Your New Year’s Eve dinner reservation could be a boon for a Boston chef

One of Boston’s hottest restaurant groups has friendly competition on the menu.

Mariel Richard Cadan

2 minutes to read

At COJE Management Group restaurants—Yvonne’s, Lolita Cocina, Ruka, Mariel, and Coquette—feasts, or large-format entrées to share, are part of the experience. Show-stopping centerpieces of luxurious proteins and beautiful accoutrements, these menu mainstays add to the indulgent vibes of COJE hotspots and contribute to their overall social atmosphere. You can imagine the chefs are pulling out all the stops for New Year’s Eve — and yet there’s added incentive. COJE Group culinary director Tom Berry has challenged all five executive chefs to create a limited-edition special feast for their restaurant, available during NYE dinner only. Whichever feast sells the most will earn the chef who created it a cash prize equal to one week’s salary. That means the award is essentially up to you, dear diners.

If Surf & Turf is your preferred pair, head to Lolita Cocina and Tequila Bar in Fort Point, which will be serving a two-pound baked, stuffed green chili lobster with Mexican yellow rice alongside a braised steak and cheese empanada basket with charred tomato-jalapeño dipping sauce ($95).
Make it a multi-course meal at Yvonne’s in Downtown Crossing, which will offer a pan-Asian trio to share ($150) including an appetizer of Korean yukhoe (beef tartare), torched lobster tail with Cognac-infused ssamjang sauce, and a British-Japanese-inspired dessert of eton mess with dried meringue, yuzu curd, and matcha. There’s also a large-format soju-lemongrass cocktail to entice.
At Ruka, the group’s Peruvian-Chinese restaurant in Downtown Crossing, the shareable special sets the table with gold leaf-flaked wild King crab makimono (16 pieces) and flaming smoked Gruyère fondue with yucca fries for dipping ($160).
Mariel’s option will transport you to Havana by way of Cubano cordon blue ($90), a roast pork shoulder stuffed with crispy ham and cheeses served with charred tomato escabeche.
The Frenchy new Coquette rings in her first new year with a Fire & Ice shellfish tower ($150) — hot and cold tiers teeming with oysters on the half-shell, crab legs, razor clams, warm oysters Camembert, tomato-brown butter roasted scallops, fried surf clam with smoked pimento, and more decadent seafood.

So gather your group and get into the feast — showing guests a good time is how every restaurant wants to close out the year, no matter which chef wins this round. Reservations are strongly recommended. Call each restaurant directly or visit their respective websites.