complete with a champagne toast at midnight. The party starts at 7:30 pm and includes music by DJ Hackett. Tickets are $50; call 508-627-9967 to purchase.

A more elegant setting, perhaps? Try the $95 prix fixe five-course menu from Chef Justin Melnick at The Terrace at the Charlotte Inn, served from 5:30 pm to 9 pm. The menu boasts blini with house-cured gravlax, osetra caviar, and crème fraîche; a wild shrimp cocktail; braised FARM Institute lamb shank; and a chocolate and caramel tart, among other tasty morsels. Call 508-627-6227 to reserve.

Lucky Hank’s will be celebrating its second New Year’s Eve with a $45 prix fixe three-course menu featuring filet mignon and bay scallop entrée selections. Italian-American Edgartown mainstay The Grill on Main has extended its popular 2-for-1 entrée special, usually only offered Thursday through Saturday, to include New Year’s Eve. Or go get your last fix at The Square Rigger or Alchemy before they close for the month of January. The Square Rigger will be offering its regular menu, and Alchemy will have two seatings for its prix fixe menu. Call for reservations and details.

Oak Bluffs

The parties continue down-Island at Lookout Tavern with its full menu, party favors, and a champagne toast. Nearby M.V. Chowder Company will be open regular hours, and upstairs, Dreamland will be ringing in the New Year with DJ AP and showing the ball drop on the big screen. Ladies are free all night and guys are $10; the event is 21-plus and starts at 9 pm.

Or make your way up Kennebec Avenue to Red Cat Kitchen for its $62 four-course prix fixe menu. The restaurant’s Facebook page claims it’s the best dinner possible, and that might just be true. Call 508-696-6040 for reservations.

Continuing up the street, Offshore Ale Co. will be featuring Eric Johnson on classical guitar from 6 pm to 8 pm. If you’re more of a morning person, head to Offshore at 9:30 am on New Year’s Day to sign up for their seventh annual New Year’s Day Disc Golf Tournament in collaboration with Lazy Frog. Entry is $30 and covers the day’s events, including light breakfast and beverages and an award ceremony immediately following the tournament. You can also preregister by calling the Lazy Frog at 617-816-7400.

Across the street, Park Corner will be serving a three-course prix fixe menu for $65 per person, including passed hors d’oeuvres and a champagne toast. There will be one seating at 8 pm, and the restaurant is otherwise closed to the public, so call 508-696-9922 for your reservation.

On nearby Circuit Avenue, The Ritz invites you to start a new Island New Year’s Eve tradition at their Odd Ball dance party, and “encourages people to let their freak flag fly.” DJs Ras Toe and Wep One will be providing music for the event, and the “come as you like” dress-up party offers goodies and party favors. The best part? They’ll be serving breakfast from 1 am to 2 am, so you can top off your last night with your first meal. The event has a $20 cover charge, with an additional $10 for breakfast.

The PA Club is also gearing up for a night to remember, with live music from Sabrina and the Groovers. Donations are appreciated, and the event starts at 9 pm.

Vineyard Haven

The Black Dog Tavern on Vineyard Haven harbor is open for dinner on New Year’s Eve until 10 pm. The regular dinner menu will be available, in addition to a number of specials.

If film is what you prefer, make plans to attend The Martha’s Vineyard Film Center’s New Year’s Eve bash. The premiere of Chris Rock’s “Top Five” headlines the evening, in addition to food, libations, live jazz music, and live coverage of Times Square at midnight on the big screen. The event begins at 7:30 pm, and special prices are available.

Up-Island

West Tisbury’s State Road restaurant is preparing to end the year with a special five-course prix fixe menu for $125 per person at 6 pm and 9 pm. Call 508-693-8582 for details and reservations.

Find inspiration for 2015 with Pathways Projects at the Living Room Studios at the Chilmark Tavern from 7 pm to 9 pm. Get your creative juices flowing, and enjoy music by Mait Edey, Matt Stamas, Kim Hilliard, David Stanwood, and others, plus good wishes, camaraderie, conversation, and refreshments. Guests are encouraged to dress in their vision for the New Year — laid-back, outlandish, fantabulous, incognito, or everyday arts. The event is free and open to the public.