First Spago Plans Final New Year’s Bash

For Old Times’ Sake: The New Year’s Eve celebration at the original Spago is going to be overflowing with significance. Spago Hollywood will close in a few months after 18 years of serving from that famous open kitchen. Owners Wolfgang Puck and Barbara Lazaroff decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to remodel it, so they’re letting their lease expire March 31 (not a huge surprise--Spago Hollywood was upstaged three years ago with the opening of the sleek and glamorous Spago Beverly Hills). The last New Year’s Eve bash to be held at the original Spago will be a four-course menu put together by chef Gina De Cew, including Florida stone crab, pasta with black truffles and venison. A DJ will spin club tunes for the dancing enthusiasts. The first seating (6 or 6:30 p.m.) costs $115, the second seating (9:30 or 10 p.m.) runs $175. Prices do not include beverage, tax, or tip.

* Spago Hollywood, 1114 Horn Ave., West Hollywood; (310) 652-3706.

*

Party Time: And now for more New Year’s Eve restaurant parties:

Ciudad celebrates the New Year four times, as it strikes in Madrid, Rio, Havana and finally L.A. The menu for the night can be ordered a la carte or as a $75 three-course prix-fixe meal served with Spanish sparkling wine and Port. Dishes include a Peruvian ceviche, a tapas assortment, a Brazilian mixed grill plate and a tres leches dessert sampler. Bassist Al McKibbon will lead his Latin jazz combo from 8 p.m. into the night. Reservations from 5 to 11 p.m. Ciudad, Suite 100, Union Bank Plaza, 445 S. Figueroa St., L.A.; (213) 486-5171.

*

La Boca del Conga, the restaurant in the Conga Room nightclub, will salsa in the new year. The Nuevo Latino meal offers choices like lobster ceviche, sweet corn tamale with foie gras, sirloin empanadas, pan-roasted grouper and prawn paella. For $125 you get a four-course meal and general admission to the club upstairs; for $185, you also get a champagne toast, reserved seating in the club and breakfast in the wee hours. For $350 you get VIP seats upstairs, and the meal is five courses. The Conga Room, 5364 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.; (323) 938-1696.

Chef Roberto Ivan of Manhattan Beach’s Il Fornaio has created an a la carte menu of 12 dishes from the last century of Italian cooking; each celebrates a particular chef Ivan admires. They include gnocchi with caviar and Groviera cheese sauce ($16); risotto with saffron, veal marrow and gold leaf ($25); and squab stuffed with sausage ($24). Reservations, 5-11 p.m. Il Fornaio, 1800 Rosecrans Ave., Manhattan Beach; (310) 725-9555.

*

Melisse French restaurant has two seatings on New Year’s Eve. The first, 5:30-6:30 p.m., is a four-course meal (for example, potato-crusted wild turbot, dry-aged New York steak with shallot-bone marrow flan). It’s $90 plus tax and tip. At the six-course second seating, 8:30-9:30 p.m., you get smoked salmon and caviar, Maine lobster with black truffles, duck glazed with dates, T bone of Colorado lamb and poached pears. After dinner there’s a Champagne toast, music and party favors. The tab is $175 plus tax and tip. Melisse, 1104 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica; (310) 395-0881.

*

Typhoon, the Pan-Asian restaurant at Santa Monica Airport, is setting out a buffet for the new year. Dishes include deviled eggs with caviar, crab toast, Indonesian vegetable salad, prawns in red curry and coconut tapioca pudding. The evening, which includes music by Joli Starr and His Band and a Champagne toast, begins at 8:30 p.m. The tab is $100 plus tax and tip. Typhoon, 3221 Donald Douglas Loop South, Santa Monica; (310) 390-6565.

*

Vermont restaurant has named its New Year’s party “The Last Supper (at least for this year).” Choices include roasted white corn soup, seared foie gras and veal medallions. The first seating, 6-7 p.m., is $50; the second seating, 8-10 p.m., includes live entertainment and costs $85. Prices do not include tax or tip. Vermont, 1714 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz; (323) 661-6163.

*

A Family Affair: Alto Palato owner Danilo Terribili is pulling his Italian family into the kitchen on the night of Jan. 5. His mother, father, two aunts and an uncle will be put to work alongside Alto Palato chef Gino Angelini and tamale king John Sedlar. Jim Clendenen will bring four wines from his Au Bon Climat winery. What actually will happen with that many folks in the kitchen remains to be seen. The price is set at $70 plus tax and tip. Alto Palato, 755 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood; (310) 657-9271.

*

Angela Pettera can be reached at (213) 237-3153 or at pettera@prodigy.net