Archived Article By Tom Fitzmorris Originally published December , 2005 Click here for the current edition New Year's Eve Will Be Big New Year's Eve is always the biggest night of the year for white-tablecloth restaurants. This year in New Orleans,  diners will celebrate the end of 2005 with as much glee as the beginning of 2006. The good news is that almost every restaurant in which it would make sense to open for New Year's Eve will indeed be open. That's assuming, of course, that the restaurant has managed to restore itself to business since the storm. And quite a few eateries are coming back barely in time for New Years' Eve. This Thursday, for example, we have the return of two great Riverbend favorites, Brigtsen's and Jacques-Imo's. As was the case for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm finding that many restaurants are lagging behind in making plans for New year's Eve--no doubt because everybody, especially management, is working at least time and a half these days. However, I have begun to receive special menus for the evening. I'm posting them all here on the website. (Restaurants wanting to include their menus on the site should e-mail them to me at news@nomenu.com.) The range for special menus seems to be from about $50 to a touch over $100. The more expensive ones usually include wines or entertainment. Almost all restaurants with a special menu include shampagne [spelling intentional]. It will be a fine night for dining, but you might not be able to go to your regular place. Look over the list of reopened restaurants here, and if it seems like the kind of place that would be serving New Year's Eve and it sounds good, make a reservation. That will be essential: we still don't have enough restaurants to be able to serve the population, and the better ones will book up soon. © 2005 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com