Nightlife

Party and Parcel

The Hot List: 2014 Holiday Parties

You know what it takes to make a holiday party great: you need karaoke caravans, endless soup dumplings or a chef who cooks for POTUS. So, here: five of the worthiest venues for holiday soiree-ing involving all that. Just remember, with great parties comes great responsibility.

THE SOUP DUMPLING PARTY

The Mezzanine at Chino

You require: Fortune cookies. A personal bartender. Some soup dumplings.
You’ll receive: The brick-lined upstairs area of Chino, adorned with fortune cats and colored lanterns. It’s also equipped with a private bar, a 55-inch flat-screen and enough soup dumplings to last you until 2015.

THE KARAOKE CARAVAN

Down Lo, The Clubhouse Lounge

You require: Cocktails and karaoke that come to you. Simple.
You’ll receive: A fleet of party trailers that can be transformed into a cocktail bar, a food station, a karaoke lounge or anything you can think of, really. Silent disco mistletoe garden? Put it in your backyard. See what happens.

THE CAVIAR-AND-CHAMPAGNE ROOM

The North (or South) Room at Quince

You require: An opulent feast of caviar and champagne with a presidential pedigree.
You’ll receive: A dimly lit, curtained-off space with things like caviar panna cotta and suckling pig fagottini happening—the menu’s always changing, but it’s from a two-star Michelin chef who’s cooked for our president. Just trust him.

THE RICE-PAPERED REFUGE

The Private Dining Room at Pabu

You require: The elegance of a Japanese teahouse, but with wasabi-tequila cocktails and blowtorches.
You’ll receive: Pabu’s private room with long, wooden tables topped with sushi, izakaya and whiskey drinks served with torched bananas. Blowtorches: so festive.

THE COZY MEZZANINE

The Mezzanine at ABV

You require: Nothing crazy, just some standing room for a couple dozen friends with easy access to the mezcal and bourbon.
You’ll receive: The upstairs mezzanine of ABV, which overlooks the rest of the bar, with burgers and a three-liquor tasting. There’s never a bad time for liquor education, really.