More than 350 guests packed AnQi by Crustacean at South Coast Plaza, and celebrated the beginning of 2012 with Terri Nunn and Berlin live on stage, and other New Year’s Eve festivities including an avant-garde food bazaar and Q du Soleil.
AnQi donated 15 percent of net ticket sales to the supporters of Orange County United Way and Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) to those groups.
AnQi’s Forbidden Den served a variety of artistic curiosities, comprising champagne rain by graceful aerialists, a geisha serving sushi off her dress, a lady fully dipped in chocolate, an interactive molecular station, a liquid nitrogen ice cream exhibit, and the library of sushi.
“The Real Housewives of Orange County” star Vicki Gunvalson and her boyfriend, Brooks Ayers, were among the first celebs spotted at AnQi’s New Year’s Eve soiree. Moira and Fred Kamgar, Lesley Scherer, Melinda Serra, and Christina and Bill Lyon also partied the night away.
Nunn and the band sang the Oscar-winning hit song “Take My Breath Away” before the countdown, and ushered in 2012 while the hundreds threw handfuls of confetti in the air and sealed new year with a kiss.
World-renowned DJ Angeline and Cuban drummer Joakin Eskasan spin guests into their first breakfast bar in 2012 until 3 a.m. The award-winning restaurant also served a spectacular 10-course gastronomic tasting menu for 18 guests at Chef’s Table with AnQi’s exotic themed drinks.
United Way is a nonprofit that invests in the lives of Orange County children, families, and individuals by ensuring that they have the building blocks for a self-sufficient life: education, income, and health.
CASA is also a non-profit organization that trains community volunteers to serve as powerful mentors and advocates for our community’s most severely abused, abandoned and neglected children.
Photos by Xuong/Happy Photos
