HONU YEAR’S EVE: What are you doing? Some of the area’s top restaurants have special menus and packages, and there still time to snag a table. They’re celebrating New Year’s Eve at HONU Kitchen & Cocktails (363 New York Ave., Huntington 631.421.6900) with some a la carte specials. There will be a DJ, midnight champagne toast and party favors. They are accepting reservations from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m., and there is a $20 cover charge for those coming to the bar only after 9 p.m. Special dishes include seared Hudson Valley foie gras with quince and huckleberry compote $16; yellow fin tuna with lemon grass coconut broth $17; center cut beef tenderloin with crab bordelaise and Lyonnaise potato $39; 1-1/2 lb. Maine lobster, black truffle corn bread stuffing, herb butter sauce.

ELTON’S PIANO: Order a “Red Ribbon Martini” at Garden City Hotel’s Rein Bar & Bistro (45 Seventh Street, Garden City 516.747.3000 www.gardencityhotel.com) while listening to virtual “live” performances on Elton John’s red piano, and Sir Elton’s AIDS Foundation will get a buck. That’s the deal until Friday, December 26 when the nightly entertainment, themed Playing In The Rein, replaces the usual live entertainment. The Elton John Red Piano, signed in gold by the Rocketman, is a seven-foot concert quality grand piano in striking Chinese red that faithfully reproduces piano performances with Elton’s actual keystrokes. Pre-recorded audio adds his voice and instrumental accompaniment. The commemorative instrument is a limited edition that retails for $80,000 from Frank and Camille’s. Rein’s specially created Red Ribbon martini combines Ketel One Vodka with Lychee Liqueur and pomegranate; and comes dressed with a red AIDS awareness ribbon around the stem of the glass.

CANTERVERSERY: They ought to replace the portrait of the Queen at Canterbury Ales (314 New York Ave., Huntington 631.549.4404 www.CanterburyAles.com) with one of Marianne Barton. Marianne’s like the Energizer bunny – she keeps going and going and… The restaurant is a long-running institution in these parts, and “publican” Billy Hoest’s right-hand woman is as big an institution. Marianne’s 30th anniversary is today, December 18. Stop in and raise a glass in her honor.

SCOTTISH EXPORT: Know what the biggest food brand exported from Scotland is? If you guessed Haggis, well you probably have issues. On the other hand, if you guessed Walker’s Shortbread Cookies, you’d be “right as rain,” as they say across the pond. Walker’s, makers of those buttery, made for dunkin’, shortbread cookies that are a favorite of cookie connoisseurs the world over, was founded in 1898 in Aberlour in the Highlands, where the founding family continues to operate its original retail shop “to stay in touch with their roots.”

LET THEM EAT PHEASANT: New York Governor David Paterson’s idea of budget dining… pheasant! That’s right, pheasant. The wildfowl once considered to be the ultimate in elegant dining (think pheasant under glass) will soon find its way onto plates at soup kitchens and food pantries, thanks to a directive from the governor. Patterson, desperate to cut costs amid staggering deficits, has ordered the state-run Reynolds Game Farm closed in order to save the $750,000 annual operating costs. The farm raises pheasants for release into the wild for pursuit by recreational hunters, and its closure is forcing the state to divest itself of more than 8,000 birds. None can be released into the wild because their wings are clipped. Some will be sent to private game farms, but the majority are destined to be processed, packed and donated to a downstate food bank.

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