The Night Two Six Ate Saved Christmas
While it can be stressful, uncomfortable and lonely for some, I’ve always liked the holiday season. It’s a lot of work capped off with a welcome break, especially under normal circumstances in the restaurant industry. Usually, it’s day after day of packed services and office Christmas parties, a bit of a break for Christmas Eve and Day (maybe Boxing Day too, if you’re lucky) then right back to the grind to prepare for New Year’s Eve.
Obviously, this year is a bit different. With Ontario back under lockdown, there’ll be no lavish NYE parties. Office Xmas lunches or dinners were by and large abandoned. Christmas certainly was looking different.
We have our traditions, Liz and I. She likes a Christmas dinner with all the fixings, decorating the house a bit and spending Christmas Day doing a festive jigsaw puzzle or watching some terrible Xmas rom-com. As for me, I also have come to love a big, traditional Christmas dinner, but I like that on the Eve. As a modern Jew, I firmly uphold the tradition of takeout Chinese food for dinner on Christmas Day.
Shout out Chu Shing, by the way. You guys rock my socks.
But, back to traditional Christmas dinner. Since it’s just the two of us this year, Liz suggested we take advantage of many of our local restaurants offering Xmas dinners for 2. I was happy to oblige as I’d have been the one cooking otherwise, and it’s a lot to do for just us two.
Honestly, the hardest part was choosing between so many great spots offering so many great choices. But, choose we had to. Eventually we settled upon Two Six Ate.
If you’re unfamiliar 1) shame on you and 2) let me bring you up to speed. Two Six Ate is a fantastic, long-standing Ottawa restaurant in Little Italy. The atmosphere has always been cool, fun, casual and inclusive. The staff is amazing, the cocktail list ever changing and terrific. And the food, oh lordy the food. Honestly, if there’s a harder-working, nose-to-tail, everything-from-less-than-scratch group of cooks out there, I’d be afraid to meet them. The kitchen at Two Six Ate puts out humble, thoughtful food of such a high calibre, it can bring you to your knees.
Liz handled the ordering and once she had signed off work on the 24th, we were off on a short walk to collect our dinner. Everything was packaged up for us nice and simple. Two parcels of food, one dinner and one dessert. We got a bottle of wine to accompany dinner, and we were off home again, lickity-split.
Our evening’s menu and some simple-to-follow instructions were thoughtfully included, making the “prep” on our end a no-brainer. To be honest, we started pre-heating the oven pretty early because we just couldn’t wait to tuck in.
Everything was spectacular. The prime rib was such a treat, perfectly cooked and needing only the gentlest of reheats. The potatoes were rich and cheesy, almost aligot-like. The Christmas stuffing was so flavourful and the crispy edges were to die for. Vegetables were just as thoughtfully prepared, with tender confit carrots and braised turnips both stealing our attention from the meat and starch.
The wine paired perfectly with the meal. Happy and approaching full, I made some sloppy quenelles of Chantilly cream atop the gingerbread trifle. This dessert was perfect for the occasion, heaven itself. I’m still thinking about it, two days later.
I can only hope your holiday meal was as special as ours. We’ve still got a ways to go on this lockdown, so don’t forget to do what you can to support fantastic local businesses like Two Six Ate. You may still have time to order a take-home NYE meal from them, or another local restaurant in your area. Remember, if you want these places to still be around when the pandemic is over, they need our support now.
Thanks so much to the whole stellar crew at Two Six Ate. You really made this Christmas Eve one to remember.
Happy holidays to you and yours, dear readers. I can’t promise that there’ll be another post before New Years, but either way, thank you for reading and we’ll see you all soon!
