“There’s no place like home for the holidays,” the old song advises. That lyric written in 1954 sounds downright prophetic this year when dining at home is the only option for Christmas dinner.
Take heart if your plans were dashed by the newly imposed ban on indoor dining. You can have the best of both worlds thanks to a number of New York restaurants that are making their holiday feasts available for takeout.
If you’ve always fantasized about dinner at Eleven Madison Park but found the $335 tariff per person before drinks and tax too rich for your blood, this year your dream can become a reality with “EMP at Home.” Throughout the holiday season, the restaurant is featuring a five-course roast duck dinner, which commences with foie gras, pear and brioche, and concludes with a decadent chocolate-hazelnut tart. You cook the bird yourself, aided by instructions from the restaurant. Among the accompaniments is a “shepherd’s pie” of potato puree, duck confit, and mustard. The cost of the spread, which serves up to four, is $475. “EMP at Home” is available for pickup throughout the tri-state area on Tock through Dec. 21.
Give Christmas dinner a retro feel this year by opting for David Burke Tavern‘s entrant in the meal-to-go competition: a classic puff pastry-wrapped Beef Wellington (pictured above). The menu, priced at $450 for up to eight, includes three sides and three desserts. Amplify the Christmas cheer with a quart of homemade angry eggnog, apple cider bourbon, or mulled wine, which will run an additional $62 to $68. Orders will be taken through Dec. 24 via Christmas Grab & Go | David Burke Tavern | NYC Christmas Dinner To-Go. Available for pick-up at the restaurant (135 E. 62nd Street) on Dec. 23 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Dec. 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.
Chinese food for Christmas? It’s a tradition among New York Jews, though you don’t have to be Jewish to sense the allure of Long Island City newcomer Lotus+Cleaver‘s holiday offering. Choose either rotisserie roasted duck or pomegranate glazed roast pork as the centerpiece of your Cantonese feast. Market sides are included (think brussels sprouts with speck and pine nuts, and 8 treasure sticky rice in a lotus leaf) as is dessert: a Chinese egg tart with fig brulée. The dinner, which will feed four to six, will set you back $225. Order by Dec. 19.
If Chinese food is on the menu for Christmas, can tacos be far behind? Amigo by Nai, the taqueria cum cocktails collaboration between Nai Tapas owner and executive chef Ruben Rodriguez and Juan “Billy” Acosta of Los Angeles’s celebrated Carnitas El Momo will be open for delivery and takeout on Christmas Eve. The taco selection features Maciza, pork butt with the bone in; Rabo: oxtail, red mojo, and shishito peppers with an optional side of consommé; and Coliflor, shawarma roasted cauliflower with an avocado lime chimichurri and Marcona almonds. Amigo by Nai has also created four to-go cocktail bottles with options like Abuela Spiked My Lemonade (Hendrick’s gin, Thai basil, shiso, cucumber, elderflower, velvet falernum, agave, and lime).
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Enjoy Mifune’s Duck Truffle Foie Gras Pie at Home for Christmas
