If prepping all those milk and cookies for Santa (not to mention the rest of the holiday madness) has worn you out , let some of our fine local restaurants play Santa for you on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
Cafe Boulud (301 Australian Ave., Palm Beach, 561/655-6060) is going all out, with Christmas Eve and Day dinners (5:30 to 10 p.m.), plus Christmas Day brunch (11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.). Dinner on Christmas Eve is a three-course fest for $95 per person, with such classics as duck a l’orange and beef Wellington, while on the big day it’s three courses for $85. If brunching is more your thing, that’s three courses for $42 per person, which includes everything from breakfast favorites to savory luncheon dishes and, of course, desserts.
At Graze (2800 S. Ocean Blvd., Palm Beach, 561/533-3740) at the Four Seasons Palm Beach, they’re putting out a massive Christmas Day brunch spread for $55 per person and $20 per little persons. Hours are from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the menu includes a lot more than milk and cookies. Think wild mushroom soup with truffled bacon relish, butternut squash risotto with crabmeat, plus prime rib, stone crab, desserts and unlimited Bloody Marys and mimosas.
Max’s Grille (404 Plaza Real, Boca Raton, 561/368-0080) is doing Christmas Day dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. They’re dishing both their regular menu and a special holiday menu, which includes such comestibles as tomato bisque with goat cheese crostini, crab and tomato carpaccio, Maine lobster risotto and triple-layer chocolate cake.
Hopefully you won’t be going to the office Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, but you can go to The Office (201 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach, 561/276-3600). From 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. the bustling downtown gastropub will be serving up dishes off its regular menu and from a roster of holiday specials. Among the latter will be scallop tataki with seaweed salad, braised lamb shank with pappardelle and porcini mushrooms, and pineapple upside-down cake with Caribbean honey rum.
And, finally, for a very Italian Christmas Eve and Day you can mangia, mangiaat the Vic & Angelo’s in Delray (290 E. Atlantic Ave., 561/278-9570) and Palm Beach Gardens (4520 PGA Blvd., 561/630-9899). Order off the daily menu at lunch or dinner or such dinnertime specials as portobello and mushroom stack with balsamic syrup and wood-grilled New York strip with mascarpone creamed spinach at Delray and lobster ravioli with cognac-truffle cream sauce and sage-roasted duck with blackberry coulis at PBG.
On a personal note, as you’re reading this I’m on my way to California to spend the holidays with friends and family so blogging will take a break until I return the week after Christmas. Until then, have great meals and great times. Merry Christmas!
