Pop Parties : Symphonies, Fire-Eaters Will Entertain the Smart Set at New Year’s Eve Soirees

Where was Lady Godiva?

It was almost midnight, the champagne corks were bulging, and the Rapunzel-haired lass who would parade through the dining room on horseback was missing.

What’s a restaurateur to do? If it’s New Year’s Eve and you’re Bill Magnuson, your reputation for an outrageous bash is at stake. So, you ride herd through the dining room yourself.

“It was foggy that night in La Jolla a few years ago,” says the debonair Magnuson, owner of Gustaf Anders restaurant in Santa Ana. “Lady Godiva got lost, so I took up the reins. I believe in giving guests something outrageous on New Year’s Eve.”

To say the least. Last Dec. 31, a beribboned llama--with eyelashes Cher would kill for--wended its way through Magnuson’s bistro at South Coast Plaza Village. So did an organ grinder and monkey, magician and fire-eater. This year his invitation promises, along with a “four-course dinner and one bottle of champagne per couple,” more “fire-eaters, magicians and madness.”

While Magnuson is whipping up excitement, the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel is whipping up class, via the menu Auguste Escoffier created for a New Year’s Eve celebration in London, circa 1900. The Westin South Coast Plaza is cooking up a concert and an Italian menu. The Rex in Newport Beach is preparing a “seafood trilogy.” And the Ritz in Newport Beach is opening up its VIP blast to the public for the very first time. Confused? Well, of course.

Herewith to help you untangle the madness, then, is your Smart Set’s Guide to a Chic to Chic New Year’s Eve:

* Most Outrageous: Gustaf Anders is the obvious choice. Leave the “big hair” look at home. Unless of course, you want to lay a fire extinguisher beside your glitzed-out Judith Leiber bag. For $100 per person, Magnuson will serve you his famous gravad lax , golden caviar, salmon, famous breads and endless assortment of Swedish desserts. (This avant-garde haunt is a favorite of mall mogul Henry Segerstrom and his wife, Renee.)

* Most Distinguished: Haul out the chinchilla. No need to worry about paint-can wielders here. Henry Schielein, Ritz-Carlton vice president, says his party will be Orange County’s “most superior.” How can he miss with the menu Escoffier created, at the Carlton Hotel in London, for Cesar Ritz in 1900? On the menu: salad Baucaire (celery, endive, smoked duck, apple, beet, chervil and tarragon); filet of sole Tout Paris; Tournedos of Boeuf Lili (stuffed with duck liver and mushrooms in a truffle sauce); and Charlotte Russe en Praline. Dom Perignon Brut appears at midnight.

Entertaining guests will be singer Al Martino (look for him as Johnny Fontaine in “Godfather III”). The delicious catch: Schielein’s glittering soiree can only be enjoyed as part of a $575-per-person, two-day package, which includes a New Year’s Day champagne brunch with entertainment by the San Diego Youth Symphony.

* Most “in”: The new Rex restaurant at Newport Center Fashion Island is offering a Trilogy of the Sea to its 175 guests. And that means lobster, woven salmon and halibut (we’re talking a braid here; to see it is to believe it) and baby pink snapper with potato scales. Fish-haters can order rack of lamb.

Proprietor Rex Chandler, who brought his popular restaurant to Fashion Island at the behest of billionaire Donald Bren, says the $150-per-person fest will also include dancing on his black granite dance floor and keepsake photos framed in silver that have been engraved with “The Rex.” Dessert? To die for: a “Symphony of Chocolate”-- six chocolate creations. Also on the menu for this black-tie-only event: caviar and a river of champagne.

* Most traditional: Dining at the Ritz in Fashion Island during the holidays is tradition for much of Orange County’s smart set (owner Hans Prager says he has 1,000 reservations for Christmas Eve alone.) And, until this year, New Year’s Eve was always a night that left hundreds with their noses pressed up against the window. This was the night Prager reserved for his Ritz Brothers, a male tribe of restaurant regulars who are on a first-name basis with Prager. No more. Now, anyone can hail in the new year with the Ritz Brothers at midnight. All you need is a reservation. (“Things are a little slower this year,” explained Prager. “There are so many places for people to go now.”)

On the menu for this $100-per-person, black-tie optional shindig: potato blinis with sevruga caviar, and choices of lobster, filet mignon, salmon and rack of lamb.

* Most Musical: Last week, “Avanti!”gala chairwoman Lorraine Lippold previewed the menu that will be served at the Westin South Coast Plaza’s New Year’s bash: endless antipasto; linguine with fruits of the sea; veal loin stuffed with wild mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes; and Tiramsu, a layered sponge cake filled with triple-cream cheese and frosted with espresso sauce. “Perrrrrfect, just perfect!” Lippold said of the fare that will be dished up at Pacific Symphony’s $150-per-person gala-cum-concert.

Up for easy listening before dinner: Theodore Plute conducting the Pacific Orchestra and Evelyn de la Rosa singing selections from “The Barber of Seville,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Naughty Marietta” and “La Boheme.”

(Super Scoop: the Pacific Symphony will introduce its new music director, Carl St. Clair, to leaders of the Orange County arts community at the home of Roger and Janice Johnson in Laguna Beach on Jan. 12. About 75 guests--including Renee and Henry Segerstrom, Hal and Jeanette Segerstrom, and Gus and Kathryn Thompson Owen--are expected to dine, hear a symphony quartet and rub elbows with St. Clair and his girlfriend, Jennifer Keeney. “He’s the greatest thing that’s happened to the Performing Arts Center since it opened,” Janice Johnson said.)

* Most Clubby: The posh Center Club will stage “Stairway to the Stars” when it throws open its doors to members on New Year’s Eve.

(Tidbits: The Center Club--where it costs $10,000 to join--is expanding, adding two new dining rooms, said manager Joe Gatto. Also, get ready to party at this club with Placido Domingo on June 5. The singer’s post-concert bash will be staged here.) Members will be served by waiters and waitresses sporting “movie-star faces,” Gatto said. Decor will include stage sets from movie studios. . . . The Balboa Bay Club will serve a gourmet menu and entertainment to its members. Its piece de resistance ? Dessert--white chocolate ice cream in a dark chocolate shell with raspberry coulis. . . . The lucky Harbor Club is offering fare dreamed up by David Wilhelm’s trendy Barbacoa restaurant for its New Year’s Eve bash. . . . The Pacific Club, where the initiation fee is a whopping $15,000, will entertain its members with choices of veal chop, sturgeon, chicken breast or black pasta with sea scallops.

* Etc.: Vanilla invitations sporting gold seals have been sent to local supporters of the GOP. The party? The three-day round of festivities surrounding Sen. Pete Wilson’s inauguration as governor of California. Word’s out that several local heavy-hitters aren’t going to make the trip. . . . Mark your calendars: the Newport Harbor Art Museum’s annual Art of Dining is set for March 10 at the Four Seasons Hotel. . . . Heiress Joan Irvine Smith is expected to be a member of the class when she stages her annual George Morris horse clinic at the Oaks in San Juan Capistrano Dec. 21-23. . . . Thomas Nielsen, who is retiring from the Irvine Co., will receive Cypress College’s coveted Man of the Year Award on Jan. 3 at the Disneyland Hotel.