Holiday Guide

Where to Grab Dinner, Desserts, and Holiday Drinks for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve

Sometimes, holidays call for relaxing and letting someone else do the cooking.

By Katherine Chew Hamilton

Ringside Steakhouse's prime rib Christmas dinner

IMAGE: AUBRIE LEGAULT

While most of us have treasured holiday recipes, there’s also something to be said for taking a break and going out to eat, drink, or grab dessert. From one of Portland’s top bakeries to a Best Restaurants 2022 winner, plenty of restaurants, bakeries, and even a butcher shop are joining in on the holiday spirit with specials available for dine-in and takeout over Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve (and, in some cases, the days leading up to and in between).

Bakeshop

Rose City Park
One of Portland’s best bakeries is baking up holiday treats for Christmas and New Year’s, including apple and pecan pies, burnt Basque cheesecakes, and gingerbread cookies for pickup on December 24 and 31. Get your pre-orders in by December 18. 5351 NE Sandy Blvd

Bullard Tavern

Downtown
Sit down for a Christmas Eve meal any time from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., with a special holiday menu that includes smoked and braised lamb neck with grits, salsa, and queso fresco, a caviar and potato chip tower, and gingerbread yule log for dessert. Grab a reservation on Tock813 SW Alder St

Campana

Woodlawn
Campana’s take on the traditional Italian Christmas Eve dinner includes an impressive array of menu items, spread across five courses, including oysters on the half shell, anchovy and grapefruit arugula salad, Dungeness crab pasta with uni butter, and olive oil poached halibut—plus olive oil chocolate cake for dessert. Get tickets on Tock. 901 NE Oneonta St

Hey Love

Buckman

Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s World Famous Amaretto Sour at Hey Love

Through January 1, Hey Love is unofficially known as “Sleigh Love,” with Christmas lights and special holiday cocktails on offer at all times, including eggnog slushies, hot buttered rum, Jeffrey Morgenthaler's amaretto sours, and Irish coffee slushies with a Rumple Minze float and whipped cream and sprinkles. But there are also special events to keep the party going through the month: Festivus on December 21, featuring a live DJ and hot and sour duck matzo ball soup, and Charlie Brown Christmas on December 22, with a local pianist who’s actually named Charlie Brown playing Vince Garibaldi classics. 920 E Burnside St

Masala Lab

King
Chef Deepak Saxena and former Desi PDX employee and chef Jeremy Fong are putting their own spin on the ages-old tradition of eating Chinese food on Christmas with an Indo-Chinese dinner. Taking place on December 23, the menu includes spicy Chicken 65 wings, shrimp-smeared eggplant, keema “Ants Climbing a Tree,” Bengali five-spice fried rice, and mapo paneer, plus deep-fried rice pudding and a chai hot toddy. Reservations are available online for groups of four. 5237 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

Piccone’s Corner

Laurelhurst
This butcher-shop-meets-restaurant is open for walk-in dine-in service until 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve, with a brunch menu that includes chicken-fried pork with eggs and gravy, a farro grain bowl with sausage, maitake mushroom toast, and pancakes. You can also pre-order meats to cook up at home, including porchetta, ham, bone-in rib roast, and smoked turkey breast. 3434 NE Sandy Blvd #400

Pink Rabbit

Pearl
In addition to holiday drink specials and lights galore from now through the end of the month, Pink Rabbit is also hosting an ugly sweater holiday party on December 23 at 8 p.m., featuring live music by Motaz. A portion of proceeds benefits Join, a Portland nonprofit focused on housing. No tickets are necessary. The bar is also open Christmas Eve, but closed Christmas Day. 232 NW 12th Ave

Pix Pâtisserie

Kerns

Sicilian Bûche de Noël 

The Bûche de Noël is certainly an impressive Christmas treat—but who wants to deal with making a Swiss roll, which we’ve watched contestants grapple with on The Great British Bake-Off as their cakes crumble and crack? Though Pix Patisserie as we know it closed earlier this year, it’s still offering these holiday cakes for pickup through December 24. Options include a traditional chocolate log with hazelnut or caramel cream, a chocolate port fig log, and a Sicilian chocolate cake with cannoli filling and kirsch cherries. Order online2225 E Burnside St

Quaintrelle

Hosford-Abernethy

IMAGE: AUBRIE LEGAULT

At Quaintrelle, chef Ryley Eckersley has a couple holiday meals up his sleeve. On Christmas Eve, the Feast of Seven Fishes will include oysters, shrimp lasagna, swordfish, and more. The New Year’s Eve option includes oysters with caviar, pork shank hoppin’ John with truffle, wagyu massaman curry, and sticky toffee pudding. Reservations are available on OpenTable2032 SE Clinton St

Ringside Steakhouse

Northwest District
There are still a couple Christmas Eve reservations open at Ringside Steakhouse via Open Table, but you can also pick up a prime rib kit and attempt to pass it off as your own. The package, $275 and feeds six, includes half a prime rib roast, mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, bread and butter, and caramel apple pie. Pick up your takeout packages on December 23 by noon. 2165 W Burnside St

Tercet

Downtown
The Feast of the Seven Fishes at Tercet on December 24 takes on fine-dining flair with chef John Conlin at the helm, who along with the rest of the three-person team at Tercet, have a demonstrated passion for seafood (they used to work at seafood-focused restaurant Roe). The menu will include spaghetti alla chitarra with sea urchin and geoduck casino. Reserve online via Tock515 SW Broadway #100

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