Thanks, Elizabeth, for this list. Now all I have to do is decide where to go! I am intrigued by breakfast at Eichenkranz. Then I could walk that off as I make my way to Brightons for lunch. Another brisk walk around the Inner Harbor and up Charles Street for Christmas dinner at Sotto Sopra. What a gastronomic treat - my Christmas present to me. Anyone interested in joining the tour? LOL - Happy Holidays, all!

Interesting list of the Top-10 "non-Chinese" places to go on Christmas.
But how about a list of the Top 10 Chinese restaurants to dine on Christmas????

Hunan Manner in Columbia would be at or near the top of my list. Mr. Chan's in Pikesville is pretty good too, as is the Chinatown Cafe on park Ave. I believe Ming's in Timonium is closed but that WAS a good one.

Back in the 70's and 80's, I used to go to the Golden Star on Greenmount--it was the best in town. The original "Uncle Lee's" was right across the street and it was fantastic as well. Haven't been to Golden Star in about 15 years. Is it still there, and is it still as good as it was 20 years ago. Back then it was the best egg roll in the city.

Not sure if its open Christmas Day, but the Dogwood restaurant in Hampden has a marvelous three-course Sephardic Hanukkah dinner through this month.

On Christmas Eve, they're also having a Irish take on the Feast of Seven Fishes.

i don't understand why restaurant owner's open on a day such as christmas. I'll bet that they will stay home but someone else he'll run his businees and do not care that others might have family as well to be with.
All this people should be ashamed of themselves to put others in a such a position.

Movie cliches aside, we were glad to find a Chinese restaurant open in Paris on Christmas Day 1991. We enjoyed the food as well as the view of the decorated but deserted Champs Elysee through the front window.

“i don't understand why restaurant owner's open on a day such as christmas.”

On principle, I couldn’t agree with you more. Unfortunately, we all know why some restauranteurs opt to open on Christmas, an opportunity for large profits. I hope those who choose to go to a restaurant on Christmas day realize that their decision to patronize a restaurant is the cause of the restaurant workers having to work a 14+ hour day, after having just finished a grueling shift the night before - and consequently, have no opportunity to spend any time with their families.

A friend once told me an amusing story about a Christmas restaurant double shift of his. He was waiting on a family, and the sixteen year old son had to leave early for his shift at MacDonald’s... or a movie theatre or something. The father was enraged that the son’s employer opened on Christmas day and his son was required to work. All the while stuffing his face in an open restaurant and snapping his fingers for service.

I feel emergency medical workers should be required to work on Christmas. Begrudgingly, hotels and their employees also need to be functioning. Otherwise, EVERYTHING else should be closed. I never spend a penny on services Christmas day. I admire restaurant and gas station owners who choose to close on Christmas day. They’re making the noble decision at the expense of their own profits.

A lot of us, for various reasons would rather eat out on Christmas than sit at home, alone, eating a nuked TV turkey dinner. So, get off your high-horses and realise that not everyone has your Ozzie & Harriet lives.

Its a particular 'gift' to be out and enjoy a nice/fine meal on this holiday. So, if you're open on Christmas and not already listed, please post to the blog. Its free advertising (EL's gift to you) and some of us will likely join you.

“i don't understand why restaurant owner's open on a day such as christmas.”

What about restaurants in jewish areas of the country?

There's no reason why a business in with a significant Jewish clientele should be guilted into closing every year on December 25th.

Also, a lot of bars are open on Christmas day, but guess what, most of them open late in the day so that their employees can spend tha morning and afternoon with their families. And guess what, Christmas night is a huge bar night for the young professional "20-somethings" who don't have kids, who no longer live at home, and who for the most part probably have the next day off as well.

And I'll tell you soemthing, in those establishments, the staff probably get taken care of very well for working on Christmas, on top of their tips they get for the night.

Heh. Gee-whiz, the responses to my comment are certainly filled with the Christmas spirit, aren’t they.

“A lot of us, for various reasons would rather eat out on Christmas than sit at home, alone, eating a nuked TV turkey dinner.”

Perhaps, but I am sure that many restaurant workers would like to spend Christmas with their families. Open presents with their children, or nieces and nephews, play a little touch football, etc. But alas, they worked until 1 or 2 a.m. the night before and have to be at work at 8 or 9 the next morning and will have to work until midnight. Christmas shift is generally an all employee, all hands on deck from morning to close shift.

MJ, on the jewish clientele argument, I think it is important to note that not one of the restaurants listed above are anywhere near the jewish areas. The restaurants listed are offering a special christmas dinner, targeted towards customers who are celebrating christmas. The root of my argument centers on the employees who are required to work, not the customers. And in keeping with my argument, I think it is unforgivable for any employer to require his jewish employees to work on a jewish high holy day - unless that employee works in an emergency medical capacity. I will concede, though, Chinese food on Christmas is something that I have no problem with, if the employees of the Chinese restaurants are not celebrators of Christmas, of course. Dukem will also be open, and as the employees celebrate Christmas on a different day, I think this is also justified.

“And I'll tell you soemthing, in those establishments, the staff probably get taken care of very well for working on Christmas...”

Actually, they’re not. Hotels pay time and a half on christmas. The servers, consequently, earn less than $6 an hour. Restaurant not associated with hotels generally pay standard wages.

“ ...on top of their tips they get for the night.” As I explained earlier, as I’m specifically addressing restaurant workers, the shift is morning, day AND night, and the earnings are generally equivalent to an average Saturday.

As for bars... well, you actually have a strong argument. Most of the bartenders I know don’t mind working Saturday night... as the bars that open usually only open at 9 p.m., giving them the entire day to enjoy with their families. If only “restaurant” workers had it so good.

" ...mind working Saturday night" Oops, I meant Christmas night.

elizabeth i did it again......raise an important issue.
anyway i usually do not reply to people reply my messages but i make an ecception for mj, i have no idea why you made such a comment, first of all i am in the restaurant business for the last 18 years and for the last 9 i live in the US and i can tell you this on christmas restaurants do not make any money and as owner i would not open on that day because you kind of forcing people to worked the day and when you force people to do something they will not apply themselves at 100%.
also i used to go out on christmas nights when i was single and bars were not busy as you say and yes this places open late instead 7pm they open at 9pm, boooo, big deal.
to end this message it's to at least respect this people working on that day some might do not care but alot more really care.
Ooh-oh-ohh Merry Christamas and Buon Natale

'The anti-scrooge', I think not. I've been told to sit home alone, eat my frozen turkey dinner and enjoy it. May I at least have a lump of coal in my stocking, the anti-scrooge?

"sit at home, alone, eating a nuked TV turkey dinner" - So does this mean you eat out alone, on Christmas of all holidays, as well?

Elizabeth, when will we see your 10 restaurants for eating solo? I think it might be useful even for this season that ought to be spent with others (such as family/friends/community/loved one) and not just another customer in a restaurant that has workers who might not want to be there in the first place.

Didn't I do that yet? :-)

To Eric:

Did the majority of Christmases for the last 10 years. (Other years with a friend.) I don't mind: its nice to be out amongst people & I have my trusty book for reading. I'm not looking for sympathy, just a nice place to eat. (The why of 'alone' is not relevant to this blog.)

“i don't understand why restaurant owner's open on a day such as christmas.”

That's so almost gracious of you. In my case, I'm hoping to take my ordinarily nursing-facility-bound father out for a Christmas dinner (leaving the facility is quite a special treat), along with other family members who will travel here to be with him. He can't travel long distances, so it's here, or not. So either we all try to eat in the Nursing Facility (not a good idea), or we try to find some restaurant where they realize that Christmas-out is not a sin against nature. Sadly, if they do stay open for us, they have to endure the slings and arrows of holier-than-thou whiners whose world-view comes from nonstop Rush Limbaugh. Curious. But not very gracious.

On occasion I eat at a bar solo and at any restaurant is fine for me. And I appreciate that time by myself as you do. I guess its a personal preference because I can't bear to think of doing that on Thanksgiving or Christmas, or any other civic or religious holiday for that matter.

Robert, my concern in this instance, namely, the restaurant workers, is for others on Christmas. Your concern for Christmas is you. Your decision or desire to have many options takes Christmas away from others. You express absolutely no concern over this, and you want me to be concerned for you, even though the welfare of others over this is something you don’t care about? You’ve made it abundantly clear that you don’t care how many people lose their Christmas, as long as you have many options, a tasty meal and a nice place to read a book.

Options you have that do not rob others of their Christmas:

Chinese

Ethiopian

Nepalese

Indian

Persian

etc......

Consider these and spare me the turkey tv dinner little violin song and dance.

Curious, it’s funny to me how you assume that all who disagree with your would view must listen to some radio personality whom you apparently demonize. I don’t quite see how Rush Limbaugh falls into this argument, unless you are trying to equate my argument so some ‘War on Christmas’ nonsense. I am neither a christian or a conservative, but I do celebrate Christmas. I have never listened to Rush Limbaugh or any other talk radio blowhard, conservative or liberal. To carry the logic of your argument to its conclusion, liberals feel that all services employed by workers that are of a lesser social strata than yourself should be open on Christmas for your convenience and pleasure, and conservatives are more concerned for the welfare of the service class. Hmmmm? You paint a very interesting picture of cultural political positions. Of course, it is a very different picture from the one I’ve always assumed to be true.

Should we establish a boxer day in this country so all the service employees can have a christmas day too after serving all of us on the real Christmas? I’ve always thought that we had egalitarian ideals that made concepts like Boxer Day unnecessary in this country. Perhaps I was wrong.

Forget the rhetoric. If restaurant owners decide to seek profits on Christmas, and you intend to patronize these businesses, just remember, those people serving you, and those people cooking your food, and those people cleaning your dishes don’t get a Christmas. They’re not working a single shift. They’re working from morning until midnight. EVERY Christmas. EVERY Easter. EVERY Thanksgiving. It’s interesting to me that people don’t think twice about that, on Christmas of all days. Robert is concerned about himself. Curious is equating limited service options on Christmas to a vast right-wing conspiracy and portraying restaurant profiteering as an act of charity. Will you be thanking the line cooks? Will you be slipping dish washers tips? No, you’ll be thanking the restaurant owner of all people. Amazing.

It's part of the deal of working in the service industry that you may be asked to work on a holiday. If you're not willing to do that, then get some other kind of job. It comes with the territory (service). There is obviously a demand for dining out at christmas, and not all service workers even celebrate christmas or celebrate it in the same way.

It seems people here are assuming that all the service people either a) are christian or b) didn't understand when taking their job that you have to make sacrifices that come with the nature of the industry.

Some of the responses also assume that people have family in the area and, if they do, actually want to spend time with them. That's a lot of assumptions.

If people care so much about workers' rights on christian holidays, they should vote for democrats and support unions, who negotiate contracts for workers. When I was a union member and worked holidays, I was paid handsomely for it. And if I didn't want to work a holiday, there were plenty of people who would, given the double pay.

Whoa--this discussion has veered pretty far from the original topic, hasn't it? I wish some good soul would invite Robert to the Christmas table, but something tells me he would prefer to be alone with his book.

When I worked in the service industry, we alternated each year between working on Christmas and working on Thanksgiving. Everyone had either one or the other, but could trade off with willing co-workers if needed, or work both, if desired.
We made time and a half on holidays and the tips were always excellent.

We always did a huge lot of business on holidays - mostly solo diners, but also several couples and many familes. Whatever their reasons for eating out were mostly their own.

I remember one family in particular who had to do this one year when they opened the oven to check on the turkey and found that the oven had died.

Of course this was more years ago than I care to count.

This exchange has got me wondering...what does everyone do to thank EMS, fire and law enforcement personnel who are required to work on holidays, their kids' birthdays, etc.? Ever drop off holiday cookies at your local fire station? Buy a ham on Easter? Say thank you?

Many work 24 hr. shifts and won't get to tear open presents on Christmas morning before heading off to work or make up for it by having dinner that evening. Therefore, a really nice dinner reminiscent of family favorites becomes a playful hodge-podge at the dinner tables of your local fire stations on holidays - Joe's refrigerator rolls, with Mark's mom's lasagna, with Mary's fried plaintains along with tres leches for dessert, Danny's fried turkey, etc.

Elizabeth, you did a Make Over My Meal a while ago with with an air medical transport team. Perhaps a call in to them on what's going to be on the dinner table for Christmas might inspire?

And once again, Elizabeth, this is a fine mess you have gotten us into....lol. Can't we all just get along?

It's always the most unexpected and seemingly innocuous topics, too.

LJ, I have no stats at hand but am willing to estimate that a least 90% of people in the service industry in this country celibrate Christmas: whether practicing Christians or not. I myself am not a Christian, but I celibrate Christmas.

There simply being a demand for services being open on Christmas does not justify service industries being open. As Elizabeth Large stated in the beginning of this post, 15 years ago it was nearly impossible to find an open restaurant... and this wasn't because being open on Christmas lacked profitability; it was because it was more frowned upon in the past for employers to demand that they’re employees to work on Christmas.

The only presumptions that I’m willing to make about restaurant workers is that they very likely need a job and that they may want to celibrate Christmas. I am not willing to presume that they are qualified in other fields. If I presume that they may not celebrate Christmas, that they may not have families or other loved ones in the area and that if they do, they probably don’t want to see them anyway, then my presumptions would be both self serving and in more than 90% of cases contrary to the truth.

For whatever reason, unions have failed to infiltrate the restaurant business for the past 1-200 years. Something tells me they’ll fail to infiltrate the restaurant business in the forceable future.

The nurses I know, as an example of unionized employees, have very intricate holiday schedules. There is not increased demand for nursing on holidays, only limited supply. If you work this Thanksgiving, then you don’t have to next Thanksgiving or this Christmas. When you work a holiday, you receive double pay. Your shifts are only 12 hours long. This isn’t how it works in the restaurant business. If your employer chooses to be open on holidays, EVERYONE has to work with no exceptions on ALL holidays. The shifts are at least 14 hours for the servers and 16 or more in the kitchen. In restaurants that are not connected to hotels (which this post is promoting the proliferation of) all employees receive regular pay.

Whether I vote democrat or republican, whether I support unions or not, unions and the restaurant business will remain unassociated entities and the working conditions for restaurant employees will remain the same. This seems to make everyone happy, as everyone seems to be thrilled by the notion of increased services being available on Christmas. Everyone, except, for the restaurant employees, of course. And who is going to speak up for them? Unions? I’m not speaking for myself. I don’t need to work on Christmas. But apparently my life and restaurant worker’s lives are Ozzie & Harriotesque. Apparently, being concerned for the restaurant workers makes me a fan of Rush Limbaugh. Apparently, I’m the “whiner,” even though Robert and Curious are the ones that are presenting their own tales of woe. Curious indeed.

oh my Santa Claus what's happening here what did I do?
anyway this is for curious, i feel really sorry about what you said especially if last year i had to spend Christmas in the hospital nursing my own 4 years old baby for something seriouss.thats one of the reasons i really hate people been forced to work on such holidays, but on the same time i tell you this people do not want to work on this holidays because of that i saved my daughter, because on Christmas day we waited 2 hours for anyone to comeback and check on us to see i she was doing and soon i transfer her to another hospital they stick in her morphine for the pain.
so my point is if you can and believe to it, spend this holidays at home with your family, food its fun make your own dinner be proud to serve your own food to your own family, BUT if you decide to spend such a important (for many) when you sit down in any of this places make sure you respect this people more than other day's, when they serve you they'll be thinking of they're family.
For the anti-scrooge, great stuff you put in there.
Thank you and wish everyone a happy and safe holiday

Well thank you, The anti-scrooge. I had not realised what a thoughtless monster I was when I ask about reataurants open on Chritmas. You have been a great help to a wretch like me.

One small point, well two actually. I never mentioned Mr. Limbuagh. And if you can at least look down from your high horse, frozen turkey is an attempt at light humour. Something you seem singularly lacking.

"I feel emergency medical workers should be required to work on Christmas. Begrudgingly, hotels and their employees also need to be functioning. Otherwise, EVERYTHING else should be closed."

This would make for a fairly nonexistent newspaper the day after Christmas. Just sayin' ...

Thank you, Elizabeth, for trying insert some calm into this issue. I am a frequent reader but seldom make comments. Now I feel even less inclined, this negativity is enough to put me off this blog.

Well, my Jewish wife goes over to my parents house for Christmas dinner where she receives Christmas presents. She also receives Hanukka gifts as well from me...I'm not sure how she worked that angle.

Anyway, we would never go out for Christmas dinner.

Oh, and I'm another Robert...the Pro Christmas Robert. I also like America and puppies.

And you like poking ant hills with a stick. :-)

For nearly two decades, in the food service industry, I have worked every weekend, holiday, and special function. I have never been paid any extra for those days. It is what I am good at and I actually enjoy being one of the guys that makes all those occasions special. I love preparing and presenting the food. I love serving the food. I love helping patrons have the best time of their lives. I really love what I do.

I love my family too.

So, with that in mind, I have a Christmas wish.

I wish that everyone could have his or her big Christmas meal on Christmas Eve. I wish you the best of times. With your family or by yourself. With a book by the fireplace or friends at the bar. I am happy to serve and make it the best.

Then you can have your Christmas and I can have mine.

Merry Christmas everyone.

wow, quite a debate. I thought that there wouldn't have been restaurants open on Christmas 15-20 years because perhaps there wasn't a demand.

Please remember that there are the family cooks that might like a day off from cooking, so going out is a treat!

Then there are the people who think they can cook and they can't, ovens that go up, lost electricity, family emergecies that happen during the holidays, Squabbling families--sometimes it is better to eat out then start ww3 at the dinner table.
The exhausted new mom who has ENTIRE family over because they thought it would be easier

I fully appreciate all those who work those holidays. I also know that there are lots of folks who don't celebrate xmas and they should have more than two options during that day

Yikes. This has gotten out of hand. Remember, people, we’re talking about Christmas. I’ve been a server in the industry for 17 years. I pretty much second everything Bill said above. I love what I do and I love doing it well. I don’t mind working Easter. I don’t mind working Thanksgiving. But Christmas, well... let’s just say that I love what I do 364 days of the year. I have such ugly memories of my days working in the hotel business. Hating all the customers with my coworkers all day long was so exhausting, with all of my family in town angry at me and not understanding I couldn’t even stop by to say hello. I was simply too exhausted and overworked after nearly a month of working Christmas parties. Christmas was a very long day. Thankfully, I now work for a restauranteur who insists that we close, for us. Like Bill said, please come in on Christmas Eve. We can still love you then. Merry Christmas!

Funny that Christmas Day is one of the biggest days for movie houses. So there must be a bunch of people out there who want (or need) to get out of the house. My local pub always opens at 6pm on Christmas.
The owner says it's cause by that time people have had it with families. And he always has a crowd.

stumbled across this short list and wondered if it might help someone, somewhere, find a meal on Christmas day.

FYI: some Chinese people are Baptists; in fact, there's a certain road in Montgomery County with *three* Chinese Baptist chuches within a mile of each other.

You can't just pick a certain food nationality and assume that poor Robert will be safe from
participating in the persecution of Christian wait staff.

I thought I was done, but: thanks dancing monkey.

Another spot you might want to try...M&S Grill located in the Inner Harbor. They will be open Christmas Eve and Christmas Day from 12 a.m.-5 p.m. and they will also be open on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Reservations can be made by calling 410-547-9333. Cheers!

If you ask me the competition out there is fierce as far as restaurants go. Usually it's just plain foolish for one to stay closed on Xmas when the one across the street is open. Also, there are so many diverse cultures in our society these days. Not everyone celebrates Christmas. I make sure that the wait staff knows how much they are appreciated as well.