Guide to Restaurant Christmas 2015 Dinners in Miami

Spending the holidays in Miami is different. There are palm trees covered in lights and snowmen made of sand. But feeding your ten family members, including those distant relatives you love to hate, is just the same about anywhere.

Though most establishments are closed for the holiday, more than 25 local eateries offer special menus Christmas Eve and Christmas Day — from cochinillo and traditional roasted ham to oysters, lobster, and crab. So make a reservation before it's too late.

15th & Vine Kitchen and Bar
Savor a festive three-course holiday dinner menu Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Dishes include a rainbow beet salad topped with tarragon vinaigrette, blue cheese, and raisin purée; roasted pork loin served Cuban-style, with side plates including mojo-glazed root vegetables and cornbread; and desserts ranging from macadamia nut cheesecake to sweet caramel plantains topped with rich dulce de leche ice cream. All dishes are served family-style. Priced at $65 per adult and $35 per child, dinner is offered from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Reservations are required. Call 305-503-0373.
BLT Prime
Christmas Day, Doral steak house BLT Prime will offer a special blackboard menu with a range of seasonal options available à la carte or as a three-course prix fixe. Including one appetizer, main course, side, and dessert, it's created by chef de cuisine Dustin Ward and priced at $65 per person. For more information and reservations, call 305-591-6066.

Bulla Gastrobar
Bulla will offer its regular menu Christmas Eve. There will also be an à la carte to-go menu including dishes such as a dozen croquetas de jamón, paella de mariscos, and cochinillo ibérico asado served with patatas panaderas and salad. For more information and reservations, call 305-441-0107. 

Bourbon Steak
In addition to ordering from Bourbon Steak's à la carte menu, you enjoy holiday dishes such as Maine sea scallops, American Kobe filet, and a triple chocolate pecan tart. For reservations, call 786-279-6600.

Cantina La Veinte 
Feel at home this Christmas with chef Santiago Gomez’s oven roasted turkey, table-side cut, at Cantina La Veinte in Brickell. Available for lunch and dinner December 24 and December 25. For reservations, call 786-623-6135.

Corsair by Scott Conant
Indulge in a four-course prix fixe priced at $75 per person. Dishes include hamachi crudo, grilled octopus, seared halibut, and malted chocolate cake. A children's menu is available upon request for $25. For reservations, call 786-279-6800. 

DB Bistro Moderne
Executive chef Jason Pringle will present a four-course prix fixe Christmas Eve. It features seasonal plates such as Nantucket Bay scallops, roasted elk loin, and suckling pig. Pastry chef Saeko Nemoto will offer variations of a classic bûche de noël for dessert. Charcuterie, cheeses, and raw bar selections are available as add-ons. Sommelier Alan Feldman will offer five bottles of champagne from various producers at $99 each to pair with the meal. Dinner service runs from 6 to 10 p.m. It's priced at $80 for adults and $35 for children. For reservations, call 305-421-8800. 

Driftwood Room at Nautilus
Driftwood Room in South Beach invites guests to enjoy Christmas with special prix-fixe menus prepared by chef Alex Guarnaschelli and chef de cuisine Lucas Marino. Driftwood Room will host Christmas Eve dinner on Thursday, December 24 starting at 5 p.m. and Christmas lunch and dinner on Friday, December 25 starting at noon. Dinner costs $59 per person. For more information and reservations, call 305-503-5700.

The Dutch
For Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, guests are invited to a festive dinner priced at $45. The menu includes roasted Muscovy duck, served with a side of pastilla, butternut squash, quinoa, turnips, and spiced jus. Desserts include salted caramel custard with gingerbread cookie and caramelized citrus, and molten chocolate cake with almond nougatine and candy cane ice cream, each priced at $12. The menu is available Christmas Eve from 1 to 9 p.m. and Christmas Day from 6 to 10 p.m. For reservations, call 305-938-3111.

The Federal
Get Christmas to-go from The Federal. Guests choose from either a leg of lamb or rib eye for $275; or order both for $350. Biscuits, truffle whipped potatoes, roasted mushrooms, glazed carrots, and dessert are all included too too. Everything is served warm and oven ready. For more information, visit thefederalmiami.com.

Izzy's Fish & Oyster
Christmas Eve, enjoy Izzy's' "Feast of Seven Fishes" menu. Each table will share a selection of warm Parker House rolls and seven fish-centric dishes, including Alaskan king crab, oysters, clams, and lobster. For dessert, expect lemon meringue pie. Dinner is priced at $85 per person or $150 per couple. For reservations, call 305-397-8843.

Jaya at the Setai
Christmas Eve, the newly opened Jaya at the Setai will ring in the holiday with a four-course menu and an optional vegetarian carta. Guests can enjoy executive chef Mathias Gervais’ Southeast Asian cuisine with dishes including tuna tataki, Wagyu short-rib gyoza, Maine lobster, and red velvet cake. The vegetarian menu includes green papaya salad, tofu claypot, and almond bread pudding. The cost is $110 per adult and $55 for children. Dinner will be served from 7 to 10 p.m. For reservations, call 855-923-7899.

La Feria
La Feria's special Christmas Day menu includes an Iberian ham plate, traditional seafood and fish soup, roasted octopus with seasoned potatoes and crisp pimentos, wood-fire-roasted cochinillo, and assorted Christmas sweets. It's priced at $55 per person or $200 for a table of four. For more information, call 786-443-7129. 

La Mar
Christmas Eve, parties of four or more can enjoy a shared Peruvian meal featuring holiday recipes from La Mar's chefs’ families. Dishes include ceviche mixto, king crab causa, whole cornish hen, and warm chocolate tart. Dinner is priced at $70 for adults and $35 for children. Christmas Day, enjoy brunch with plates including ceviches, tiraditos, grilled anticucho skewers, chaufa aeropuerto for the table, and one specialty dish, such as egg-topped lomo saltado. Its priced at $85, which includes champagne and unlimited brunch cocktails, or $120 with premium entrées and unlimited Charles Heidsieck champagne. For reservations, call 305-913-8358.

Market at Edition
Spend Christmas Eve at the Edition with a meal at Market for $35. The two-course dinner includes a choice of egg rolls, baby back ribs, or basil pancakes; followed by beef sirloin, crispy garlic chicken, or shrimp fried rice. Jasmine rice and fried long beans are served on the side. The eatery is offering pies to-go for the holiday too, including sweet potato, pumpkin, and bourbon pecan. Orders are placed via email to [email protected]. For dinner reservations, call 786-257-4600. 

Michael Mina 74
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, guests can enjoy a special dinner from 6 to 11 p.m. In addition to ordering from the à la carte menu, diners can indulge in roasted chestnut soup with pumpernickel, duck confit, and cinnamon gastrique; braised short ribs with smoked polenta and pearl onion; and Christmas bread pudding with Pannetone, candied orange, and dark chocolate gelato. For reservations, call 855-923-7899.

Novecento
Novecento locations in Aventura, Brickell, and midtown will offer Christmas Eve three-course prix-fixe menus. Aventura and Brickell will be open for Christmas Day brunch too. For location menus, visit novecento.com.

Pubbelly 
Take advantage of Jose Mendin's "Christmas Table" special, which includes cochinillo served with mofongo, arroz mamposteao, yuca with mojo, heirloom tomato salad, Brussels sprouts, and a selection of sauces. Take-out is also available. For more information and reservations, call 305-532-7555. 

Quattro Gastronomia Italiana
The Italian eatery will offer its signature white truffle menu, in addition to regular lunch and dinner menus, Christmas Day. Truffle-infused dishes include fonduta tartufata con crostini di foccacia, which is made with fontina cheese fondue, truffle, fried quail egg, and house-made focaccia; risotto con fanduta di burrata tartufata, which is carnaroli risotto with a fondue of burrata cheese and fresh truffle; and scaloppine di vitello tartufate, which is veal scaloppine with truffle butter sauce served with truffle fries. For reservations, call 305-531-4833.

Scarpetta
For a rustic yet elegant holiday meal, try Scarpetta’s three-course prix fixe, available Christmas Eve and Christmas Day from 6 to 11 p.m. For $75 per person, guests can indulge in hamachi, local snapper, and mussels crudo with ginger, chili, and smoked royal trumpet mushrooms; cioppino with cod, prawn, scallops, clams, rapini stufato, and shellfish brodo; and a ricotta gelato cream puff with warm peppermint chocolate sauce. For reservations, call 877-326-7412.

Seagrape 
Michelle Bernstein's latest restaurant will offer a special prix-fixe, family-style dinner for $75 per person Christmas Day. The three-course holiday menu includes the chef's chestnut soup, honey-baked ham, salt crusted fingerling potatoes, winter yams, and a selection of pies and cakes. For more information, call 305-397-8309. 

StripSteak by Michael Mina
The Fontainebleau’s newest restaurant will host Christmas Day brunch for $68 per person from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the restaurant will offer a three-course holiday-inspired prix fixe for $75 per person from 6 to 11 p.m. Guests will enjoy a first course of beausoleil oysters with Petrossian caviar and a cucumber-ginger mignonette, followed by pan-roasted duck breast served with applewood-smoked bacon, celery root purée, and huckleberry jus. Dessert is a yule log topped with vanilla cream, cherry jelly, and flourless chocolate sponge. For reservations, call 877-326-7412.

Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill
The eatery will offer à la carte specials priced from $10 to $34, in addition to its regular menu. Dishes include fire-roasted oysters, pan-baked duck breast, and warm chocolate flourless cake. For reservations, call 786-369-0353.

SushiSamba Coral Gables 
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the restaurant will feature à la carte plates priced from $13 to $32, including seared Hudson Valley foie gras, seco de carne, a special Christmas roll, and a sesame sour cocktail. For reservations, call 305-448-4900. 

SushiSamba Miami Beach
Try holiday hog, carved and served tableside, for $169 per group. It's served with yuzu-honey sweet potatoes, sake-braised Swiss chard, and crisp bok choy with apple blossom. Following the meal, enjoy a choice of two signature desserts served family-style. Add a magnum of Dewatsuru Kimoto Junmai sake and unlimited Cusqueña beer for $150 per group. For reservations, call 305-673-5337.   

Talde at the Thompson Miami Beach
Priced at $75 per person, this holiday special Christmas Eve and Christmas Day begins with sweet potato samosas topped with bourbon apple butter. Next is a noodle course of roast chicken ramen. Diners will enjoy an entrée of smoked duck breast with plum chutney, honeyed sesame, and orange-sugar foie gras and will end the meal on a sweet note with Micky D’s apple pie. For more information, call 305-397-8309. 

Carillon Miami Beach
Enjoy a Christmas brunch from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Thyme, the Carillon's signature eatery. Enjoy American-style cuisine by its executive chef, Fritz Zwahlen, and live music too. Expect the menu to include a selection of oysters, caviar, lamb, and fresh salmon, among other dishes. It's priced at $85 per person. Call 305-514-7474 for reservations.

Vagabond Restaurant & Bar
In addition to chef Alex Chang's regular dinner menu, the Vagabond is offering special Christmas Eve a la carte dishes. Menu items include whole roasted duck, fennel pollen, honey, pommes aligot; surryano country ham platter with black mustard and nasturtium; roasted sunchokes, shaved foie and bonito; and cassoulet bean, wild mushroom, soft egg. For more info, visit vagabondrestaurant.com.

Vida
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day from 5 to 10 p.m., Vida will offer a traditional Christmas dinner buffet for $59 per adult and $29.50 per child. It includes a full salad bar, sushi, shellfish, ceviche, charcuterie, pizza, and desserts. For reservations, call 877-326-7412.

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