Some Appetizing Cross-Promotions

Nights on the Town: Dinner and a show have always gone hand-in-hand, but the two get even cozier with a couple of current restaurant-theater cross-promotions. Obachine restaurant (242 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills) is offering a dinner and theater package for “The Last Night of Ballyhoo” at the Canon Theater (205 N. Canon Drive, also in Beverly Hills) from now until Jan. 10. When you call the Canon Theater--(310) 859-2830--to purchase tickets to the 8 p.m. show on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Sunday, tell them you want the Obachine deal. For $60 per person, you’ll have your show ticket and a three-course meal. Then you call Obachine--at (310) 274-4440--to make your reservation (no later than 6 p.m.) and tell them you bought the “Ballyhoo” show package. If you want, you can have your appetizer and main course, go to the show and then return to the restaurant for dessert and coffee.

Or maybe you want a more casual evening out. The Hard Rock Cafe at the Beverly Center (8600 Beverly Blvd., L.A.) has teamed with “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” the musical now showing at the Coronet Theatre (366 N. La Cienega Blvd., L.A.). For $45 a person on weeknights/$55 weekends, you get show tickets, priority seating at the restaurant, a salad, entree, soft drink and ice cream. Call the Coronet for ticket purchase at (310) 657-7377; show the Hard Rock your special tickets when you arrive for dinner (it doesn’t take reservations). You can go back to the restaurant after the show for your ice cream, if you like.

Dinner With Blitzen: Herewith our annual roundup of restaurants serving Christmas Eve dinners. Some places are pricey, some a (relative) bargain; some are swinging and some are singing.

Joe’s has a three-course meal for $38 with choices like roasted duck with spiced pears and figs, smoked beef tenderloin with braised leeks and a malted milkshake with holiday fudge. Dinner is served from 5 to 10 p.m. Joe’s, 1023 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice; (310) 399-5811.

The Sherman Oaks supper club Moonlight swings all night to the Pat Tuzzolino Swing Band. Dinner is either roast goose or prime rib accompanied by oyster dressing, glazed carrots, creamed spinach, scalloped potatoes and lingonberry sauce. You can make reservations from 6 to 11 p.m. any night; it’s $19.95 per person. The music starts at 7 p.m. Moonlight, 13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks; (818) 788-2000.

Patina is serving a six-course menu for $82 per person ($30 for children under 10). It begins with smoked sturgeon and potato salad (“with a seared scallop and caviar”), a foie gras terrine, black truffle risotto with lobster and poached salmon. Next, the main course: rack of lamb or roasted venison. Dessert is a French bu^che de Noel. Reservations are taken from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Patina, 5955 Melrose Ave., L.A.; (323) 467-1108.

Rockenwagner has a three-course dinner for $45, served from 6 to 10 p.m. Choices include spicy mussels and creamy polenta, roasted duck breast, pumpkin-seed-crusted salmon, vegetable and potato plate and pear-cranberry streusel with ice cream. The bakery will be open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Christmas Eve so you can pick up a 2-foot-tall gingerbread skyscraper and impress the heck out of your friends. Rockenwagner, 2435 Main St., Santa Monica; (310) 399-6504.

In Ventura, 71 Palm is running menu specials in addition to its regular menu. You can have dishes like roast pheasant Normand, roast goose with wild rice stuffing and grilled venison steak. Dinner is served from 5 to 9:30 p.m. 71 Palm, 71 N. Palm St., Ventura; (805) 653-7222.

Valentino has a tummy-filling six-course menu for $65, served from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. It begins with baked oysters, chestnut soup and your choice of lobster salad, porcini timbale or ling cod mold. Then you have a pasta, a meat entree and dessert. Valentino, 3115 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 829-4313.

Xiomara celebrates Noche Buena with Cuban food and Latin carolers belting out tunes in Spanish and English. A four-course dinner, with the roasted pork entree served at your table, is $45 per person. Xiomara, 69 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena; (626) 796-2520.

For more listings, check out the Restaurants & Cafes page at www.calendarlive.com.