
Looking to mix up your holiday traditions with dinner at a restaurant? These spots are offering special menus for Christmas and New Year’s! Reservations fill quickly so be sure to call asap.
Avenue Restaurant
23 Ocean Ave., Long Branch
Christmas Eve features the Feast of the Seven Fishes, while the New Year’s menu goes along with an open bar package, Champagne toast, live band, dancing, party favors and noise makers.
Beach Plum Farm
140 Stevens St., West Cape May
The chef’s multi-course, farm-to-table menu for New Year’s Eve features heritage pork and hand-harvested produce and herbs. You’ll have dinner under the twinkling lights of the hoop house.
Blu on the Hudson
1200 Harbor Blvd., Weehawken
This Christmas Eve and Day, Executive Chef Juan Carlos “JC” Ortega will present a three-course prix fixe menu, which will include his signature-style American-Mediterranean dishes alongside festive holiday specials, as you marvel at the NYC skyline. Christmas specials include starters like Foie Gras Torchon and Maine Lobster Bisque, entrees such as Dover Sole, Niman Ranch Porchetta, and a Truffle-Ricotta Agnolotti, all of which can be paired with a Kaluga Caviar & Whipped Potato Dip. For dessert, seasonal treats are Eggnog Panna Cotta and a Bouche De Noel. Or, order from the large selection of a la carte menu items, including sushi rolls, pasta, large-format steaks, and more. For those looking for a swanky New Year’s Eve celebration, there are two dinner seatings with a special three-course prix fixe menu. Select from appetizers like Oysters & Kaluga Caviar with champagne gelee and Wagyu Oxtail with tortellini aged pecorino and winter squash. Entrees include an 8-ounce Filet Mingon and Ruffle-Ricotta Agnolotti with shaved winter truffles. Finish with Pistachio Cheesecake topped with blueberry compote. If you don’t want to sit down for dinner, join the Ball Drop Party Celebration instead. Party all night with a grand cocktail reception, premium open bar, hand passed gourmet bites, dancing, a premium Champagne toast, and a view of the NYE fireworks in Manhattan. You can come by New Year’s Day for lunch and dinner, too.
Brothers Smokehouse BBQ & Soul
900 Rte. 17, Suite 2, Ramsey
Christmas Eve packages include smoked or fried turkey, smoked prime rib, smoked boneless turkey and Christmas ham. Sides include mashed or roasted potatoes. Pie choices are apple, pecan, pumpkin and sweet potatoes.
Byrd Restaurant
800 Jackson St., Hoboken
The first seating is a two-course meal, while the second seating is a four-course meal and includes a special prix fixe menu with a Champagne toast.
Calandra’s Il Vecchio Café
234 Bloomfield Ave., Caldwell
Chef Alvaro has cooked up a menu of a la carte favorites for either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day; or order family-style takeout for the Eve. If you do stop by, check out the Holly Jolly Lounge for a festive holiday drink.
Calandra’s Mediterranean Grill
118 Rte. 46 East, Fairfield
This family-friendly restaurant specializes in Northern Italian dishes with a Mediterranean flair. Christmas Eve and Day offers the regular dinner menu, plus specials and Calandra’s desserts. Come back early on NYE for a family buffet, or leave the kids at home for the Adult Only Dinner Buffet & Dancing party.
Cucina Calandra
216 Rte. 46 East, Fairfield
The Grinch’s Grotto has been all the rage this season, outfitting the bar with decorations that would make The Mean One envious! There are separate menus for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
DRIFTHOUSE by David Burke
1485 Ocean Ave., Sea Bright
The three-course Christmas Eve menu by Chef David Burke features traditional holiday choices from the land to the sea, as well as Chef Burke’s outrageous holiday desserts.
Felina
18 Prospect St., Ridgewood
Christmas Eve dinner will feature a choice of farm salad, eggplant parm or mussels fra diavolo; linguine with cockles, thyme roasted branzino or chicken scarpariello; and tiramisu, chocolate mousse, cannoli or New York cheesecake for dessert. New Year’s Eve is either a 3- or 4-course meal.
Felina Steak
At Hudson House, 2 Chapel Ave., Jersey City
Christmas Eve dinner will feature a choice of farm salad, eggplant parm or mussels fra diavolo; linguine with cockles, thyme roasted branzino or chicken scarpariello; and tiramisu, chocolate mousse, cannoli or New York cheesecake for dessert. New Year’s Eve is either a 3- or 4-course meal.
The Fox & Falcon by David Burke
19 Valley Road, South Orange
Christmas Eve will feature a three-course prix fixe meal; the menu is yet to be announced.
THE GOAT by David Burke
1411 Rte. 36, Union Beach
Dinner on the Eve has the a la carte menu available, plus holiday specials. Christmas Day changes it up with a three-course prix fixe meal.
Halifax
225 River St., Hoboken
This Christmas Eve, a three-course prix fixe menu designed by Executive Chef Seadon Shouse and Pastry Chef Joshua Coleman features a menu of caviar, a seafood tower, salted cod, New England-style clam chowder, stuffed clams, beet salad, smoked salmon rillette, truffle mushroom risotto balls, chestnut agnolotti, crab spaghetti, halibut, seafood stew, braised venison osso bucco, and peppermint mocha tart or eggnog yule log. Dance into 2025 with Studio 54 vibes. The NYE extravaganza will be an elevated cocktail-style party with a sushi station, carving station, hors d’oeurves and caviar.
The Hudson Rose
238 Franklin Ave., Nutley
Christmas Eve’s Feast of the Seven Fishes includes insalata del mare, lump crab and squid ink tagliatelle, zuppa di pesche and grilled branzino. You can order off the a la carte menu, or add on Caesar salad, roasted half chicken “parm” or ribeye pizzaiola. New Year’s Eve in The Harlow Lounge includes a DJ, premium open bar, snack buffet and passed appetizers, with optional VIP add-ons of plated appetizers and a bottle of Champagne. The main dining room will serve a four-course prix fixe dinner with Champagne specials and caviar bumps.
Kona Grill
511 Rte. 1, Iselin section of Woodbridge
The Holiday Cheers menu launched last month, but continues through the season with Seafood Fettuccine Alfredo, Prime Rib Surf & Turf and Classic Pumpkin Pie. Pair these dishes with holiday-inspired cocktails like Santa’s Eggnog or the Holiday Martini.
Lobster Shanty
83 Channel Dr., Pt. Pleasant Beach
Enjoy brunch on New Year’s Day while overlooking the Manasquan inlet.
Louie’s by Chef Jason
1111 Rte. 130, Robbinsville
Christmas and New Year’s eves will feature special menus created by the private chef.
Luca’s Ristorante
2019 Rte. 37, Somerset
Owner/Chef Andrea Di Meglio is from Ischia, a small fisherman’s island off the coast of Naples. Course one on New Year’s Eve includes figs with mascarpone and mango balsamic pearls, calamari with spicy tomato sauce, pine nut raisin meatballs, and crab cakes. Course two ranges from Angus short rib to veal hind shank to beet reginette bucate to fifty layered lasagna. Course three is tiramisu, crème brulee or gelato – or try them all.
Maddy Rose (formerly Liberty House)
76 Audrey Zapp Dr., Jersey City
Picture yourself having Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve while overlooking the NYC skyline, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and Liberty Landing Marina.
Meximodo Cocina & Tequila Bar
55 Pearl St., Metuchen
If you want a Mexican meal with a side of Mezcal for the holidays, Meximodo will be open on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and then brunch on New Year’s Day.
Nunzio by Chef Michael DeLone
706 Haddon Ave., Collingswood
The Feast of the 7 Fishes is available from December 18 to Christmas Eve, and includes family-style salt cod fritter, charred octopus with fried smelts, strozzapretti with clams, cioppino and branzino, and chocolate panna cotta. The New Year’s Eve prix fixe menu include an Amuse course of prosciutto-wrapped burrata with fig jam and saba. Appetizer choices are lentil soup, whipped ricotta with truffly honey and pistachios on focaccia, head-on prawns, and baby Romaine salad. Pasta entrees are squid ink capellini, rigatoni with lamb sausage, and gnocchi with truffle cream. The main course is a choice of espresso-rubbed NY Strip, lobster and shrimp risotto, or roasted chicken. Sweets are vanilla budino with strawberry compote and biscotti.
Orchard Park by David Burke
Chateau Grande Hotel, 670 Cranbury Road, East Brunswick
Christmas Eve will have a la carte and holiday specials, while Christmas Day is a three-course prix fixe meal. Options on New Year’s Eve include two seatings of a prix fixe dinner, or a Midnight Champagne toast with DJ, photo booth and party favors.
Paragon Tap & Table
77 Central Ave., Clark
Special menus are available for New Year’s Eve dinner with the last seating at 9 pm; and New Year’s Day brunch from 12-3 pm.
Red Horse by David Burke
26 Ridge Rd., Rumson
Christmas Eve dinner has an a la carte menu plus holiday specials. The three-course dinner on Christmas Day features a special Children’s Menu.
Red Horse by David Burke
Bernards Inn, 27 Mine Brook Rd., Bernardsville
Christmas Eve dinner has an a la carte menu plus holiday specials. Christmas Day is a three-course prix fixe menu where kids 10 and younger eat for half off.
Restaurant Serenade
6 Roosevelt Ave., Chatham
Christmas Eve’s menu includes pumpkin soup, short rib tortellini, octopus with grilled potatoes, lemon sole, filet mignon, vegetable panache, apple cobbler and lemon tart. New Year’s Eve’s menu has wine and Champagne pairings accompanying smoke salmon panache, white truffle risotto, lobster with chanterelles and melted leeks, grilled prime ribeye, and a chocolate bombe.
Shannon Rose
Clifton and Ramsey
The Kids Rockin’ New Year’s Eve Party is from 4-7pm. Families can celebrate the ball drop in Dublin and enjoy activities including a DJ dance party, bagpipers, and a celebratory toast. The New Year’s Eve Party at the Pub (for adults) starts at 9 pm with live music, and then a Champagne toast at midnight.
Son Cubano
40-4 Riverwalk Place, Port Imperial/West New York
The Red Carpet Affair on New Year’s Eve is a Hollywood-style celebration, including live DJ sets and entertainment, cocktails, gourmet food, dancing, and lots of glamour. You can add on a dinner ticket.
Spring House
91 W. Clinton Ave., Tenafly
The Christmas Eve menu includes foie gras, escarole salad, mushroom and truffle risotto, dover sole, deconstructed beef Wellington and cinnamon apple tart. A week later, Spring House will host a NYE Masquerade Gala, kicking off with dinner before the party. There will be an open bar, live DJ and NYE toast.
Spuntino Wine Bar & Italian Tapas
70 Kingsland Rd., Clifton
New Year’s Eve dinner includes a Champagne toast. Aside from the full menu, specials include caviar, seared sea scallops, cacio e pepe, butter poached lobster, a 16-ounce ribeye and Merlot-poached pear dessert.
The Stone House
50 Stirling Rd., Warren
Located on 10 acres in the Watchung Mountains, the restaurant blends city with rustic. Executive Chef David Drake has created menus for both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
Catering Options
B&M Market
Park Ridge
If you prefer fine dining at home for Christmas, B&M offers hors d’oeuvres such as bacon-wrapped scallops, chicken parm pinwheels, unique canapes and a full antipasto. The first course options include grilled seafood salad in vinaigrette, chicken teriyaki dumplings, seafood stuffed shrimp and assorted stromboli. The pasta tasting course features roasted red pepper and asparagus ravioli, orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe, and lasagna with meat or eggplant. Entrees are beef Wellington, 7 fish paella, maple bourbon baked ham, orange roughy picatta-style and chicken Saltimbocca. Side dishes include potato au gratin,green bean almondine, roasted acorn squash, Italian-style mac & cheese and roasted cauliflower.
Bella Italia Pork Store & Catering
Freehold, Jackson, Monroe
The hot buffet option for Christmas or New Year’s includes a variety of pasta, chicken, vegetables and meat – with a dozen choices of meat, such as eye round roast beef, stuffed loin of pork, boneless stuffed leg of lamb, fresh ham or standing prime rib. There are appetizers like rice balls, potato croquette and fried ravioli; cold platters such as bruschetta, fresh or grilled vegetables, and American or Italian cold cuts; and seafood including baked clams oreganata, calamari fra diavolo, zuppa di clams or jumbo shrimp salad. There’s an a la carte menu with selections of pasta, chicken, veal, beef, pork and side dishes.
Buddy’s Marketplace
Manalapan
This Italian market carries it all for the holidays: antipasto, pasta, eggplant dishes, various meat options, a ton of fish and seafood, salads, hot and cold platters, dessert platters – even a special children’s menu and gluten-free selections. But it’s most famous for its visit by Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports, and has the Barstool Heroes menu featuring sandwiches that are over the top; the signature is El Presidente, with marinated grilled chicken, homemade fresh mozzarella and fire-roasted peppers.
D’Angelo Italian Market
Freehold
Choose from a burrata platter, cheese and salumi, rice balls and croquettes, salads, pasta (Sacchetti D’Angelo is little cheese-filled pasta purses with cream sauce), meat dishes, eggplant rollatini or parmigiana, shrimp dishes or seafood salad, pizza rustica, prosciutto bread, oven-ready meats and roasts, and a variety of pastries and cookies.
Feast Catering
Westfield
Make Christmas Eve dinner Thanksgiving Part II with turkey, stuffing, whipped mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables and French beans. Other dish options range from filet mignon with peppercorn gravy to teriyaki salmon to chicken marsala to Grade AAA tuna and wasabi. Choose appetizers like coconut shrimp with mango salsa, beef satay with Thai dipping sauce or caramelized red onion and goat cheese tartlets. Soup options include carrot ginger honey, chicken and barley, pumpkin with acorn squash and roasted corn, and split pea.
Iachetti’s Kitchen
918 Prospect St., Glen Rock
Iachetti’s will be open for takeout and catering for Christmas Eve and Day. The traditional Christmas Eve Italian catering meal is centered around seafood and feeds 8-10 people with crab-stuffed mushrooms, stuffed little neck clams, calamari posillippo, and west coast cod cioppino. The Christmas Day menu will feature a choice of a main dish like honey-baked smoked turkey breast or port braised beef short ribs to go along with sides like balsamic brussel sprouts and molasses spiced yams.
Kristine’s
51 Witherspoon, Princeton
The menu includes foie gras au torchon, chestnut and apple puree, beef tenderloin rossini and the catch of the day.
Livoti’s Old World Market
Aberdeen, Freehold, Marlboro, Middletown
If you want a complete Christmas Dinner Package, you’ll get a side dish, pasta dish and entrée, plus a mozzarella caprese platter, tossed salad and a loaf of brick oven bread. Italian seafood specialties include shrimp scampi, baked clams oreganata, zuppa di mussels, stuffed filet of sole and linguini with crab sauce. A la carte selections range from baked ziti and stuffed shells to eggplant dishes to mini rice balls to chicken and meat trays. You can order a full holiday platter with international cheeses, hot or cold antipasto, gourmet seafood, mini fried finger foods or a charcuterie board.
Lucy’s Kitchen and Market
Princeton
Complement a spiral ham or (uncooked) turkey with goat cheese salad, crudite, roasted shrimp cocktail, buttermilk biscuits, creamy mashed potatoes, harvest wild rice with shitake mushrooms and cranberries, oven-roasted Brussels sprouts, beef meatballs, baked tortellini al forno, lasagna Bolognese, cheese cannelloni, chicken marsala, cedar plank salmon, creamed spinach casserole, macaroni & cheese, quiche, salmon en croute, gingerbread cake with cream cheese frosting, or a brownie platter.
Maddalena’s Cheese Cake & Catering
Ringoes
Order some holiday favorites that have been featured on Food Network. The a la carte selections for Christmas include buffalo chicken dip, spinach artichoke dip, Swedish meatballs, chicken marsala, spiral ham garnished with fresh fruit, lobster crab ravioli, stuffed shells, buttered sweet corn and rice pilaf.
Mighty Quinn’s Slow Smoked Barbecue
Clifton, Hoboken, Union
Have yourself a merry BBQ Christmas, choosing from trays of brisket, smoked turkey breast, sausage, spare ribs, lots of flavors of chicken wings, mac & cheese, roasted sweet potatoes, burnt end baked beans, cinnamon bun bread pudding and apple crisp pie.
Nassau Street Seafood & Produce Co.
Princeton
Create your own Feast of the 7 Fishes at home. Seafood platters include shrimp cocktail and crab claws. The raw bar has oysters and clams on the half-shell, served by the half-dozen. Caviar options are farmed sturgeon, wild salmon roe and wild trout roe, among others. You can try a half pan of mussels, fish tacos, seafood paella, shrimp creole or buffalo calamari. For land lovers, you can order an Amish country turkey or a spiral-cut ham.
Uncle Giuseppe’s Marketplace
Morris Plains, Ramsey, Tinton Falls
Uncle G’s has it all covered: dinner packages, appetizers, pasta and potato selections, meat entrees, turkey with stuffing, vegetables, green salads, seafood platters and entrees, Christmas desserts and lots of candy. They also specialize in the Feast of the 7 Fishes, with options including linguini with white clam sauce, baccala salad, pasta alla mare and frutti di mare.
Bakeries
Choc-O-Pain
Hoboken and Jersey City
The menu for the holidays at this French bakery goes on and on: Buches by Millefeuille, tarte apple tatin, Tarte Poire, flourless chocolate heaven cake (that is gluten-free), Tarte aux Noix de Pecan and Galette des Rois are just for starters.
David Burke’s Dixie Lee Bakery
303 Main St., Keansburg
Sweets and seasonal treats include Noel cakes, pastries, pies, cakes, cookies and breads that you can cater for the holiday.
Farmhouse Sweets
Panther Valley Mall, 1595 Rte. 517, Allamuchy
Christmas cakes, cookies, pies and more are available in store or by preorder at this newly opened bakery.
Sourdough Sweetie
Ridgewood
Naming her sourdough starters Bertha and Glenda, owner Kelly makes an assortment of handmade breads, scones, bagels and cookies.
Tours les Jours
Multiple locations
The French bakery café chain has more than 300 artisan pastries, gourmet cakes and desserts baked in-store daily, but its “Holiday Wishes” collection is special through December 25. This menu has 31 limited-time cakes and roll cakes, like the Twinkle White Hazelnut (airy white sheet cake layered with chocolate ganache and hazelnut cream, topped with fresh strawberries), Buche De Noel (rich chocolate buttercream cake with a festive gold tree topper), Holiday Berry Wish (red velvet sheet cake featuring strawberry compote and a yogurt cloud cream), and Fairy Wonderland (layered two-tier chocolate sheet cake with chocolate cloud cream and a tart raspberry coulis jam). There are also delicate roll cakes, including the Classic Roll Cake (white fluffy sponge exterior with a creamy, sweet filling), Strawberry Jam Roll Cake (light cake filled with sweet strawberry jam), Matcha Roll Cake (infused with the earthy flavor of matcha and complemented by a light and creamy filling) and Mocha Roll Cake (coffee-flavored cake filled with a creamy mocha center).
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Read More:
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