Where to have Christmas dinner in the US

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This was published 7 years ago

Where to have Christmas dinner in the US

By Michael Gebicki
Revelers crowd Bourbon Street New Orleans, Louisiana.

Revelers crowd Bourbon Street New Orleans, Louisiana.

MY WIFE AND TWO ADULT CHILDREN ARE SPENDING CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK CITY. ANY ADVICE ON WHERE TO HAVE A FESTIVE CHRISTMAS LUNCH OR DINNER IN MANHATTAN? THE TWO OF US SANS CHILDREN WILL THEN HAVE SEVEN DAYS FREE BEFORE HEADING HOME AND WOULD LIKE SOME RECOMMENDATIONS ON WHERE ELSE IN THE USA TO SPEND THIS TIME.

J. DEMETRIOU, DULWICH HILL

Since they're still recovering from the feast of Thanksgiving, Americans generally do not celebrate Christmas with the same gustatory enthusiasm as most other parts of the English-speaking world. Boxing Day is not a public holiday since there is less need to recover from the culinary overload that we and the Brits experience on Christmas Day. Having said that, there are still plenty of places to dine well on Christmas Day. While it's still too early for restaurants to release their Christmas menu, and many will be closed, the hotel restaurants are always a safe bet. The Russian Tea Room (russiantearoomnyc.com) is suitably swanky for the occasion. My pick would be Alain Ducasse's Benoit (benoitny.com) which did a traditional French Christmas menu in 2015, at a fixed price of US$75 so pretty good value for this calibre. Prefer Italian? Try Ai Fiori (aifiorinyc.com) which will probably go traditional as it did at Christmas 2015.

For the rest of your time, since it's probably going to be chilly, the cities will probably be your prime choice. Washington DC with its wonderful cultural institutions would be fine but, if it were me, I'd head down to New Orleans for music and jambalaya.

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