FEAST ON FISH
You don’t have to be Italian to love the Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes. Hearth, in the East Village ( 403 E. 12th St.; 646-602-1300, Restaurant-Hearth
.com), has delighted seafood lovers for more than a decade with its Christmas Eve banquet ($98), featuring such classics as marinated seafood salad and Tuscan fisherman’s stew. “At least 10 tables every Christmas Eve are return faces. It’s wonderful,” says Christine Wright, general manager and wine director at the rustic Tuscan spot. For molto merry, tack on her pairing of coastal Italian wines ($52), the only bit of the menu that does change annually.
For a fishy feast with oodles of noodles, head to Momofuku Nishi ( 232 Eighth Ave.; 646-518-1919, Nishi. Momofuku.com) where chef Joshua Pinsky is packing his Italian-Asian fusion prix fixe ($100) with five pesce pastas, plus appetizers and dessert. “It’s gonna be a decent portion of food,” he tells The Post. Carb-centric offerings include farfalle with shrimp and fermented black beans, bucatini with peekytoe crab and soy sauce, and a single, decadent lobster raviolo, stuffed with a runny egg yolk and topped with spicy lobster sauce.
The most ef-fish-ient feast in town is the one at the Wayfarer (101 W. 57th St.; 212- 691-0030, TheWayfarerNYC.com). Its Seven Fishes Cioppino ($44) is a one-bowl wonder, loaded with lobster, clams, shrimp, mussels, red snapper, calamari and trout roe. If you like a little turf with your surf, pad out your meal with an order of the Midtown spot’s spiced lamb pie ($17). Now that’s feasting!