Online-video cocktail parties and eating takeout at home is on the menu for many people this New Year’s Eve but those who do plan to visit Greater Victoria bars and restaurants can expect to ring in 2021 a few hours before midnight.
Liquor establishments have had to get creative to mark New Year’s Eve while also abiding by the province’s 10 p.m. curfew on alcohol sales. (Update: On Wednesday, the province announced that all liquor sales and service on New Year's Eve would have to end at 8 p.m.)
Bartholomew’s Pub will be toasting 2021 at 7:30 p.m. which is when the clock strikes midnight in Newfoundland.
“Newfoundland is the first place in North America to ring in the new year,” said Morgan Watson, the pub’s director of food and beverage. Everyone will get a shot of Screech rum, a traditional drink that welcomes people as an honorary Newfoundlander. The pub will also serve traditional East Coast fare such as fish and chips and salted pork bites and a fiddler from Newfoundland will play a few tunes.
Watson has already heard from Newfoundlanders who are excited to have a taste of home. He’s also expecting Scottish, English and Irish ex-pats to venture to the pub at 4 p.m. to mark the New Year in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
“We wanted to put a positive spin on it,” Watson said. “And we really want to kiss this year goodbye.”
Ceri-Anne Lewis, general manager of Pagliacci’s, which typically has a four-course dinner capped off by a boisterous champagne toast at midnight, said Thursday’s dinner service will look just like any other night. Seating will be first-come-first-serve and there will be live music from 6 to 8 p.m., Lewis said.
Pagliacci’s is expecting many takeout orders from those celebrating the start of 2021 on the couch.
“It’s a big difference from what we’re used to,” she said, noting that business has been especially slow since the Nov. 19 order to keep socializing within one’s household.
Wild Mountain Food and Drink in Sooke is offering four-course menus for New Year’s Eve with options for diners to add a charcuterie box, wine pairing, cocktails or bubbly, said Brooke Fader, who has been operating the restaurant with her husband and head chef, Oliver Kienast, since 2015.
“We’re all craving an experience, and one that’s a little reminiscent of how things were and how things are going to be again,” Fader said. After months of staying close to home and social distancing, people want to feel connected, “and food can do that, even if it’s arriving in a biodegradable food container at your door.”
The restaurant’s indoor dining room has been closed since March 23 and with the weather too cold for the ocean-front patio, Wild Mountain has been finding creative ways to offer its locally sourced food to people across the region. That includes frozen dinner packages which can be ordered online and picked up from locations in Victoria.
Fader said it’s not just about providing quality food but supporting local farmers and fishermen who sell to the restaurant.
Diners at Belleville’s Watering Hole & Diner will be served bubbly, party favours and hats at 9 p.m. to ring in the New York New Year.
“It will be very subdued but let’s see what we can do,” said owner Rob Chyzowski. “There’s no dancing, there’s no moving from table to table. But you can celebrate with your immediate family or the table that you’re with.”
Chyzowski said while the restaurant has ample space between the pub, diner and heated patio, he expects a slower night than previous years.
“The people who are here will say ‘let's get rid of 2020,’ ” he said.
kderosa@timescolonist.com
