Roasts, Toasts, & Holiday Cheer

NYC’s magnificent cocktail institution, Death & Co, has two excellent holiday kits this season. Bring home some boozy warmth with vintage egg nog, or go for the hibernal hot toddy. The egg nog comes with Grandpa’s drunken cookies, while the batched toddy comes with cinnamon apple pie and spiced pecans. Each kit serves 6-8 guests.

Bar manager Camille Cavan has created festive cocktail kits so you can bring the Quaintrelle experience home. These bi-weekly kits include everything you need to make 3-4 boozy beverages. Right now, you can get a hot buttered rum and hot toddy kit with house mix, toddy syrup, citrus, garnishes, and a recipe.

This menu has all of the festive cocktails you crave during the holiday season: a spiced apple toddy, a brown butter old fashioned, a winter spiced daiquiri, and hot mulled wine. The best part? Not only can you get big batches, but you can get single-serving portions, too. No mixing, shaking, or muddling required.

This nostalgia-inducing Christmas-themed pop-up bar serves festive craft cocktails with all of the holiday décor. Sip on Christmapolitans, Fruitcake Flips, and Jolly Koalas for a good cause. This year, the team is donating a portion of sales to Santa’s Helpers, Inc. You can also order cocktails experiences to-go with optional holiday mugs and miracle shot glasses.

The Sippin’ Santa pop-up is back, and this year, Strong Water is running the curbside program safely outdoors with large tents, space heaters, and all the festivities. The menu features North Pole punch, Rum Rum Rudolph shots, Sippin’ Santa pouches, in addition to all of your favorite Asian fusion plates.

PQM has you covered with an epic piece of meat for your Christmas feast. Pre-order a custom 50-day dry-aged standing rib roast. It comes with a PQM spice rub, red wine sauce, horseradish cream, and easy cooking instructions. Order the whole roast to serve 8-10, or get the half roast for 4-6 guests. Quantities are limited.

Let the culinary team at the Fairmont Empress lend a hand this holiday season. Order a ready-to-roast Christmas turkey with all of the fixings or pre-order a New Year’s Eve prime rib roast that’s fit for royalty. The slow-roasted prime rib comes with Yorkshire pudding, herb and garlic roasted new potatoes, sautéed green beans, honey roasted carrots, and rosemary-red wine jus.

Bay View’s classic cocktail lounge (it’s been around since 1964) has turned their patio into a magical forest. Reserve a private, heated greenhouse shelter, where you can enjoy a special menu of holiday cocktails and ice cream drinks.

This outdoor oasis has been converted into a weatherproof winter wonderland with fresh outdoor air circulation. Join them during the month of December for some winter festivities. On December 6th, The Vault is hosting a 5-course white truffle dinner. On the 13th, they’re throwing a blind wine tasting (the holiday edition).

This is New York City’s ultimate socially-distanced winter dining experience. Cozy up in your very own rooftop cabin. The team is serving special winter-inspired dishes, like cheese fondue, creamy tomato soup, and truffle grilled cheese sandwiches, along with festive cocktails curated by the legendary Dante.

AKASHA’s annual Hanukkah specials are back. The menu features all of the classics, like chopped chicken liver, matzo ball soup, slow-braised brisket, noodle kugel, and latkes with sour cream and apple sauce. There are plenty of vegetarian options, batched vodka cocktails, and cookie boxes for dessert. Order for pickup or delivery.

Celebrate eight crazy nights with a delicious feast from the team at River and Woods. This meal, portioned for two or four, features grilled shawarma spiced chicken thighs, braised Colorado short rib with apricot demi-glace, matzo ball soup, and latkes. Place your order by December 7th.

Order a fully-cooked Hanukkah kit for two from Chicago’s BOKA. Choose between brisket or salmon, either of which is packaged with smoked whitefish spread, challah, matzo ball soup, cucumber-dill salad, latkes, and honey cake. Add on wine pairings and a half-dozen house-made bagels with cream cheese for breakfast.

Cozy up on Christmas Eve with a holiday meal for two inspired by the Italian-American tradition, Feast of the Seven Fishes. This celebratory meal features shrimp piccata, linguini & clams, seafood salad, and branzino Siciliano. Add a spritz kit, negronis, or Italian wine. Pick it up on Christmas Eve starting at noon.

The iconic Festa dei Sette Pesci is an immersive Italian feast centered around the most marvelous dishes of the sea: conch salad, squid ink gargenelli, and Tuscan seafood stew. Join chef Mark Camaj for an epic meal offered in private 6-person yurts on December 17th-20th. The feast, which concludes with some next level struffoli (honey-glazed doughnuts), is also available for pickup.

Chef Fabio Trabocchi’s flagship restaurant will host a 5-course Feast of the Seven Fishes this Christmas Eve. The luxurious menu features oysters and caviar, Fiola signature lobster ravioli, plus turbot and langoustine in a Venetian-spiced saffron emulsion. Add Alba white truffles to any dish for an instant upgrade.

Aquavit’s annual Christmas Julbord, or Scandanavian Christmas table, returns this year with all of your favorite Swedish dishes. This year’s table features smoked salmon, herring, roast beef, Christmas ham, Swedish meatballs, braised red cabbage, creamy potato salad, caviar, cake, and cookies. Julbord has become a holiday hallmark at Aquavit. Don’t miss it.

Chef Will Devlin and farmer Tom Cunningham (The Pure Meat Company) have created The Christmas Box, filled with everything needed for the main eating event on Christmas Day. This unique partnership sees Kent’s celebrated farm-to-table chef collaborate with a first-generation farmer, who is committed to rearing ethical and sustainable meat. One box includes a boned turkey breast, a stuffed turkey leg, sausage stuffing balls, pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, honey roast parsnips, glazed carrots, braised red cabbage, buttered leeks, red currant sauce, and gravy.

Bring home a Peruvian-style Christmas feast this year with Tanta’s festive meal kit for four. The menu features a crispy pork shank with a Peruvian chocolate glaze, Peruvian corn tamalitos with shrimp and queso, and a grilled endive salad with an aji amarillo dressing. Add on some tequila cocktails and pick up your feast on Christmas Eve.

Join the team at SingleThread for a memorable evening in celebration of a new year. The 9-course menu pays homage to wintertime in Hokkaido with four donabe hot pots and lots of champagne. This is a limited engagement that will take place in an outdoor tented area starting at 9 p.m.

Bullard is offering a special prime rib feast for two in honor of a new year. It comes with two pounds of prime rib, roasted beets, sunchoke and radicchio salad, Mom’s mashed potatoes, and apple tartlets. Add some sparkling wine or an old fashioned kit with the fancy ice cubes.

Del Mar is all about authentic seafood fare and flavors from the coasts of Spain. This New Year’s Eve, enjoy fine food and drinks in the private retreat of a cozy winter igloo. The igloos, which accommodate six guests, are located on the 2nd floor terraza overlooking the Wharf.

Treat someone special to a little bit of luxury this holiday season. The Restaurant at 1900 has three unique caviar gift boxes, all of which contain Amur Ossetra caviar with all the necessary accoutrements, plus a bottle of champagne selected by a master sommelier. The deluxe and luxury editions come with additional rare ingredients.

Let’s be honest: this doesn’t have to be a gift. You’re allowed to treat yourself to champagne and caviar, too. Gabriel Kreuther’s decadent box, which is available for pickup or delivery in NYC, includes Royal Kaluga Caviar, a half bottle of Krug Grand Cuvèe, Jamon Iberico, crème fraîche, and sesame crackers.

This one is for the cocktail aficionados. Alo’s new holiday gift box allows you to throw an intimate cocktail soirée. One box includes three 4-oz cocktails: a Vesper Martini, the Satin Jacket, and a Manhattan. You get a bottle of 2014 Domaine Rolet Arbois Trousseau, in addition to sea-salted Marcona almonds, a stainless steel cocktail jigger, stainless steel Collins straws, cocktails picks, and coasters.