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UPDATE: Where to Dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2015 in Boston
Where can you dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas day in the Boston area? There are a few great choices! But, make a reservation, if you're planning to dine at one of Boston's fine restaurants over the holidays. And, with Christmas on a Saturday, there may be more than the usual holiday demand.
What's open on Christmas Eve?
While many places close early on Christmas Eve, others are known for special Christmas Eve celebrations– like the traditional Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes at Grotto. Their website says:
"Seven...The Magic Number- The Feast of the Seven Fishes is the traditional Italian meal on Christmas Eve, and it is believed to ensure good luck in the coming year. Grotto's version features seven different fishes served in four courses for 50 dollars. We book up quickly for this Christmas Eve meal, so please call to make a reservation!"
Asana at the Mandarin Oriental in the Back Bay will also prepare a version of this classic holiday treat. They say, "Enjoy Asana’s special Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes tasting menu with holiday features on Friday, December 24th. Our culinary team have put together a delightful menu including dishes such as Island Creek Oyster and Paddlefish Caviar and Warm Maine Lobster and Bay Scallops served with Siena Farms roasted butternut squash, ginger froth, brown butter, orange and basil."
What Boston Area Restaurants are Open on Christmas?
Hotel restaurants, since they must serve the hotel's guests, are normally open on holidays.
In Boston, hotel restaurants open both the 24th and 25th include some excellent choices:
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Other places open on holidays would include chains like Legal Seafood and many restaurants in Chinatown. We once asked a long time Boston cabbie where we could get something we needed on Christmas, and he said Chinatown was the place to go.
Here are some conversations on Chowhound.com about Christmas dining. This one from a couple of years ago is about dining in Chinatown on the holiday. You'll have to check to see whether these places are still open.
Those food loving Chowhounds have lots of ideas. And, because the food may be more important than the holdiay to some of these folks, they offer great alternative plans for ethnic food. We'll update this with more conversations as they happen.
Holiday food for a family with an Asian Tradition.
Here are some discussions of places that were both open and had great food from past years.
Solo Dining on Christmas Day
Inexpensive Dining on Christmas
What's open Christmas Eve?
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/582138#42
The reservation site, Open Table, has a feature list of its member restaurants with Christmas Eve Specials and Christmas Day Dining. Just click on those words to be ttransferred to their lists.
But, you can also input information on the reservation you want and come up with a list of restaurants open at that hour. Change the hour and the list will change and some are not on the featured lists. It's a good place to start.
http://www.opentable.com/start.aspx?m=7
The Boston Chefs site has a listing of its participating restaurants with special services for the holidays.
Here's the link for Christmas Eve Dining from Boston Chefs.
Here's their link for Christmas Day dining.
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Writers: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photo: from iStockphoto.com