last call for Christmas dinner to go
Many restos have closed their ordering for Christmas Eve or Christmas dinner, but if you procrastinated, check these out.
Sabor is offering Christmas Eve and Boxing Day pickups. Their bacon wrapped dates followed by paella would be delish for Christmas Eve. Menu at sabor.ca. Call 780-757-1114 to order.
The Marc is offering holiday gift bags ($80 each, order two and receive a $25 gift certificate) with brine mix for your turkey and some beautiful starters such as gravlax and chicken liver pate. Add a bottle of Liebert Regnier Champagne for $65. Find at themarc.ca and call 780-429-2828 to order.
The Kitchen by Brad Annual Christmas sale (a delicious Christmas morning special, treats for the stocking and George Blondheim Trio Christmas CDs) is on now until quantities last. Final pick up is December 24 from 10am-1pm. Order here: app.getoccasion.com.
There may be few Noche Buena Feast still available from Filistix. Feast is right: the Filipino-style porchetta sounds amazing, stuffed with lemongrass, green onion, garlic, herbs and spices, slow roasted to crispy skin perfection and served with several sides, $35 per person, filistixdelivers.ca. Order today.
and start planning nye
The best thing to do this year is to have a beautiful dinner at home with a special bottle of wine. It may become your new tradition.
Bündok offers a three-course dinner for curbside take away for NYE, with duck confit rillette, Cornish hen with their toothsome Parisienne gnocchi, squash salad, grilled broccoli and two desserts, $125/meal feeds two generously. Add an extra hen, squash salad or gnocchi and wine. Email info@bundok.com to order and arrange pick-up between 4pm-8pm on December 31.
The Marc’s NYE dinner kit is either herb-crusted rack of lamb ($75) or seafood en papillote ($65), with choice of starters and dessert. Instructions included. Order by December 28 noon, for pick-up on December 31, 1pm-3pm.
Bar Bricco’s NYE Kit is ideal for pasta lovers: stuffed anolini pasta, along with crostini, truffled cheese, salumi, Nocellara dell Belice olives and salad. And for dessert? Their handmade Bar Bricco chocolate bar, ($120). Add a bottle of Franciacorta from Barone Pizzini ($32-$68) to keep it sparkly. Order bricco-to-go.corso32group.com by December 26 for pick up on December 31.
last minute gifts for food lovers
Check out Home for the Holidays: The Tomato Gift Guide. Forget lineups—most businesses accept phone orders; then all you have to do is pick-it-up. Remember that Kind needs one week’s notice for their large format ice cream tubs. Or, think about signing up for the Cavern Cheese Club —the ultimate gift for cheeseheads. And, a beautiful bottle of Port to go with that cheese: thetomato.ca.
question of the week
Each week we will ask a food and drink related question and publish the most interesting answers.
Turkey or no?
Our December 24 tradition is Chinese. We will be doing classic take out—I hope they use the square cardboard boxes.
As much as I want to be all avant garde and say I will cook something different, it will be turkey. This year it will just be the two of us, and I will buy a small turkey and do it all up just as if we were a gathering of 25. All the traditional foods will be on the table. Mashed potatoes, carrots, green beans, gravy, Grandma’s stuffing, pickles, cranberry sauce and jelly and the oh so popular Clamato Aspic. Dessert is an assortment of goodies from Bon Ton. I need to cook a turkey so I can have my traditional Boxing Day breakfast—mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy.
This week’s Q: What will NYE look like for you?