‘Tis the time to break out the bubbly and ring in another New Year. And no matter how you choose to do your ring-a-ding-dinging, you’re gonna wanna do it in style.
Here are five different ways in which you can make this New Year's Eve the proverbial night of your life.
1. Amtrac at Bardot
Bardot may be the smallest place you’ll ever get to see the biggest names in the biz, but don’t think for a minute its size in any way diminishes the action.
If anything, leaving the masses out of the madness only increases the likelihood of having a massive night out.
With a hotshot such as Amtrac booked to headline, support coming from New York’s Eli Escobar, and reinforcements provided by the likes of Pirate Stereo, Derek Walin and Santiago Caballero, the impact of this New Year's Eve gathering is bound to be incalculable.
And in the end, isn’t that what most matters anyway?
2. The Forge
Nothing says fine wine-and-dine better than The Forge, which has been defining fine on Miami Beach longer than most joints' owners have even been alive.
In other words, this throwback to an era of elegance and sophistication isn’t a masquerade. It’s a tradition.
And the swell of it all is inherent in everything about the place.
This being The Forge, the fare is fit for royalty, from the stone-crab claws and caviar-scallion mascarpone, which will pepper the table for one of the evening’s first courses; and the truffled prawn risotto and muscovy duck breast, which serves as the other; through the lamb, which can come either grilled or braised.
Of course, even the finest of dinners are followed by dancing, and with the beat-savvy DJ Joe Dert on the ones and twos, dancing will be inevitable.
It might just also induce you to keep making the moves that have enabled you to revel in such a fabled place on a night such as this for as long as there are moves to be made.
3. Grey Goose and Corzo Present HaVen 2013
Local
The spy’s-eye-view you’ll get of the Times Square ball drop is reason enough alone to count this hot spot among the best places to countdown to 2013.
This Lincoln Road gastro-lounge has an ultra vivid wraparound wall, which brings you way up close to blowout countdowns everywhere from Tokyo to Timbuktu.
But beyond all HaVen’s ultra-high-tech savvy is the lowdown intimacy of the joint, and how it makes even strange land strangers feel as if they’re among long lost friends.
Add plates upon plates of Executive Chef Todd Erickson’s award-winning tasties, glass upon glass of Beverage Czar Isaac Grillo’s acclaimed cocktail concoctions, and a seamless segue of resident DJ Kristian Caro’s world-class tracks (which come accompanied by the wily violinings of Dave Damage), and you’ve got the South Beach equivalent of a family affair to remember for the rest of your wild life.
4. Alesso at WET
Leave it to The W to put together the kinda fete that best represents the be-all to end-all in South Beach decadence, and leave it to WET to be the kinda place where an entire year’s worth of woes can be easily washed away.
Then again, if you’ve got the kind of scratch it takes to make this scene, it’s highly unlikely you’re weighed down by any woes.
But even the highest fliers need to maintain altitude, which is why WET’s bringing in the soarful Swedish House Mafia associate Alesso, and why The W‘s transforming its “outdoor oasis into a fully functioning nightclub, featuring LED screens, special effects, laser lighting and lounge seating atop a glass-covered pool deck.”
Expect a skyful of star-studded splendor.
5. The Center of Grace
Contrary to widespread reputation, not every South Floridian digs spending New Year's Eve swingin’ from the rafters among an engorged gaggle of party people, no matter how pretty those party people happen to be.
In fact, there are those who’d rather nobody bring any kinda noise to the occasion whatsoever, unless perhaps it’s the buzz of one’s own inner frequency.
While that set seems anathema to a city like Miami, it’s a bet the mixing of “mocktails and living food” with ceremonies attuned to such things as manifesting intentions and surrender and release will surely compel ‘em to step out and greet 2013 at The Center of Grace.
Who knows? There just might be something enlightening about wearing all white to a midnight spent in absolute silence.
