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From dine-in feasts to take-out delicacies, these local restaurants are making Christmas Day and Eve stress-free with their takes on holiday classics.
Sure, there’s no blanket of snow on the ground this year, but the twinkling lights and busy holiday markets can mean only one thing: Christmas is fast approaching. While the season is the most joyful of the year, it can sometimes be stressful too: especially when not all of us have locked down what we’ll be eating on the big day (guilty).
So, rather than standing in front of a hot stove all day while everyone else gets to sip (spiked) eggnog and open presents by the fire, we’re looking to these local restaurants that are serving up the food of the season. From dine-in classics like turkey and stuffing to creative take-homes like southern-style smoked brisket, these local gems have you covered whether you’re feeding your extended family at home or if you’re looking for a festive date night for two.
Peake Catering is back with its beloved Peake Holiday Feast—where you can order a ready-made festive meal fit for a crowd. The menu, which features dishes like a sage and cinnamon brined turkey and sides like cacio e pepe Brussels sprouts, feeds four to six people, but there are additional add-ons available (like mac and cheese or roasted cauliflower salad) if you have a larger party. Additionally, Peake is offering festive lunch options for a minimum of 12 guests.
Cost: $287 How to Book: Order online at peakeofcatering.com by December 18.
Granville Island’s Dockside restaurant is celebrating Christmas in style with two separate festive meals. On December 24 it is hosting a table d’hote dinner with a choice of beet salad with cashew cream or butternut squash soup to start, a main course of slow-roasted sirloin with all the trimmings (including mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, roasted vegetables and gravy) and apple crumble for dessert. The regular menu will also be available.
Finally, that evening Dockside is offering a Christmas Day dinner buffet which will include appetizers like crab cakes and arancini, a seafood bar with crab legs, lobster tail, cured and smoked fish, a carving station with turkey, ham, porchetta and prime rib, plus sides like stuffing, macaroni and cheese and a DIY salad bar. Of course, dessert is included as well with options like a chocolate fountain (!!), cakes and macarons.
The Greek is offering a take-home holiday dinner available by preorder from December 20 to January 5. It includes a kilo of five-hour braised lamb leg, with sides like long grain rice, lemon potatoes and tzatziki, but you can add additional appetizers or desserts to make the meal even more festive.
Additionally The Greek by Anatoli will be open on Christmas Day at both the Yaletown and North Vancouver locations if you’re looking to dine-in on the holiday.
Cost: Take-home feast serves four, $135. How to Book: Call with a minimum 48 hour notice. Yaletown: 604-979-0700. North Vancouver: 604-985-9853
Kick off the holiday in style at Dahlia’s Christmas Eve prix-fixe dinner. The festive feast features foie and cherry gelee stuffed choux pastry, house brioche with whipped butter, honey and salt, seared Hokkaido scallops with fennel-apple slaw, miso-marinated sablefish with mushrooms, bok choy, baby turnips and herb dashi, a palate cleansing lime and thyme granita, a show-stopping beef wellington with truffle potato pave and a classic baked Alaska for dessert.
Cost:First seating 5:30-8 p.m. $85 per person plus tax and gratuity; Second seating 8:30-11 p.m. $99 per person plus tax and gratuity
How to Book: Visit azurhotelvancouver.com
View this post on Instagram A post shared by LAVANTINE RESTAURANT & SKYBAR | Vancouver, BC🇨🇦 (@lavantine_rooftop)
A post shared by LAVANTINE RESTAURANT & SKYBAR | Vancouver, BC🇨🇦 (@lavantine_rooftop)
Celebrate Christmas Eve on a year-round patio with Lavantine‘s five-course set menu. The meal features Lavantine’s toshak bread with muhammara to share, charcoal-grilled octopus with pomegranate, romesco labneh, sumac-rubbed radicchio and charred shishito peppers, salmon and prawns meshwi (grilled) with a sumac spiced crust and preserved lemon and herb salsa, lobster risotto with chermoula butter, spiced BC lamb chops with date and walnut salsa, minted tzatziki, charred Brussels sprouts, and a Valrhona chocolate cake with spiced honey drizzle for dessert.
Cost: First seating 5:30-8 p.m. $99 per person plus tax and gratuity. Second seating 8:30-11 p.m. $125 per person plus tax and gratuity
Rosie’s Barbecue is bringing Southern-style smoked meat to the north with its holiday dinner packages. The feast feeds eight to 10 people and includes either a smoked local turkey, Fraser Valley Ham or 63 Acres Brisket (all six to eight pounds), plus sides like creamy mashed potatoes, sugar-glazed roasted carrots, Brussels sprouts (with additional brisket!), house-made cornbread and house-made pan gravy.
Cost: $295, additional turkeys, briskets and hams available for $160. How to Book: Pre-order via rosies-pre-order.square.site before December 20 and pick up at Main Street Brewing on December 23 between 11:30AM and 4PM.
Coquitlam’s The Wild Fig is celebrating the season with a buffet Christmas dinner that features festive treats like charcuterie (think mortadella, salami and capicola) and cheese (local and imported), glazed honey ham sliced to order, roasted rukey with traditional stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce, slow roasted striploin with red wine rosemary jus and pleanty of deserts (think fruit flans, yule log, minced meat tarts and more).
Cost: $69 for adults, $39 for kids How to Book: Visitwildfig.ca
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A post shared by Honey Salt Vancouver (@honeysaltvancouver)
From 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on December 24 and 25, Honey Salt is offering a festive dinner buffet that features appetizers like prawn cocktail, herb and cheddar brioche and bacon-wrapped scallops, herb-roasted turkey and roast striploin carving stations, sides like mac and cheese, sourdough stuffing and mashed potatoes and a variety of desserts, including chocolate toffee bread pudding (ooh la laaaaa).
Cost: $78 for adults, $48 for kids ages four-10 (free under three). How to Book: Visit opentable.ca
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A post shared by The Victor (@thevictorvancouver)
Starting December 22 until December 25, The Victor is offering a prix-fixe Christmas dinner menu (with optional wine pairing). The menu includes cheese and onion bread with whipped butter, appetizer options like lobster and crab bisque or Belgian endive salad (with orange and goat cheese), the choice either mushroom risotto, Rossdown Farms free range turkey with all the classic sides or prime rib with Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts and the option to add lobster for $37. Dessert is toffee bread pudding with creme Anglaise.
Cost: $96 How to Book: Visit opentable.ca
Seasons in the Park is celebrating both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year with special prix-fixe menus. On Christmas Eve appetizers include butternut squash soup, harvest salad or Seasons mushrooms, entrees are a choice between oven-roasted turkey, prime rib, butternut squash ravioli or a seafood duo (grilled steelhead salmon and garlic prawns), and dessert is a choice between pumpkin bread pudding or chocolate truffle cake.
On Christmas Day the menu includes a lobster cake with truffle aioli for an amuse bouche and then a choice of appetizers including butternut squash soup, harvest salad or Seasons mushrooms, pear sorbet as a palate cleanser, a choice between oven-roasted turkey, prime rib, butternut squash ravioli or ponzu-marinated sablefish with either pumpkin bread pudding or chocolate truffle cake for dessert.
Cost: $72 Christmas Eve, $109 Christmas Day How to Book: Visit vancouverdine.com
View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Teahouse Restaurant (@the_teahouse)
A post shared by The Teahouse Restaurant (@the_teahouse)
The Teahouse in Stanley Park has festive menus planned this year for Christmas Day and Eve. On Christmas Eve its showcasing a menu featuring appetizers like butternut squash soup, harvest salad or Seasons mushrooms, entrees are a choice between oven-roasted turkey, prime rib, butternut squash ravioli or a seafood duo (grilled steelhead salmon and garlic prawns), and dessert is a choice between pumpkin bread pudding or chocolate truffle cake.
On Christmas Day the menu shifts slightly to include a lobster cake with truffle aioli for an amuse bouche and then a choice of appetizers including butternut squash soup, harvest salad or Seasons mushrooms, pear sorbet as a palate cleanser, a choice between oven-roasted turkey, prime rib, butternut squash ravioli or ponzu-marinated sablefish with either pumpkin bread pudding or chocolate truffle cake for dessert.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Cardero’s Restaurant (@carderos_van)
A post shared by Cardero’s Restaurant (@carderos_van)
In addition to its regular a la carte menu, on December 25 Cardero’s is offering a festive special feature of oven-roasted turkey (includes light and dark meat, mashed potatoes, herb stuffing, autumn vegetables, turkey gravy and cranberry-orange sauce).
Cost: $35 How to Book: Visit vancouverdine.com
View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant (@the_sandbar)
A post shared by The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant (@the_sandbar)
While Granville Island’s The Sandbar is known for its exceptional seafood, it’s showcasing a holiday special this Christmas Day: oven-roasted turkey (dark and white meat) with garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, roasted Brussels sprouts and honey-glazed carrots.
Cost: $38 How to Book: Visit vancouverdine.com
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A post shared by PICAchef (@picachef)
The Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts wants to make your Christmas dinner easy this year with its holiday dinner to-go meal. The meal serves two and includes citrus-safe roasted turkey breast and a turkey leg roulade, plus sides like buttermilk-garlic mashed potatoes, green bean almondine with bacon, spiced delicata squash with kale, pickled onions and pomengrantie and maple-glazed carrots. Plus, a traditional turkey gravy and orange-cranberry sauce and sticky toffee pudding with Cambridge Burnt cream.
Cost: $157 How to Book: Visit picachef.com and reserve prior to December 22.
For those looking for a non-traditional Christmas feast (or if you’re Italian, this is ideal for the feast of the seven fishes!) Fanny Bay is offering some festive options this season in addition to its regular array of shellfish. Think live and cooked whole Nova Scotia lobster, deluxe seafood boxed (with cooked crab, mussels, clams, spot prawn tails and lingcod cheeks), baked oyster kits, Dungeness crab cakes and Dungeness crab and artichoke dips. Plus, there are Ekoke smoked seafood cans and sampler packs (think curried mussels, smoked coho salmon, habanero hot smoked oysters) which are ideal for holiday appetizers.
Cost: Varies How to Book: Visit fannybayoysters.com
