Christmas Dining in Chicago
Christmas should be a time of rest, relaxation, family, and more wrapping paper than you know what to do with. Leave all that merriment at home and remove any stress by visiting a restaurant for your Christmas meal. Because everything's jollier when you don't have to slave over a stove or clean up after relatives. Here are several restaurants open on Christmas this year in Chicago.
This lavish piñata of a restaurant promises king crab humitas, tres leches tapioca pudding, and slow-roasted Maple Creek lechona with coconut rice, raisins, pork cracklins, and tomatillo escabeche as Christmas specials. Elaborate Christmas trees decorate the restaurant, making it a festive destination indeed for Christmas dinner.
Nothing brings the family together like a buffet. Especially a buffet curated by chef Joseph Rose, top dog at Lockwood. His Christmas Day buffet features the likes of Alaskan salmon Oscar with hollandaise, crab, and asparagus; roasted beef tenderloin with horseradish cream; chilled grilled shrimp cocktail; seasonal squash casserole; and an array of holiday desserts. The buffet costs $70 per adult, $65 for seniors, and $40 for children six to 12. Seatings are available and reservations can be made by calling 312-917-3404.
If truffles deviled eggs, prime rib, and sugar cream pie sound good to you, then make like a speedy reindeer and get thee to Little Market Brasserie this Christmas. The restaurant's Christmas offerings are available all holiday week, including Christmas day. The dishes are available as a $40 prix fixe or can be ordered a la carte.
Skip the stocking candy and save room for all the tapas at Mercat a la Planxa. The modern Catalan-inspired restaurant is serving up four-course tasting menus on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, as well as brunch on Christmas. For dinner, expect items such as braised short rib flatbread with bacon marmalade; jumbo prawns with garlic, parsley, and lemon; and grilled rib-eye with romesco, pickled guindilla aïoli, and serrrano-Gordal olive escabeche. Brunch features a three-course, seven-dish tapas experience roving from Spanish charcuterie to desserts. Reservations can be made by calling 312-765-0533.
The full menu at this Michigan Avenue steak Mecca, along with seasonal specials, will be available on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Because nothing says "Merry Christmas!" quite like prime Delmonico and colossal crab cakes.
It's regular hours with a special three-course prix fixe this Christmas at Brasserie by LM. At just $35 per person, it's quite the bargain, with dishes such as lobster bisque, roasted duck breast, potato-crusted sea bass, flourless chocolate cake, and individual beef Wellingtons available for an extra $5.
Jerusalem artichoke veloute, sweet potato gnocchi, veal medallions, and date-apple clafoutis are among the myriad of Christmas wonders on the holiday menu at Bistronomic. The modern French restaurant is open from 3:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. Christmas day, serving up three-course degustations for $65 per adult and $20 per child.