Between all the tree decorating, wishlist-writing, gift-giving and receiving, office partying, elf shelving, and nog-drinking, Christmas is one hectic holiday
And that’s all before you even squeeze in a magical, memory-making meal. Save yourself (or your loved ones) the trouble of cooking (and cleaning) at home, and book a table at one of the relatively few restaurants in NYC open on Christmas Day, instead.
Whether you’re celebrating Jesus’ birthday, Santa’s arrival, or just looking for a terrific Tuesday night dinner, here are all of the best places to eat in New York City on December 25.
Bluebird London
Upper West Side
This new restaurant with stunning views of Central Park will serve its first-ever Christmas feast with a $100 prix-fixe menu from executive chef Nicholas Houlbert. Festive dishes will include roast butternut squash velouté with shaved fresh chestnuts and sour cream; honey baked spiced ham with cranberry sauce and a winter salad; wing rib of dry aged angus beef with Yorkshire pudding and horseradish sauce; classic Christmas pudding with a brandy custard; and a Bluebird sherry trifle with Eau de vie cherries, almonds and candied angelica.
DaDong
Midtown East
Skate up an appetite at Bryant Park and then head to this delightfully over-the-top Chinese restaurant for a family-style feast for groups of two to six guests starting at $76 per person. The special menus include Champagne-glazed vine tomatoes, baked Chilean sea bass, cherry foie gras, seared cauliflower with red chili, and DaDong’s roast duck served with sugar, pancakes, crispy sesame buns, and special sauce.
Bedford & Co.
Midtown East
This dimly lit restaurant will add some romance to your Christmas Eve with an à la carte menu featuring specials like spaghetti merguez with tomato and ricotta salata and a wood-grilled Portuguese octopus with cucumber, chili, squid ink vinaigrette. On Christmas Day, enjoy a $65 per person prix-fixe. Choose from starters like burrata and bay scallops, steak, fish, duck, or pork chop mains, and caramel apple crisp or s’mores for dessert.
Tavern On The Green
Upper West Side
See if you can spot the Mandarin duck on before you feast at this iconic Central Park restaurant. Diners in search of all-out holiday decor can cozy up under 10,000 sparkling string lights and plenty of green fir while enjoying a $125 four-course prix-fixe on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Menu options will include roasted cauliflower velouté with black truffle, wild mushroom gnocchi, slow roasted beef tenderloin, glazed country ham with rum-roasted pineapple, grilled Maine lobster risotto and spiced eggnog crème brûlée.
Irvington
Union Square
This sleek farm-to-table eatery will serve festive à la carte specials on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, in addition to a limited regular menu. Holiday dishes include roasted pork belly with gingerbread and cranberry gastrique ($17); pan roasted Arctic Char with smoked fingerling potatoes, citrus and fennel salad ($32) and a crispy confit Long Island Duck Breast with celery root and honeycrisp apple ($35). For dessert, a pear bread pudding will be topped with cinnamon creme anglaise and vanilla ice cream ($12).
Armani Ristorante
Midtown East
A new Armani suit may not be waiting under the tree, but at least you can eat at the haute Fifth Avenue store as a holiday treat. With Christmas Eve comes the classic Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes ($160 per person; wine pairing $155 extra) featuring langoustine, cuttlefish and red mullet soup, salted cod agnolotti, and slow-cooked halibut. The Christmas Day four-course prix-fixe menu ($140 per person; wine pairing $125 extra) includes luxe dishes like torchon of foie gras, three-meat tortellini, hay-cooked lamb saddle and panettone.
Ristorante Morini
Upper East Side
This pasta haven from chef Michael White will be serve three- and four-course customizable Christmas menus ($85 or $95). Options will include a variety of fish and meat, but more importantly, four types of house-made pasta — including fusilli with Neapolitan pork shoulder ragu, and lamb shank pappardelle with blistered potatoes. We wish you a carb-y Christmas, we wish you a carb-y Christmas…
Le Coq Rico
Flatiron
This cozy-chic “bistro of beautiful birds” will whisk you away to the French countryside this Christmas — for a couple of hours, at least. Start its $110 three-course prix fixe with the lobster chicken bouchée, followed by the stuffed emdem heritage, and finish with the bûche du noël: darl and white chocolate, chestnut crémeux.
Tuome
East Village
If Chinese food is part of your Christmas tradition, up the egg roll ante with chef Thomas Chen’s $68 three-course Christmas menu. Choose from Tuome classics like chicken liver mousse with New York maple and milk bread; octopus with pork XO, brown butter and fingerling potatoes; and snow crab with noodles, squash, and dashi butter. Add freshly shaved black truffles for $20. Desserts include beignets with goat’s milk caramel and a chocolate tart with almond and quince.
Charlie Palmer Steak House
Midtown West
Go all out with a $90 classic steakhouse dinner that may not rein in your expanding winter waistline, but does offer a whole lot of bang for your buck. The menu features oxtail consommè, dry-aged rib eye, and crème brûlée or peppermint chocolate cake for dessert.
Buddha Bodai
Chinatown
This kosher vegan Buddhist restaurant has absolutely nothing special going on for Christmas — and that’s the whole point. Jews, Buddhists and atheists alike flock here for General Tso’s tofu and mock duck. The restaurant is also BYOB, so bring enough booze to share (and perhaps to drink while you wait for a table).
Tiny’s and the Bar Upstairs
Tribeca
This trendy Tribeca spot is rolling out a prix fixe for Christmas Day. The meal starts with lobster bisque amuse bouche with homemade whole wheat bread and cranberry bread, followed by first course choices like lobster ravioli in a champagne butter sauce or humboldt fog goat cheese salad in raspberry vinaigrette. Choose from a pan roasted halibut or a smoked filet mignon served with pommes de terre gratin for your main, followed by sugar plum, Christmas cookies or sea salt chocolate truffles for dessert. $69 per person or $89 with a wine pairing.
Chinese Tuxedo
Chinatown
Every Chinatown dim sum restaurant will be packed on Christmas Day. For something a little more upscale, make a reservation at Chinese Tuxedo — a contemporary spot in a repurposed opera house. Sip hot sake and nosh on updated classics like braised duck spring rolls, squid ink noodles with steamed mussels, or crab and black pudding fried. Large-format entree specials like the 32-ounce pan roasted rib eye steak with shiitake mushrooms & bone marrow sauce ($115) and a sweet & sour-style crispy turkey leg sang chop bao ($30) will accompany the a la carte menu.
Massoni
NoMad
In addition to its usual menu, Masoni will serve a special whole roasted Peking duck ($65/person), plated with moo shu pancakes, steamed buns, cucumber, and hoisin sauce on Christmas Day. If you’re out on the 25th and you don’t want Chinese (which is allowed, by the way), go for classic menu items like pumpkin ravioli with sage brown butter, mushroom-mascarpone pizza, or a mountain of meatballs and garlic knots.
Au Za’atar
East Village
Savor plates of homestyle Mediterranean cooking (think lamb shawarma served from a mini tableside rotisserie, turnip fries, and fried cauliflower in house parsley-tahini sauce) paired with a selection of Lebanese wines. Mezze specials and shawarma add-ons will also be available for the holiday.
The Breslin Bar & Dining Room
Flatiron
The Breslin’s warm dark-wood interiors and wholesome farm-to-fork plates, make this a homey spot to celebrate the holiday. For $95, eat your way through a prix-fixe menu of chicory and gorgonzola salad, smoked duck breast and confit leg with roasted beets, cipollini onions, and bitter orange sauce, and chocolate peppermint roulade.
Kings Co Imperial
Williamsburg
Kings Co Imperial is your go-to for Christmas day Chinese food in North Brooklyn. The Williamsburg haunt is a favorite for seasonal modern Chinese, featuring herbs and produce grown in its very own rooftop garden. The full standard menu will be available with a few festive add-ons, like tea-smoked mu shu duck, and scallop-stuffed spring rolls. Don’t leave without sampling the white broiler chicken dumplings… several times.
Ferris
Flatiron
This sleek, subterranean space beneath the MADE Hotel is intimate enough for eavesdropping on your neighbors, but not so pokey that you’ll bump elbows. The open kitchen is bustling, the waiters are attentive, and the new-American fare is plated so beautifully you may not want to eat it. The a la carte Christmas Menu will feature Ferris staples by Le Turtle alum Greg Proechel as well as a special Sasso chicken with schmaltz Polenta and greens.
