The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 19

Friday, Dec. 27, 1991 The Pantagraph yf Jl 1 I I i tr i 11 'S One way to survive New Year's Eve, with your sensibilities intact, might be to join guest host Jay Leno for a live edition of "The Tonight Show" at 10:35 p.m. on NBC de mw vears km mmmi sui Gourmet's picks for '91 Waddling, not jogging around the track. That's what it's going to be for us after a year's worth of overindulgence. But who could blame us? Area restaurateurs have outdone themselves in 1991, presenting a variety and quality of meals that would tempt even the most resolute weight watcher.

In fact, this year we actually doubled the number of 4-star dinners we sampled in 1990, and found seven restaurants that produced 3V4-star meals. So, if you're into fine dining for '92, what follows is a list of places from our '91 culinary expeditions that will certainly satisfy. Happy New Year and good dining to all! The Blue Mill 1099 W. Wood Decatur (217) 423-7712 Food: V2 Service: New China Restaurant 7708 N. University, Peoria (309) 691-8998 Food: 12 Service: Nuevo Chimi's 503 N.

Prospect Road, Bloomington (309) 662-9607 Food: 12 Service: 12 O'Murphy's Steak House Pub 5720 N. Knoxville, Peoria (309) 693-8119 Food: 12 Service: Ozark House 704 McGregor Bloomington (309) 827-3900 Food: 12 Service: V2 Piccolo-Piccolo Parkway Shopping Center, Bloomington (309) 662-6322 Food: V2 Service: Uncle Al's Steakhouse III. 8, Washington (309) 694-4921 Food: i2 Service: Now here are our top choices: Bayern Stube 209 N. Sangamon, Gibson City (217) 784-8304 Food: Service: If our dinners were at all typical, we highly recommend a trip to Gibson City. The Bayern Stube gives you a sort of living fairy tale version of what a German restaurant is supposed to be.

John-Pierre's 105 N. Market Champaign (217) 352-5155 Food: Service: The menu is relatively short but mouth-watering. The service is exceptional; thoroughly efficient, and most importantly, unobtrusive. The French food is superb. For elegant dining, Champaign's Jean-Pierre's is definitely worth the trip.

Piccolo-Piccolo Brunch Parkway Shopping Center, Bloomington (309) 662-6322 Food: Value: Prepare for a lot of delicious food, if you plan to brunch at Piccolo-Piccolo. A classy Sunday repast where the waitpeople describe the dishes, in detail; the house chef prepares omelets and pancakes, or carves beef and ham roasts while chatting with his clientele, and the myriad Italian dishes and desserts are delectable. 15 ways to weather the holi-daze Peoria is calling its First Night fete, "Families First," and has keyed it to the city's Tricentennial celebration. Instead of spreading the event over the downtown area, the entertainment, games and stage shows will be housed under the Peoria Civic Center's roof from 7 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.

Admission: $2. First Night Decatur, staged in and around the city's downtown area, will boast dancing, theater, food and entertainment from 6:30 to 11:45 p.m. A fireworks display at midnight, in Central Park, will usher in the new year. Admission buttons available at performance sites are $5 for adults and $1 for children. 4.

MAKE A DATE WITH EARTH'S OLDEST LIVING TEEN-AGER. He may be over 60, but that won't stop the Dorian Gray of teen gurus Dick Clark from rockin' in the New Year with his annual ABC bash, "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" (10:30 p.m., Chs. 7 and 17, 11:30 p.m. Ch. 19).

As far as we know, the rockin' part has nothing to do with chairs at least this year. In between Clark's live reportage of New York City's Times Square countdown, the following acts are scheduled to fulfill the title's promise: Barry Manilow, DJ Jazzy Prince The Fresh Prince, Heart, Simply Red, Vanessa Williams, Restless Heart and Boyz II Men. 5. MOSEY ON OVER TO DON'S, Y'ALL. Don's Music Hall, that is, site of the Nashville Sound Country Opry's weekly hootenanny in Mason City.

In addition to the regular Saturday night opry, this week Don's will be the site of a special New Year's Eve blow-out, featuring a lot of pickin-and-a-grinnin from the likes of local favorites Todd and Juanita Raymond, Jack Lewis, Cousin Lonzo and The Nashville Sound Band. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are $6 advance and $7 at the door. 6. CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN 10 MONTHS EARLY.

Sure, you can do it simply by looking at yourself in the mirror the morning after a New Year's Eve night on the town. But a healthier bet might be to tune in to Ted Turner's TNT cable channel for a special all-night horror movie marathon devoted to the handiwork of mad scientists. At 7 p.m., a deranged doctor injects criminals with a serum that transforms them into hairy monsters in the 1972 opus, "Superbeast" At 9 p.m., Peter Cushing pieces together another creature in 1958's excellent "Revenge of Frankenstein," followed at 11 p.m. by a second Cushing turn as the monster maker, "Frankenstein Created Woman" (1967). At 1 a.m., Roddy McDowall is a deranged museum curator (the only thing worse than a deranged doctor) who brings an ancient Hebrew statue to life in "It" (1966).

Finally, at 3 a.m., Kieron Moore is a doctor whose heart transplants return a dead man to life in 1961's "Dr. Blood's Coffin." 7. CHECK OUT SOME DECKED HALLS. Instead of letting New Year's Eve deck you, turn the tables: deck New Year's Eve preferably with boughs of holly (fa-la-la-la-la, In Clinton, the historic Homestead mansion, 219 E. Woodlawn, will remain festooned for a Victorian Christmas through Dec.

31 (1 to 5 Please see GUIDE, C2 By DAN CRAFT Pantagraph staff Last year about this time, we here at Step-pin' Out decided to do our bit for the better health and higher being of Pantagraphland. Instead of listing all the events and activities that conformed to traditional expectations of what a New Year's Eve celebration should be, we took the opposite tack. We told you about 15 things you could do on Dec. 31 that would prevent you from feeling as if a herd of dancing pink elephants had just danced the cancan through your cranial cavity. Don't get us wrong.

We're not undercover agents for the Women's Christian Temperance Union. We're not Nancy Reagan's secret police. We're not even holier than thou. And we're not trying to spoil anybody's wild, rowdy, noisy, drunken, debauched, indulgent, smoke-filled, heart-unhealthy, high-cholesterol, liver-eating, life-threatening party either. We mean well.

Truly. So with that sentiment in mind, we proudly present the 1991 edition of Steppin' Out's "New Year's Eve Survival Guide," with 15 things you can do, which, to the best of our knowledge, are not hazardous to your health. The Surgeon General will be proud, we're sure. 1. DO THAT 'FIRST NIGHT' THING.

While a glass of champagne in one hand and a noisemaker in the other is considered socially correct on Dec. 31, in recent years the phenomenon known as "First Night" has been putting that image to rest These family-oriented, alcohol-free fetes emphasize the performing arts over altered states, and have been increasing in popularity ever since Springfield staged the area's first several years back. Here is a guide to this year's extravaganzas: First Night Springfield begins with children's activities from 2 to 4 p.m. Dec. 31, followed by events for all ages from 7 p.m.

to midnight Everything will be centrally located in the downtown area, including musical performances, visual arts exhibits, dance, comedy, movies and a fireworks display. Admission buttons ($7, adults; $3, children) are available at performance sites. Pontiac First Night will center its activities on the downtown square, where exhibits by 20 artists, performances by 40 musicians, a laser light show and fireworks can be enjoyed between 7 p.m. and midnight Admission buttons ($5, adults; $2, children) are available at downtown businesses. 2.

YUK IT UP. A couple big-name comedy shows are in the offing for those willing to travel for their laughs. In Chicago, two Windy City-bred oddities, Emo Philips and Judy Tenuta, join forces for an 8 p.m. New Year's Eve show at The Vic, 3145 N. Sheffield.

Meanwhile, to the south, comedian Jerry Seinfeld takes to the stage for a 9 p.m. show at St Louis' Fox Theater, 527 N. Grand. For those desiring to chortle from 9 p.m. til dawn, the Paramount Arts Theater, in the western Chicago "burb of Aurora, has planned a "progressive comedy evening" that will progress from food to music to party favors to performances by the Chicago-based improvisa-tional group, Slapstick! 3.

LIGHT YOUR FIRE. Christmas may be past, but festivals of lights twinkle on. The best-known illuminated orgy in Pantagraphland is the East Peoria Festival of Lights, with its lighted floats (check out this year's new centerpiece the Starship Enterprise from "Star city-wide displays, Winter Wonderland and more. It runs through New Year's Day. In its second year is the Festival of Lights at Lake Shelbyville's Eagle Creek State Park, near Findlay.

Christmas is almost beside the point at this bulb-riddled event, which has been open since early November and continues through Feb. 3. Featured is a 3-mile drive through a wooded area boasting close to 200 lighted displays. Admission is $5 per car; hours are dusk to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and dusk to 10 p.m.

Friday and Saturday. If you decided to head to Chicago for the Judy Tenuta-Emo Philips show, make plans to stop by the Holiday in Lights exhibit at the World Music Theater in Tinley Park (5:30 to 11:30 p.m.. For $5, you can cruise your car past 500 lit trees and holiday figures. Tien Tsin 1500 E. Empire Bloomington (309) 663-9361 Food: Service: An elegant environment; a charming, efficient and helpful staff; a lengthy menu, and a sizzling chef make Tien Tsin a must for Chinese food aficionados.

The pot stickers proved the best we've had in the Twin Cities this year..