Category: Events

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Dining in Boston 2012
UPDATE: Where to Dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2015 in Boston

Where can you dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the Boston area? There are a few great choices! But, if you're planning to dine at one of Boston's fine restaurants over the holidays, make a reservation!

Don't be surprised if a deposit is required to hold your reservation or if there are special menus and seatings for these special holiday meals.

What's open on Christmas Eve?

There are more choices on Christmas Eve than on Christmas Day. Some of our favorite, special places have wonderful holiday meals planned for those who reserve for the 24th.
- The legendary team from L'Espalier and Sel de la Terre offer the option of two different prix fixe Christmas Eve menus.
- La Morra in Brookline is an ideal spot to meet friends or family from that side of the Boston area. They are offering family style dining, "sharing traditional dishes of Piedmonte."
At the early date of this posting, some places have not announced their traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes events for Chistmas Eve. Check back or follow us on Twitter for updates on this fun holiday dining option.

What Boston Area Restaurants are Open on Christmas?

Hotel restaurants, since they must serve the hotel's guests, are normally open on holidays.

In Boston, hotel restaurants open both the 24th and 25th include some excellent choices:
- Asana at the Mandarin Hotel
- The Bristol Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel
- Meritage at the Boston Harbor Hotel
- Brasserie JO at the Colonnade Hotel
- Taj Boston Cafe at the Taj Hotel
Other places open on holidays would include chains like Legal Seafoods and many restaurants in Chinatown. We once asked a long time Boston cabbie where we could get something we needed on Christmas, and he said Chinatown was the place to go.

Here are some conversations on Chowhound.com and Trip Advisor about Christmas dining. We'll add more as we see them.

What Chinese Restaurants are Open On Christmas Day– (update 12.14.12)

Christmas Day Brunch (update 12.15.12)

Open on Cape Cod on Christmas Day Just in case you are going there, (update 12.15.12)

Xmas Lunch in Boston (update 12.15.12)

Restaurant open Christmas Day in Newton or nearby (update 12.17.12)

Other resources:

The reservation site, Open Table has a feature list of its member restaurants with Christmas Eve Specials and Christmas Day Dining.

But, you can also input information on the reservation you want and come up with a list of restaurants open at that hour. Change the hour and the list will change and some are not on the featured lists. It's a good place to start.

Update: 11/28/12 – The Boston Chefs site has posted a list of its participating member restaurants with special features for the holidays. Here's the Christmas Eve List & the Christmas Day list.

Update: 12/21/12 – Eater Boston has posted their list of Where to Eat on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

They have many good choices to add to your holiday options. We'd particularly like to recommend:

Island Creek Oyster Bar for Christmas Eve. It's one of our favorite places and I can just imagine what a happy scene it will be on that evening.

Eastern Standard: They will be open Christmas Day for breakfast and then for a special 3-course prix fixe meal.

Market by John-Georges: They will have a la carte items from their regular menu in addition to a special holiday menu on Christmas Day.

Subscribe to the comment feed of this post or follow us on Twitter, and we'll notify you of updates to this post.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Writers: Penny & Ed Cherubino

Photo: from iStockphoto.com

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

2012 Boston Area Holiday Markets & Other Places for Unique Gifts

If Boston were hit by a storm surge half the height of the one that hit Manhattan

Puddle-luscious – Photo of the Week

Nova Scotia giving us five Christmas trees this year

Surryano Ham from Virginia is Peanut-Fed Berkshire Pork
November 27, 2012
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Dining in Boston 2012
UPDATE: Where to Dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2015 in Boston

Where can you dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the Boston area? There are a few great choices! But, if you're planning to dine at one of Boston's fine restaurants over the holidays, make a reservation!

Don't be surprised if a deposit is required to hold your reservation or if there are special menus and seatings for these special holiday meals.

What's open on Christmas Eve?

There are more choices on Christmas Eve than on Christmas Day. Some of our favorite, special places have wonderful holiday meals planned for those who reserve for the 24th.
- The legendary team from L'Espalier and Sel de la Terre offer the option of two different prix fixe Christmas Eve menus.
- La Morra in Brookline is an ideal spot to meet friends or family from that side of the Boston area. They are offering family style dining, "sharing traditional dishes of Piedmonte."
At the early date of this posting, some places have not announced their traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes events for Chistmas Eve. Check back or follow us on Twitter for updates on this fun holiday dining option.

What Boston Area Restaurants are Open on Christmas?

Hotel restaurants, since they must serve the hotel's guests, are normally open on holidays.

In Boston, hotel restaurants open both the 24th and 25th include some excellent choices:
- Asana at the Mandarin Hotel
- The Bristol Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel
- Meritage at the Boston Harbor Hotel
- Brasserie JO at the Colonnade Hotel
- Taj Boston Cafe at the Taj Hotel
Other places open on holidays would include chains like Legal Seafoods and many restaurants in Chinatown. We once asked a long time Boston cabbie where we could get something we needed on Christmas, and he said Chinatown was the place to go.

Here are some conversations on Chowhound.com and Trip Advisor about Christmas dining. We'll add more as we see them.

What Chinese Restaurants are Open On Christmas Day– (update 12.14.12)

Christmas Day Brunch (update 12.15.12)

Open on Cape Cod on Christmas Day Just in case you are going there, (update 12.15.12)

Xmas Lunch in Boston (update 12.15.12)

Restaurant open Christmas Day in Newton or nearby (update 12.17.12)

Other resources:

The reservation site, Open Table has a feature list of its member restaurants with Christmas Eve Specials and Christmas Day Dining.

But, you can also input information on the reservation you want and come up with a list of restaurants open at that hour. Change the hour and the list will change and some are not on the featured lists. It's a good place to start.

Update: 11/28/12 – The Boston Chefs site has posted a list of its participating member restaurants with special features for the holidays. Here's the Christmas Eve List & the Christmas Day list.

Update: 12/21/12 – Eater Boston has posted their list of Where to Eat on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

They have many good choices to add to your holiday options. We'd particularly like to recommend:

Island Creek Oyster Bar for Christmas Eve. It's one of our favorite places and I can just imagine what a happy scene it will be on that evening.

Eastern Standard: They will be open Christmas Day for breakfast and then for a special 3-course prix fixe meal.

Market by John-Georges: They will have a la carte items from their regular menu in addition to a special holiday menu on Christmas Day.

Subscribe to the comment feed of this post or follow us on Twitter, and we'll notify you of updates to this post.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Writers: Penny & Ed Cherubino

Photo: from iStockphoto.com

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

2012 Boston Area Holiday Markets & Other Places for Unique Gifts

If Boston were hit by a storm surge half the height of the one that hit Manhattan

Puddle-luscious – Photo of the Week

Nova Scotia giving us five Christmas trees this year

Surryano Ham from Virginia is Peanut-Fed Berkshire Pork
November 27, 2012
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Dining in Boston 2012
UPDATE: Where to Dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2015 in Boston

Where can you dine on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the Boston area? There are a few great choices! But, if you're planning to dine at one of Boston's fine restaurants over the holidays, make a reservation!

Don't be surprised if a deposit is required to hold your reservation or if there are special menus and seatings for these special holiday meals.

What's open on Christmas Eve?

There are more choices on Christmas Eve than on Christmas Day. Some of our favorite, special places have wonderful holiday meals planned for those who reserve for the 24th.
- The legendary team from L'Espalier and Sel de la Terre offer the option of two different prix fixe Christmas Eve menus.
- La Morra in Brookline is an ideal spot to meet friends or family from that side of the Boston area. They are offering family style dining, "sharing traditional dishes of Piedmonte."
At the early date of this posting, some places have not announced their traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes events for Chistmas Eve. Check back or follow us on Twitter for updates on this fun holiday dining option.

What Boston Area Restaurants are Open on Christmas?

Hotel restaurants, since they must serve the hotel's guests, are normally open on holidays.

In Boston, hotel restaurants open both the 24th and 25th include some excellent choices:
- Asana at the Mandarin Hotel
- The Bristol Lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel
- Meritage at the Boston Harbor Hotel
- Brasserie JO at the Colonnade Hotel
- Taj Boston Cafe at the Taj Hotel
Other places open on holidays would include chains like Legal Seafoods and many restaurants in Chinatown. We once asked a long time Boston cabbie where we could get something we needed on Christmas, and he said Chinatown was the place to go.

Here are some conversations on Chowhound.com and Trip Advisor about Christmas dining. We'll add more as we see them.

What Chinese Restaurants are Open On Christmas Day– (update 12.14.12)

Christmas Day Brunch (update 12.15.12)

Open on Cape Cod on Christmas Day Just in case you are going there, (update 12.15.12)

Xmas Lunch in Boston (update 12.15.12)

Restaurant open Christmas Day in Newton or nearby (update 12.17.12)

Other resources:

The reservation site, Open Table has a feature list of its member restaurants with Christmas Eve Specials and Christmas Day Dining.

But, you can also input information on the reservation you want and come up with a list of restaurants open at that hour. Change the hour and the list will change and some are not on the featured lists. It's a good place to start.

Update: 11/28/12 – The Boston Chefs site has posted a list of its participating member restaurants with special features for the holidays. Here's the Christmas Eve List & the Christmas Day list.

Update: 12/21/12 – Eater Boston has posted their list of Where to Eat on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

They have many good choices to add to your holiday options. We'd particularly like to recommend:

Island Creek Oyster Bar for Christmas Eve. It's one of our favorite places and I can just imagine what a happy scene it will be on that evening.

Eastern Standard: They will be open Christmas Day for breakfast and then for a special 3-course prix fixe meal.

Market by John-Georges: They will have a la carte items from their regular menu in addition to a special holiday menu on Christmas Day.

Subscribe to the comment feed of this post or follow us on Twitter, and we'll notify you of updates to this post.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Writers: Penny & Ed Cherubino

Photo: from iStockphoto.com

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

2012 Boston Area Holiday Markets & Other Places for Unique Gifts

If Boston were hit by a storm surge half the height of the one that hit Manhattan

Puddle-luscious – Photo of the Week

Nova Scotia giving us five Christmas trees this year

Surryano Ham from Virginia is Peanut-Fed Berkshire Pork
November 27, 2012
2012 Boston Area Holiday Markets & Other Places for Unique Gifts

Last week, over on the Trip Advisor Boston forum, a visitor asked about Christmas Markets. It made me think about the special Holiday Markets and events like CraftBoston that I could recommend to anyone thinking about a special shopping experience that will result in presenting unique, handcrafted, or at least carefully selected gifts for the holidays, or to stockpile for the rest of the year.

Here are some of the events and places I recommend to avoid chains, keep the money local, and support hard working artists and artisans.

The Downtown Crossing Holiday Market (next to Macy's) begins November 24th and operates daily.

Madeleine Ahlborn's Edge 2012 (mixed media and oil on canvas 6×6 feet)

The Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts will hold their Annual Art Sale of student, alumni, and faculty work from November 29th to December 2nd. (The photo above of one of the pieces on offer is courtesy of the Museum School. )

The Somerville Holiday Market on December 2nd at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville MA.

The Society of Arts and Crafts' Craftboston Holiday Show is December 7, 8, 9 at the Cyclorama on Tremont street.

SOWA Holiday Market Saturday & Sunday, December 8 & 9, 2012. This is always a fun event and if you've attended in the past, you should note that they have a new location. This year's market will be held at the Ben Franklin Institute, 41 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA.

Bazaar Bizarre Boston, Sunday December 16th, is in its 12th year. You'll find this collection of mostly New Engalnd artists and craftspeople at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama building on Tremont Street.

Holly Fair 2012 at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, December 15th & 16th, was added to the trip advisor list by ChristineP, and she has a reputation for knowing how to enjoy Boston. It's at 42 Brattle Street in Cambridge.

Places to Shop for the Holidays or Anytime!

Stop into the Society of Arts and Crafts shop on Newbury Street to find very fine handmade gifts.

If you are in the North End, stop by the North Bennet Street School Gallery for carefully crafted gifts from this school's skilled students and alumni. This neighborhood also has a nice collection of small shops and is a wonderful place to buy food gifts.

And, Beacon Hill, and Charles Street in particular, still has a wonderful collection of neighborhood shops where you can buy hand selected items in a warm, friendly place. The community has done a great job of protecting their neighborhood from chains so it's worth a visit.

Any more places or events you love to shop? Add them in the comments below or send us an email and we'll check it out for a possible update to this list.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2008-2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino plus contributions from the SOWA Holiday Market site and the Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Make Our Holiday Tree Shine!

Holiday Mail and Package Delivery Deadlines for the Boston Area 2012

Puddle-luscious – Photo of the Week

November 23, 2012
2012 Boston Area Holiday Markets & Other Places for Unique Gifts

Last week, over on the Trip Advisor Boston forum, a visitor asked about Christmas Markets. It made me think about the special Holiday Markets and events like CraftBoston that I could recommend to anyone thinking about a special shopping experience that will result in presenting unique, handcrafted, or at least carefully selected gifts for the holidays, or to stockpile for the rest of the year.

Here are some of the events and places I recommend to avoid chains, keep the money local, and support hard working artists and artisans.

The Downtown Crossing Holiday Market (next to Macy's) begins November 24th and operates daily.

Madeleine Ahlborn's Edge 2012 (mixed media and oil on canvas 6×6 feet)

The Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts will hold their Annual Art Sale of student, alumni, and faculty work from November 29th to December 2nd. (The photo above of one of the pieces on offer is courtesy of the Museum School. )

The Somerville Holiday Market on December 2nd at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville MA.

The Society of Arts and Crafts' Craftboston Holiday Show is December 7, 8, 9 at the Cyclorama on Tremont street.

SOWA Holiday Market Saturday & Sunday, December 8 & 9, 2012. This is always a fun event and if you've attended in the past, you should note that they have a new location. This year's market will be held at the Ben Franklin Institute, 41 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA.

Bazaar Bizarre Boston, Sunday December 16th, is in its 12th year. You'll find this collection of mostly New Engalnd artists and craftspeople at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama building on Tremont Street.

Holly Fair 2012 at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, December 15th & 16th, was added to the trip advisor list by ChristineP, and she has a reputation for knowing how to enjoy Boston. It's at 42 Brattle Street in Cambridge.

Places to Shop for the Holidays or Anytime!

Stop into the Society of Arts and Crafts shop on Newbury Street to find very fine handmade gifts.

If you are in the North End, stop by the North Bennet Street School Gallery for carefully crafted gifts from this school's skilled students and alumni. This neighborhood also has a nice collection of small shops and is a wonderful place to buy food gifts.

And, Beacon Hill, and Charles Street in particular, still has a wonderful collection of neighborhood shops where you can buy hand selected items in a warm, friendly place. The community has done a great job of protecting their neighborhood from chains so it's worth a visit.

Any more places or events you love to shop? Add them in the comments below or send us an email and we'll check it out for a possible update to this list.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2008-2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino plus contributions from the SOWA Holiday Market site and the Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Make Our Holiday Tree Shine!

Holiday Mail and Package Delivery Deadlines for the Boston Area 2012

Puddle-luscious – Photo of the Week

November 23, 2012
2012 Boston Area Holiday Markets & Other Places for Unique Gifts

Last week, over on the Trip Advisor Boston forum, a visitor asked about Christmas Markets. It made me think about the special Holiday Markets and events like CraftBoston that I could recommend to anyone thinking about a special shopping experience that will result in presenting unique, handcrafted, or at least carefully selected gifts for the holidays, or to stockpile for the rest of the year.

Here are some of the events and places I recommend to avoid chains, keep the money local, and support hard working artists and artisans.

The Downtown Crossing Holiday Market (next to Macy's) begins November 24th and operates daily.

Madeleine Ahlborn's Edge 2012 (mixed media and oil on canvas 6×6 feet)

The Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts will hold their Annual Art Sale of student, alumni, and faculty work from November 29th to December 2nd. (The photo above of one of the pieces on offer is courtesy of the Museum School. )

The Somerville Holiday Market on December 2nd at the Armory, 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville MA.

The Society of Arts and Crafts' Craftboston Holiday Show is December 7, 8, 9 at the Cyclorama on Tremont street.

SOWA Holiday Market Saturday & Sunday, December 8 & 9, 2012. This is always a fun event and if you've attended in the past, you should note that they have a new location. This year's market will be held at the Ben Franklin Institute, 41 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA.

Bazaar Bizarre Boston, Sunday December 16th, is in its 12th year. You'll find this collection of mostly New Engalnd artists and craftspeople at the Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama building on Tremont Street.

Holly Fair 2012 at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, December 15th & 16th, was added to the trip advisor list by ChristineP, and she has a reputation for knowing how to enjoy Boston. It's at 42 Brattle Street in Cambridge.

Places to Shop for the Holidays or Anytime!

Stop into the Society of Arts and Crafts shop on Newbury Street to find very fine handmade gifts.

If you are in the North End, stop by the North Bennet Street School Gallery for carefully crafted gifts from this school's skilled students and alumni. This neighborhood also has a nice collection of small shops and is a wonderful place to buy food gifts.

And, Beacon Hill, and Charles Street in particular, still has a wonderful collection of neighborhood shops where you can buy hand selected items in a warm, friendly place. The community has done a great job of protecting their neighborhood from chains so it's worth a visit.

Any more places or events you love to shop? Add them in the comments below or send us an email and we'll check it out for a possible update to this list.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2008-2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino plus contributions from the SOWA Holiday Market site and the Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Make Our Holiday Tree Shine!

Holiday Mail and Package Delivery Deadlines for the Boston Area 2012

Puddle-luscious – Photo of the Week

November 23, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving From the BostonZest Team!

We like to pause on this day to say thank you to our readers and supporters.

Thanks to all of you who come to the site often from our RSS feed. Regular readers clicking over make us feel like we're on the right track.

Thanks to all of you who follow us on Twitter. And a special thank you to each and every retweet.

The biggest thank you is to those who remember to stop here on their way to Amazon. When you click on an Amazon link from here, it's putting money in our tip jar, only Amazon does it instead of you.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and may you enjoy a great holiday weekend.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2008 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Brookline Winter Farmers' Market in the Arcade Building, Coolidge Corner

You & Me or the Autumn Tree?

Winter Farmers' Markets 2012 – 2013

Red Leaf: Photo of the Week

November 22, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving From the BostonZest Team!

We like to pause on this day to say thank you to our readers and supporters.

Thanks to all of you who come to the site often from our RSS feed. Regular readers clicking over make us feel like we're on the right track.

Thanks to all of you who follow us on Twitter. And a special thank you to each and every retweet.

The biggest thank you is to those who remember to stop here on their way to Amazon. When you click on an Amazon link from here, it's putting money in our tip jar, only Amazon does it instead of you.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and may you enjoy a great holiday weekend.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2008 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Brookline Winter Farmers' Market in the Arcade Building, Coolidge Corner

You & Me or the Autumn Tree?

Winter Farmers' Markets 2012 – 2013

Red Leaf: Photo of the Week

November 22, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving From the BostonZest Team!

We like to pause on this day to say thank you to our readers and supporters.

Thanks to all of you who come to the site often from our RSS feed. Regular readers clicking over make us feel like we're on the right track.

Thanks to all of you who follow us on Twitter. And a special thank you to each and every retweet.

The biggest thank you is to those who remember to stop here on their way to Amazon. When you click on an Amazon link from here, it's putting money in our tip jar, only Amazon does it instead of you.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and may you enjoy a great holiday weekend.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2008 Penny Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

Brookline Winter Farmers' Market in the Arcade Building, Coolidge Corner

You & Me or the Autumn Tree?

Winter Farmers' Markets 2012 – 2013

Red Leaf: Photo of the Week

November 22, 2012
5 Reasons to Have Cider on Your Holiday Menu

There are many reasons to add cider to your holiday menu – for meals, for cocktail hour, or mulled and warm on a chilly evening. And, there are many types of cider to serve to your family and guests.

1. Artisanal ciders will be a hit with fans of microbrews and fine wines. Our wine guru, Howie Rubin of Bauer Wine & Spirits, recently recommended Bantam Wunderkind, a new local cider from Cambridge, MA. He knows our taste and this crisp, clean, dry creation was perfect with a supper of salad with buttery croutons and goat cheese.

2. At farmers' markets and farm stands you'll find sweet, fresh cider for those who prefer non-alcoholic drinks. You can even find single source ciders like this one made from honeycrisp apples. And, most cider is gluten-free. Just be sure to check that the one you're choosing really is safe for those who restrict gluten. You never know what some producers might add to the mix.

3. Cider's history makes it a perfect fit in this season of traditions. We wrote more about cider's past in our post, You Only Think You Know Cider.

4. Cider gives you a new world to explore! Try an imported, sparkling cider from someplace like Normandy where there is a long tradition of turning apples into a companion for food. One of the most respected producers is Etienne Dupont. Penny loves the barnyard funk of their organic version. It has that same mysterious quality of some of our favorite Italian wines. We wrote more about it here.

5. If you want to keep up with the conversation among food lovers, you should add some cider knowledge to your repertoire. Everyone is starting to rediscover this once lost beverage. Here'a a primer from NPR, Americans Rediscover The Kick Of Hard Cider. And, remember, don't judge ciders by the mass produced versions. Try a small scale, local producer recommended by someone you trust.

Beer glasses, like the one below, are perfect for serving cider. Or, you can pour it into the same glass that other guests will use for wine or serve it in a brandy snifter
as we did in the top photo.

And, thanks to everyone who clicks over to Amazon from here. It doesn't cost you anymore, but it puts a few coins in our tip jar.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2010-2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

Note on Comments: We monitor comments constantly and anything that is pure spam, inappropriate, or nasty is swept away. In addition to readers' comments, we welcome hearing from the people, places, and services we cover. Often, those add great insights for our readers. As long as it doesn’t become a pure ad, we’d love to hear from you. We do reserve the right to edit ads and links out of comments.

Related articles

8 Single Varietal Ciders You Should Try

Tips for brewing your own hard cider

Focaccia Croutons Are Tops

Thanksgiving 2012 Dining Out in Boston

November 19, 2012