When it comes to holiday dining at most restaurants, what you see on the menu is what you get, right?
Not necessarily. Many imaginative chefs are willing to create special meals or add personal touches to holiday dinners. Some grocers, too, can help tailor holiday meals.
Chefs at three restaurants proved both cooperative and ingenious when asked to customize a menu and told to pull out all the stops.
Gale Gand and Rick Tramonto of Brasserie T, in Northfield, came up with a holiday dinner for lovers. A ’91 Domaine Chandon rose champagne would accompany a cold course: “Stacks of stone crab claws with a simple horseradish and tomato sauce dashed with balsamic vinegar.”
The main course–New Zealand greenlip mussels with tomato, garlic and black truffles over linguini–would be followed by a “custardy dessert,” said Gand, “fromage blanc cheesecake with strawberry and passion fruit salsa. The cheesecake has a white chocolate and almond crust, and fromage blanc is light. It’s like an upscale version of strawberries and cream. I see the menu as big bowls of stuff for lovers to feed each other.” Price per couple (all to share): Champagne, $43; crab claws, $30; mussels, $50; dessert, $13.50.
Suppose your guests are vegetarians, but the host or hostess is bored with such fare. Chef Michael Taus of Zealous, in Elmhurst, banishes ennui with his “personalized festive vegetarian menu, beginning with a gratin amuse of baby carrots, brussels sprouts and chestnuts, then a second-course napoleon of crispy potatoes with spicy-sweet potato puree and cranberry chutney.” Both courses are cooled with a Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot d’Alsace wine. A cold intermezzo follows: lemongrass and ginger late-harvest Riesling soup with roasted beet sorbet.
Next, a savory winter vegetable tart with marjoram dressing and pumpkin-seed-infused extra-virgin olive oil. The wine: Pinot Noir Elk Cove Reserve. The dessert would be a chocolate and organic pumpkin cake with creme fraiche and white chocolate frosting. To accompany the dessert: milk, or a Muscat Canelli. The dinner for one is $25, wines not included.
John Bubala, chef de cuisine at Chicago’s Marche, devised a French farm-country reunion for guests “hungry for the old-time rich, flavorful peasant-style cooking.”
The first course is sauteed calves brain with brown butter, lemon and spinach, followed by Nantucket sea scallops with hamhocks, horseradish and garlic whipped potatoes. The wine: Villa Mt. Eden Chardonnay (“crisp, to cut through the fat”).
The next course is veal kidneys with braised cabbage, smoked bacon and apple, followed by sweetbreads of veal with roasted beets, haricot verts and citrus vinaigrette. The wine for both courses: Calera, Jensen Pinot Noir.
The dessert is a meld of cheeses with walnut bread, figs and a 20-year Tawny Port by Cockburn. Each dinner is about $57; wines total $127.
Coming away from Marche’s peasant offering, you could do some easy personalization with an “instant” dinner for ham lovers. The key is to choose the leaner Hearth Honey ham ($5.29 per pound) from Boston Market, available only for the holidays (till Jan. 31).
At Lincoln Park Market, manager Jim Nathaus said, “There are many singles in this area. And if Mom and Dad are coming to town, well, it’s our slowest week of the year. So we’ll cook the turkey and other accompanying side dishes. They can write their own menu. We try to personalize it and put it all together for them, from spinach dip to homemade mince pie.”
Nathaus said the dinner for four could run $40 to $60, which could include the turkey, spinach dip, pie, other side dishes and a $12 chardonnay.
Treasure Island’s Maria Kamberos noted that the stores order many special items just for the holidays that truly personalize a dish or menu.
Among those items are “marron glaces from France in plain, cognac, chocolate and chocolate cognac varieties, from $22 to $29 per pound. Or Fini panettone, $14.98. We also bring in dried fruits: cranberries, strawberries, blueberries and cherries, sold plain or mixed with nuts, to wow your guests as is or to use in cooking–about $7 to $12 per pound.
“Another item is our own sauce of cranberries, nuts and aged brandy, $5 per pound. Use it with turkey, ham or over vanilla ice cream. We also bring in fancy goat cheeses ($3 to $8), rolled in herbs, from small farms in France.”
