Seven Fishes, Restaurant Style, Parte Due

More restaurants are joining this Christmas tradition movement. OK, well, it's not exactly a movement, but it sure is taking place at a LOT of restaurants this Christmas season, and we mean to bring you the very best of the best menus that we can find.

Mike Stollenwerk, Chef/Owner of FISH, at 17th & Lombard in Philly, is serving up a spate of festive and delicious dishes this holiday season with a Seven Fishes menu, available from December 20-24, according to his publicist, who was kind enough to forward us a menu, and it is, as one would expect, a doozy. $60 per person for seven courses, with an option for wine pairings with each course, an additional $20:


7 FISHES

Baby Romaine, white anchovy vinaigrette

Clams and Capellini

Preserved tuna caponata with arugula

Shrimp piperade, polenta-kale galette

Octopus, chick peas and artichokes

Cod brandade, bardolino reduction

Chocolate-orange Pannettone


As with most of Stollenwerk's cooking, this is elegant simplicity and eye-opening combinations. Reservations required.

FISH
1708 Lombard St
Phila, PA
215-545-9600
Dinnerm Mon-Sun, 5PM-close
www.fishphilly.com


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Just about a mile south of Casa Lawrenceville is one of my favorite places, ENZO'S LA PICOLA CUCINA, a tiny BYOB with a surprisingly large, ever-changing Italian menu. Known for their monthly family-style Sunday dinners, they are serving up a formidable Feast of the 7 Fishes dinner on Sunday December 19, with 2PM and 6PM seatings, and priced at $70 per person, tax and tip included. Reservations are a must:


MENU

Antipasto

Bacala Salad

Clams with pancetta and scallions, vermouth sauce

Mussels Livornese

Pan-fried smelts

Stuffed calamari

Pasta with Italian tuna

Bacala with potatoes, olives and plum tomato sauce

Scallops Florentine


ENZO'S LA PICCOLA CUCINA
1906 Princeton Ave
Lawrenceville, NJ
609-396-9868
http://www.enzoscucina.com/


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Share the traditional Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes with the Big Talker 1210's Dom Giordano, Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Ron Castille and His Eminence Cardinal Justin Rigali from 6 to 10 p.m. Dec. 21 at POSITANO COAST by Aldo Lamberti. Tickets are $75 and they are limited; find out more at http://www.cbsphilly.com/feast.

Besides the traditional Christmas Eve feast, there will be a radio broadcast, special guests and other dishes. The menu, courtesy of cbsphilly.com, will be served buffet-style:


Feast of the 7 Fishes

• Seafood Salad (calamari, scungigli, baby shrimp, octopus)
• Baccala Salad
• Crudo Station (mahi crudo on the spoon, Clams, Oyster in ½ shell)
• Fried Calamari
• Fried Smelts
• Baccala Pizzaiola – Olives, Tomato oregano
• Aldo Mussels
• Vegetable Focaccia
• Fried Zucchini
• Prosciutto, Salami
• Grilled Fennel• Artichokes
• Grilled Mixed Vegetables
• Insalata Caprese
• Roasted Peppers
• Eggplant Caponata
• Assorted Cheeses
• Olives
• Rigatoni Pescatore – calamari, baby shrimp, mussels, clams
• Farfalle Boscaiola – asparagus, artichokes, mushroom, tomato, baby shrimp, pesto cream sauce
• Beef Short Ribs
• Herb Crust Fish of the Day
• Chicken Marsala
• Broccoli rabe and Potatoes

POSITANO COAST by Aldo Lamberti

212 Walnut St, 2nd floor

Philadelphia, PA

215-238-0499

Seven Fishes, Restaurant Style

Besides winter beers, Beaujolais Nouveau, menorahs, kinaras and Christmas trees, at this time of year there are some wonderful meals to be had. Many of them are enjoyed at home, of course, but some restaurants go to great lengths to create family style repasts, such as the Christmas Eve ritual of the Feast of the Seven Fishes. Here's my annual look at some restaurants that are composing Seven Fishes feasts for every palate and budget.


AVALON restaurant in West Chester, PA has created a rustic Italian menu, served family- style, for the Christmas Eve feast, replete with kid-friendly options for those who need them. It can also be prepared for takeout. This menu, on sheer quantity and creativity, is a steal:




Seven Fishes Feast

(Served family style)

AntiPasti

Fried Smelts, White Anchovies, Preserved Tuna & Fried Calamari

Pasta

Linguini with Shrimp, Mussels & Crab in San Marzano Red Sauce

Secondi

Fluke Piccata with Capers, Lemon and White Wine, Risotto Style Toasted Orzo

Insalta Digestivo

Organic Mixed Greens with Honey Broken Balsamic Vinaigrette

Dolce

Fresh Fruit and Cheese served family style (or sweet dessert from regular dessert menu may be substituted). Take out order will be Chocolate Cake that can be baked at home.


This feast, which is designed to be ordered by the entire party, is $45 per person; $15 for children under 12. Child-friendly options will be available. Pricing is the same for eat in and carry out. Reservations/Advanced orders necessary at 610/436-4100. For those who prefer, a limited a la carte menu will be available on Friday, December 24 as well.


Avalon Restaurant
312 South High St
West Chester, PA 19382
610/436-4100

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In Conshohocken, PA, TRATTORIA TOTARO has also created a Seven Fishes menu bursting with creativity and earthy, homey flavors, priced at $47 per person. Reservations required. They offer this feast on December 23 and 24, and it is also available for takeout.

CHRISTMAS EVE FEAST OF THE SEVEN FISHES
SERVED FAMILY STYLE
Thursday December 23 and Friday December 24, 2010

First Course
Seafood Sampler – A sampling of fried smelts, clams casino, garlic shrimp cocktail and bacala (codfish salad)

Second Course
Fruta di Mar (Cold Seafood Salad)
Shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams and calamari tossed with celery and onion with a garlic, olive oil, vinegar and herb dressing, served over greens
OR
Crab and Seafood Bisque

Third Course:
Pescatore – Sauteed shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams and calamari in marinara sauce over pasta. Also available in aiola sauce (garlic, olive oil, white wine sauce)
Flounder Porto – Flounder stuffed with lump crabmeat and spinach in a port wine cream sauce, then baked.
Calalmari Yolanda – Vince’s mothers traditional recipe: calamari tubes stuffed with sauté of vegetables, bread crumbs, herbs, pistachio nuts and raisins in marinara sauce or garlic, olive oil and white wine sauce

Dessert Sampler
Cannoli, Biscotti, Pizzelles and Cookies

Trattoria Totaro
639 Spring Mill Ave
Conshohocken, PA 19428
Phone 610-828-7050 /Fax 610-828-7052

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Ambler, PA's TRAX CAFE, housed in the town's historic train station, takes a deft spin on the traditional Seven Fishes feast with a $45 per person menu crafted by Exec Chef Steven Waxman that squeezes at least seven seafoods into just 4 courses (and thankfully not dessert!) Waxman will serve this menu the entire week before Christmas, from Tuesday Dec. 21 through Dec. 24:

Seven Fishes Feast

Crab & Shrimp Mornay

Bouillabaisse with Anchovy Crostini

Flounder Stuffed with Smoked Salmon Mousse with Vin-Blanc

Choice of: Chocolate Mousse with Cognac or Poached Pear with Raspberry Sauce

The restaurant will also serve its regular A la carte menu from December 21 - 24. Reservations are necessary.

The restaurant will be closed on December 25. A gala New Year's Eve dinner is planned for Friday, December 31.

Trax Café & Restaurant
27 West Butler Pike
Ambler PA 19002
215/591-9777
www.traxcafe.com

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Closer to my neck of the woods, RISTORANTE BATTIBECCO, a warm and homey Italian in Ewing, NJ is serving a very traditional family style Seven Fishes dinner that your table can design from a huge menu of possibilities. That makes the menu pricing flexible, ranging from $30-45 per person, less for kids under 12 (kids menu available too, if yours aren't ready for fried smelts). The menu here ranges from shrimp fra diavolo, bacala salad and calamari fritti with hot peppers and olives, to the aforementioned smelts, grilled langoustines, mussels, escarole and chick peas, clams casino and swordfish piccata. The meal is served from 1-8 PM on Christmas Eve. Reservations needed

Ristorante Battibecco

71 West Upper Ferry Rd

Ewing NJ 08628

609-882-5132

www.battibecconj.com

Seven Fishes Redux: Maybe the Best Ever.

It remains my favorite meal of the year. The Seven Fishes Dinner at the home of Joe & Sandy Attanasi in Cranford, NJ, to which I've been fortunately invited for around 12 years now, and for which I've been contributing a dish to or two every year for the last half dozen. It is a marathon (and not a sprint), beginning just around 6:30pm and winding down after midnight, and it's always rollickingly good. And it's usually more than seven fishes. We mingled over crackers and salumi and cheese and drinks as people gathered, though some were arriving mid-dinner and later. Joe's son Mark, his wife Christine and daughter Brooklyn were in town from Oklahoma City, a terrific surprise, and I'm sure a joy for Joe and Sandy, as well as Mark's siblings Faith and Joe Jr. Mark and Chrsitine were talking up the restaurant that they are planning in Harrah, OK, and that made for lively conversation throughout the meal. Christine took photos of every course as it was brought to the table. The photos you see here are hers. There's food porn in Oklahoma, too, I guess. Joe Attanasi Sr. serving guests at his Feast of the Seven Fishes Dinner

The Best Damn Linguine With Clam Sauce Ever. Ever.

Eggplant Parmigiana....

Duet of tuna filets: orange glaze (top) and Cajun-dusted (bottom)

Saddle of wild salmon with maple glaze

Tilapia in soy and ginger.....

The incredible scallops wrapped in prosciutto!

Scungili salad

Scungili (top) and Octopus (bottom) salads

Bacala Salad

......and Venison!

wait! the desserts!

...and the cookies!

This year I think the food was raised a notch above Joe Sr.'s already high standards. We started as always with icy shrimp cocktail, big, sweet pink rascals with an especially zippy cocktail sauce (I know Joe Sr. doctored the sauce, I know it); it was followed by still the best version of linguine and clam sauce I've ever encountered. Joe Sr. coaxes ever drop of sweetness out of the chopped clams he uses, and simmers his sauce for a good while. This is the only course in which people ask for seconds. Ben and Sophie opted for red sauce on their linguine and a pot was at the ready for those who didn't care for clams. Joe Jr. provided a slection of craft beers for the dinner; he and I enjoyed a Victory Prima Pils or two with the first three courses.

A duet of tuna filets followed, a choice of an orange glazed version or a Cajun spiced-dusted one; both were toothsome yet flaky, the orange glaze worked very well on the tuna, while the Cajun was more flavor than heat, but both were just terrific. Also served up at this stage were tender, peeled, steamed spears of asparagus and a platter of rustic, individual eggplant parmigianas.

My menu contribution to the night was a spice-rubbed saddle of wild salmon in a maple glaze, and I was proud of how it came out, very moist with just enough nutty sweetness to cut the more strongly flavored wild salmon. Joe Jr. and I opened a Dogfish Head 60 Min. IPA at this point and it went very well with the salmon and the succeeding courses.

Next came tilapia filets done with soy sauce, ginger and scallions, simple, elegant and sweet-salty-sour-spicy altogether. Spectacular.

But the highlight for me, and many others at the dinner, was the next course, another example of Joe Sr.'s uncanny instinct for simple flavors that work well. Joe Sr., wrapped big sweet sea scallops in prosciutto, dusted them lightly with dill and broiled them. This take on "rumaki" blew the bacon-wrapped version away, the saltier, richer prosciutto was so much better a foil for the sweet scallops. Truly stunning, and maybe the best dish I've enjoyed at these dinners so far. Several of us couldn't get enough of these, as late into the dinner as it was. That's how utterly brilliant these scallops were.

The seafood orgy concluded with three cold seafood salads: chewy sliced octopus with garlic, lemon and parsley; scungili (conch) with mushrooms, soy and garlic; and my favorite, bacala (dried cod) with garlic, olive oil,parsley and hot peppers. The peppers and garlic in the latter salad were deliciously assertive and the cod was sweet, clean and bright, the best version Joe Jr. has made since I've been a part of these dinners. In fact, he did a great job with all three salads.

I don't know where this addition to the meal comes from, but Joe Sr. then brought out a platter of roasted venison, sweet-earthy and tender, and passed it around. Most of us were just too stuffed to take more than a tiny slice.

A bevy of cookies, desserts, coffees and cordials followed for the next couple of hours, and we "loosened our belts", put the kids in pajamas, and exchanged presents, giving Joe and Sandy a framed recent photo of Ben and Sophie; Ben and Sophie cleaned up with lots of LeapFrog books from their Aunt Faith, and even more terrific books from Joe Jr. and his wife, Cindy.

It was just past 12:30am when we carried the already sleeping kids into the pale moonlight and into the car, bundled in pajamas and parkas, hugs and kisses and well wishes in our wake, and made the 45 min. drive back to Lawrenceville. I still had a Christmas ham to roast and presents to wrap and place under the tree, but I drove off knowing I had just had the very best Seven Fishes Dinner of my life. So far.