Celebrate New Year's Eve

Procrastinator's Guide to New Year's Eve: Blowout parties and fabulous feasts

This New Year's Eve, you can party like a rock star at an over-the-top hotel soiree, pop champagne by the bottle, and feast on delectable fare at some of Houston’s newest top restaurants. From downtown to The Woodlands, here are blowout bashes and tempting restaurant feasts that will make ringing in 2017 one for the books.

Blowout parties

H-Town Countdown
How do you raise the bar on OTT partying this New Year’s Eve? Throw a lavish bash like the one at Silver Street Studio. Dance the night away at the fourth annual H-Town Countdown via tunes by Austin band LC Rocks and by 104.1 KRBE’s DJ Tony Styles and Dj Bizonee. Your ticket also scores you an all-you-can-drink premium bar and a midnight champagne toast.
Price: $125 per person.
Hours: 9 pm - 3 am.

CityCentre
When the clock strikes midnight, it’s confetti as far as the eye can see at the NYE celebration at CityCentre. The lively event also boasts a rockin' performance by party band, Bristol Fashion, in the plaza.
Price: Free.
Hours: 9:30 pm - 12:30 am.

Hyatt Regency Downtown
The downtown landmark takes New Year’s Eve seriously, with a blowout soiree spanning four floors. Expect two live bands, a DJ, and dinner at rooftop restaurant Spindletop. But that’s not all. You’ll also be showered by a 50,000-balloon cascade at midnight.
Price: Packages start at $569 per couple, including an overnight hotel stay for two, dinner for two at Spindletop, and two tickets to the NYE party.
Hours: Seating times for dinner are at 6 pm, 8 pm, or 10 pm. Party: 7 pm - 1 am.

Sugar Land Town Square
Why settle for a regular ‘ol fireworks display when you can celebrate with a fireworks extravaganza complete with a state-of-the-art 3-D light show? Usher in the new year at Sugar Land Town Square, where the roster for the evening also includes live music and a DJ.
Price: Free.
Hours: 7 pm - 1 am.

The Westin at The Woodlands
If you’re looking for a decadent option this December 31, look no further than the at The Westin at The Woodlands. Kick off the evening with dinner at uber-chic first-floor restaurant, Current. Keep the party going at second-floor hotspot, SideBar, where the deal includes a complimentary toast at midnight, spins by a DJ, and a view of the waterway and skyline.
Price: $285 per couple, including an overnight hotel stay for two, $125 credit for dinner and a bottle of champagne at Current, and two tickets for SideBar.
Hours: Dinner: 5 pm - 10 pm. Party: 10 pm - 2 am.

“¡Pachanga! A Border Town Bash” at Goode Co. Armadillo Palace
Welcome the New Year with live entertainment, food, music and more. Beginning at 8 p.m., guests can indulge in a Tex-Mex feast, including campechana, primo tacos, signature Damn Goode Margarita and specialty cocktails. Mariachis, folklorico dancers, and other street artists will perform leading up to the headliner, Conjunto Los Pinkys. Houston DJ group Bombón plays a high-energy mix of progressive beats with traditional Latin flair for late night guests.
Price: General admission tickets are $25 and include live performances, a band, DJ and a champagne toast. Tickets are now on sale at at an early bird price of $15 through December 29.
Hours: 8 pm. - 2 am.

MKT BAR's New Year's Eve Global Dance Party with DJ SUN
Welcome 2017 with a culinary and musical adventure featuring a mix of festive and upbeat global grooves. International musical genres are paired with cultural cuisine, topped off with guilty pleasures at midnight. Admission includes food, a midnight Champagne toast, and more surprises.
Price: $45 in advance; $55 at the door. VIP packages available. Pre-sale tickets are available for purchase online at https://nyemktbar.eventbrite.com. Two-for-one flash sale through December 27 at midnight.
Hours: 9 pm - 2 am.

Crystal Ballroom New Year's Eve Party
Lawless Spirits and and the historic Crystal Ballroom in the Rice Lofts have collaborated for a glamorous New Year's Eve dance party with gorgeous views of downtown Houston. Welcome 2017 with music by the Mockingbirds, a DJ, drinks at five premium bars, and a 1 am breakfast taco buffet from the executive chef at Sambuca.
Price: $125 -$200
Hours: 9 pm - 2 am.

Four Seasons New Year's Eve Celebration
Enjoy a multi-course dinner followed by a performance by renowned jazz vocalist Akia Uwanda, dancing, live music and a champagne toast at midnight.
Price and Hours: First seating at 5:30 or 6 pm: Come early before your evening's festivities begin and receive a special price of $85 per person with optional wine pairing at $60 per person Second seating at 8 pm: Stay all night and enjoy dinner for $110 per person with optional wine pairing at $60 per person, along with live music, dancing, and a toast.

Dinner at new restaurants

Le Colonial
Delicious dishes like caramelized filet mignon salad (with snow peas, roasted garlic, watercress, and wine vinaigrette), pan-seared scallops (with creamy black rice, asparagus tips, and sweet-tangy passion fruit sauce), and roasted pear (with Vietnamese spices, caramel sauce, and candied walnuts) are all on the special menu at French/Vietnamese restaurant Le Colonial at River Oaks District. Two seating periods are available, with the later time slot also offering live music and a champagne toast.
Price: $65 per person for the early seating and $125 per person for the later seating.
Hours: Seatings are at 4 to 7 pm or 8 to 11 pm.

Hungry's Cafe
Spend New Year’s Eve at Hungry’s Cafe in Rice Village, where the four-course dinner features herb Parmesan crusted trout, four cheese ravioli with grilled shrimp, and chocolate lava cake. After your meal, head upstairs for the launch of the restaurant’s second-floor bar and lounge, aptly named Upstairs, for beats by DJ DelSur, plus a midnight champagne toast and balloon drop.
Price: Dinner: $60 per person. Party at Upstairs: $55 per person. Dinner and the party: $100 per person.
Hours: Dinner: 9 pm. Party: 9 pm - 2 am.

The Edison
The kitchen at The Edison presents three courses of stellar eats, including pan-seared scallops (with foie gras, watercress, beurre blanc, and tomato confit), poached beef tenderloin (with rosemary red wine sauce, cream cabbage, prosciutto, and roasted shallot demi), and orange polenta upside-down cake.
Price: $55 per person.
Hours: 5 pm -11 pm.

Brasserie 1895
Four-course dinner options at casual Friendswood-area eatery Brasserie 1895 include house-cured venison and wild hog summer sausage, cold smoked salmon (with pickled onion, greens, and Dijon), prime rib (with Yorkshire pudding), and baked Alaska.
Price: $80 per person.
Hours: Seatings are from 5:30 - 6:30 pm and from 8:30 - 9:30 pm.

Eloise Nichols Grill & Liquors
Eloise Nichols Grill & Liquors will serve up a special a la carte menu this NYE (think foie gras, lamb shank with truffles, and fluffy Japanese-style cheesecake), along with optional drink pairings, discounted bottles of champagne, and a complimentary champagne toast at midnight.
Price: A la carte.
Hours: 6 pm - 12 am.

Le Bistro Houston
The rebranded restaurant at the Culinary Institute LeNotre features five full-service buffet stations, the live music duo of Bubba McNeely & Greg Giacon, and a complimentary French Champagne toast at midnight.
Price: $85, plus beverage, tax and gratuity.
Hours: 8:30 pm - 12:30 am.

Hyatt Regency Downtown takes New Year’s Eve seriously with a blowout soiree spanning four floors.

Hyatt Regency Houston presents New Year's Eve

Courtesy photo

Hyatt Regency Downtown takes New Year’s Eve seriously with a blowout soiree spanning four floors.

nightlife drinks dinner music dance downtown

ask the cm three

Introducing CultureMap Houston's new advice column for navigating life

Photo by A server at 1111

Eric Sandler, Emily Cotton, and Brianna McClane want to give you advice.

Introducing CultureMap Houston’s latest initiative in reader engagement and better living. “Ask the CM Three” is a new advice column from CultureMap city editor Eric Sandler (aka me), home and design contributor Emily Cotton, and jack-of-all-trades writer Brianna McClane.

The premise is simple. Over the last year or so, the three of us have become good friends. We like helping each other think through our problems and feel like readers might appreciate our perspective on how to confront the challenges of life in Houston.

Also, if we’re being honest, advice columns are incredibly fun to read. Being exposed to other people’s problems makes our own difficulties seem a little less onerous. It’s the same sort of schadenfreude that makes articles about restaurant closures so reliably popular.

Sure, readers could submit the obvious stuff (via this Google Form). Ask Sandler for a new restaurant for date night, Cotton for tips on scoping out estate sales, or McClane for how she’s balancing working from home with school being out for the summer. But we’re hoping to be challenged with questions where we disagree — what happens when Sandler’s Gen X indifference runs into McClane and Cotton’s Millennial enthusiasm?

To explain the idea in more detail, the three of us sat down for drinks at Bar Madonna. If the overall tone seems loose, well, we were into at least our second round of cocktails before we turned the recorder on.

Eric Sandler: This was your idea, Brianna — why do you want to start writing an advice column?

Brianna McClane: I've read Dear Abby since I was a child. Since then, I've devoured advice columns from The Washington Post, The New York Times, and plenty of others. My parents are pastors, so I grew up hearing everyone's problems and listening to the advice they gave. Looking back, I think that's one reason I love advice columns.

Even if the advice isn't for you, you can still learn something from it. And if you don't, you're at least getting to enjoy someone else's drama. One of my favorite parts is when advice columns get shared on social media. I'll always scroll through the comments to see what everyone else thinks.

Emily Cotton: I religiously read The Ethicist in The New York Times. It's written by an NYU philosophy professor, and I don't always agree with him, which is part of the fun.

Our parents used to have people over for poker night — or Rook, in my house. We'd be watching "TGIF" or the NBA Finals while our parents played cards with neighbors and coworkers, and we'd overhear who was feuding with whom or which neighbor had a new scandal.

I feel like this current younger generation didn’t get to live like that — they're more apt to be “blue-light-glasses voyeurs.” They're reading it on their phones, whether it's an advice column, Instagram, or Reddit. Maybe this bridges that generational gap. Older people lived it, younger people still want it.

BM: That's a good point. It seems to me that just a few years ago, people were much more likely to ask for opinions and advice on social media. Now it's easy to ask ChatGPT instead. But advice isn't always about finding an answer — sometimes it's about connecting with another person who's been through something similar.

EC: There’s a difference between exchanging knowledge and exchanging opinions. Let's be real specific here. I don't listen to just any knowledge anyone wants to share with me. I want it to be cited. I want it to be somewhat peer reviewed.

ES: I am with you on the New York Times columns, Emily. I'll read Ask a Manager, Work Friend, and Social Q’s pretty regularly.

Houston's a big, complicated city. If you read CultureMap, we'll tell you what's going on, but we don't offer a lot of opinions and we don't really rank things. People know us — or at least feel like they know us — from reading our work. I think there's some curiosity about what we think.

ES: All right, so what kind of questions are we looking for? Do we want relationships? Parenting?

EC: I would say all of the above. At the end of the day, this is about people reaching out to other people. Think of us as your unbiased friends who'll tell you what you need to hear.

----

Got a relationship dilemma? Workplace conflict? Parenting question? Family drama? We want to hear it. Submit your questions anonymously through this Google Form, and Eric, Emily, and Brianna may answer them in an upcoming installment of Ask The CM Three.

q&a media interview advice