By Polly Campbell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Where to make reservations for New Year's Eve:

Hotels have lots of packages for dinner, dining, dancing and a room. But for a quieter, more dinner-based celebration, here are a few restaurants that will have special menus Jan. 31.

Aioli Bistro, downtown, will have a four-course menu including all kinds of celebratory foods, such as warm lobster salad with corn pancakes, mango, endive and vanilla-citrus emulsion. There will be foie gras, lamb medallions or potato-wrapped bass, bittersweet chocolate and walnut tart and a glass of champagne. Live jazz with Pamela Mallory and Pat Kelly. Cost: $75 per person, including tax and tip. Reservations: 929-0525

Things might be a little rowdier at the BarrelHouse Brewing Co. in Over-the-Rhine, where there will be entertainment and dancing with Worldwide. There will be plenty of food from a buffet of shrimp, lamb, pasta, prime rib, and more. Cost: $75 per person. Reservations: 421-2337.

At the Brandywine Inn in Monroe, there will be seatings at 6 and 9 p.m. for a luxurious five-course dinner that will feature tournedos de beef Bacchus, plus a choice of roast lamb loin or lobster tail. With six courses of wine, it will be $79.95 per person; or $64.95 without wine. (It also includes a free entrČe at the restaurant in January-March.) Reservations: 779-4747.

The Celestial's $120-per-person, four-course dinner evening will include champagne and dancing to jazz in the Incline Lounge until 1 a.m. The menu will include spicy bouillabaisse soup, Chilean sea bass and an oven-roasted veal filet with braised portabella, asparagus, semolina potato gnocchi and porcini mushroom-spiced red wine sauce. There will be seatings at 6 and 9 p.m. Reservations: 241-4455.

Chateau Pomije in Indiana has a big new banquet facility, where a buffet will be served with prime rib, barbecued ribs, pork loin, lasagne and more. There will be a cash bar and music by the Waterman Project. Cost: $59.95 per person. Reservations: (800) 791-9463.

The Grand Finale in Glendale is taking reservations for a four-course dinner including a bottle of champagne. Cost: $125 per couple, including tax and tip. The meal will include shrimp cocktail or oysters Rockefeller; onion soup or morel chowder, Caesar or house salad, and choice of filet mignon, salmon, or lamb loin - plus any dessert from the menu. Reservations: 771-5925.

E-mail pcampbell@enquirer.com