At some Philly restaurants, Christmas isn’t a holiday — it’s the ‘Super Bowl’

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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.

“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.

Chow said that those ordering takeout or looking for a table should plan and check the restaurant’s policy.  Sang Kee, for example, is first-come, first-served, while Dim Sum House takes reservations.

“Everyone, try to be kind and be patient, especially going out to restaurants,” Chow said. “Obviously, I have a lot of empathy for people in the hospitality and service industry who are spending time working instead of being out there having dinner and lunch with their own families. So I’ll be patient and be kind and be cheerful, and most of the time, even if something goes wrong, everyone in the industry knows how to fix it right away for you. So, there’s not a lot to worry about.”

Working in a restaurant on Christmas can be chaotic, but the same can certainly be true for those cooking large dinners at home. Serving food at Sang Kee on Christmas is part of Chow’s family tradition.

“It’s my mom and dad’s restaurant. It’s been in my family,” Chow said. “They’ve owned it for… this is year 45, and they are well into their senior years and technically retired.”

“But I promise you, they’ll be there,” he added, “and they’ll be helping as much as they can, and telling me what to do for all the things they can.”

What’s more, some restaurateurs are actually choosing to work on the holidays because of family traditions.

James Nardone, the chef and owner of Elma, the intimate Fishtown eatery, is not working Christmas Day but has chosen to work Christmas Eve. Nardone will serve his own take on the classic Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes — a meal his family long celebrated.

“We either did it at one of my cousins’ houses when I was a kid after church, or we’d go to a restaurant in South Jersey, and they would do it,” Nardone said. “So it’s always been super important. It’s been very much a tradition in my family.”

Elma is serving up a modern twist on the classic with dishes like lobster with ricotta gnudi and skate with strozzapreti and calabrian chili.

“Our whole intention is to be authentic,” Nardone said. “We want the guests to feel like they’re walking into something real and not curated for just the sake of doing something gimmicky.”

Nardone can remember his aunt and grandmother working in the kitchen to cook Christmas Eve dinner. The Seven Fishes meal at Elma is a tribute to his loved ones, some of whom are no longer with us.

“It’s just so important in so many different ways,” Nardone said. “Not even just eating, but bringing everyone together. It’s this labor of love… It gets me a little sentimental.”