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Envision Christmas dinner: the table set with the “fancy” silverware, porcelain plates and candles to mark the occasion. In the center sits your grandma’s signature dish — a decadent roast beef. The sides are aplenty: potatoes au gratin, crispy Brussels sprouts, and for dessert, homemade Christmas cookies.
While a version of this dinner can be found in many family homes citywide, not every Philadelphian is gearing up for a home-cooked meal on the 25th. For many, the holidays are the perfect time to dine out, and restaurants around the city are prepping for the occasion.
Tyler Akin is the chef partner at Bastia, a cozy restaurant in the Anna & Bel hotel in Fishtown. For months, his team has been envisioning menu ideas for the Christmas dinner shift. Now, it’s time to execute.
“We are a hotel restaurant that needs to operate 365 days a year,” Akin said. “We’re a seven-day-a-week restaurant, so we don’t have the luxury of getting ahead of it. We’ll start prepping in earnest for those special offerings, probably a couple days before Christmas.”
From 1 to 7 p.m. Christmas Day, Bastia is offering a $65 holiday supper in addition to their á la carte menu. This includes a ham glazed with chestnut honey, collard greens, saffron-infused mashed potatoes, mac and cheese cacio e pepe-style, panettone bread pudding and more.
“We strive every day to create an environment that feels like a home away from home,” Akin said. “For people, we try to take care of our guests in a way that feels really thoughtful. And you know you’re in our house when you’re dining with us.”
“We take that really seriously,” he added. “If our hospitality is a 10 out of 10 on every other day of the year, we aim to make it an 11 out of 10 on a day like Christmas.”
Working Christmas is actually a rite of passage for certain restaurateurs.
“We usually call it our Super Bowl,” said Kevin Fu, Dim Sum House’s front-of-house manager. “It is one of, if not the, busiest days of the year.”
Dining out at a Chinese restaurant on the holidays is a strong tradition for many diners. While “old school” Jewish patrons are aplenty, Fu noted that the restaurant has a wide variety of guests walking in — from college students who didn’t fly home for break to locals just wanting something easy. At this point, Fu is a pro at the Christmas shift. He’s worked it for over a decade.
“We’re a little bit off the beaten path from Chinatown, but Chinatown during Christmas is very bustling,” Fu said. “So there’s a lot of activity there. There’s a lot of people going in, a lot of people ordering food, and ordering takeout, things like that. So Chinatown at this time, Christmas time, will actually be very, very packed.”
Henry Chow, the general manager of Sang Kee in Chinatown, also dubbed Christmas his Super Bowl.
Peking duck meal from Sang Kee (Courtesy of Henry Chow)
“It’s stressful, and there’s a lot of pressure, and there’s a lot of prep involved,” Chow said. “But there’s also a lot of pride, because our staff knows how to operate at a really, really high level when there’s a ton of volume and there’s a ton of pressure.”
“When you know it’s your Super Bowl, you’re kind of playing your best,” he added.