Eight Decadent Takeout Packages for Celebrating New Year’s Eve in Boston

After enduring 2020, you deserve caviar, a Peking duck feast, and all of the truffles.


Should 2020 be forgot, and never brought to mind? Absolutely. While this year’s troubles aren’t vanishing once the clock strikes midnight on Jan. 1, we all deserve to ring in the new year with some safe celebrating. And that means springing for over-the-top takeout packages, from caviar kits to chef-led cooking experiences, as you pop the bubbly before the ball-drop. Dive into these options from eight local eateries—and here’s to brighter days ahead in 2021. 

Caviar at Alcove. / Photo courtesy of Alcove

Alcove

You know how this year was a “what’s next?” barrage of bad news? Alcove is offering an antidote in food form: a gamut-running New Year’s Eve menu, covering everything from caviar to chicken fingers, that’ll leave you similarly incredulous but a lot happier. Savor dinners for two ($125-$150) that pair three pounds of buttery baked stuffed lobster with salmon tartare (in the “Surf” package), or team massive, 14-ounce tomahawk pork chops with broccoli salad and potato gratin (for “Turf”). Meanwhile, hors d’oeuvres of shrimp cocktail, oysters, arancini balls with Fontina cheese, and caviar are perfect for a cocktail party—or at least the 2020 “party” equivalent, which is to pop an Alcove-supplied bottle of bubbly for your immediate household. And finally, you can even treat the kids to a meal of all-natural chicken fingers before you whisk them off to bed, keeping decadent desserts of cookie dough ice cream and bananas foster all to yourself. Order before: 4 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 28. Pick up: Thursday, Dec. 31 after 5 p.m.

50 Lovejoy Wharf, Boston, 617-248-0050, alcoveboston.com.

Chickadee

You made it through this year, proving you are a resilient soul not to be trifled with—and now it’s time to claim your rich reward. Chickadee’s ongoing Holiday Essentials menu includes a lavish Osetra caviar kit ($80) as well as two truffle kits: Choose either a half-ounce of black Perigord ($65) or coveted white Alba truffles ($120), and your feast of rich fungi flavors will include accompaniments of black truffle lumache pasta, truffle butter, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and even a truffle slicer. There’s also a host of “truffle-friendly” red wines and bottles of bubbles, which range from $10 splits to a $280 bottle of 2008 Dom Perignon Brut. (You deserve it, since it feels like December alone has lasted for years). Need something more substantive? Make a meal of hot and cold mezze offerings—the bright herb falafel with beet tzatziki, the smoky baba ganoush—or larger plates, such as the rich lamb loin piccata. Chickadee is closed from Dec. 24-30, but you can still place orders for pickup or delivery via Toast on Dec. 31.

21 Drydock Ave., Boston, 617-531-5591, chickadeerestaurant.com.

China King owner Doris Huang will close her restaurant after New Year’s Eve service. / Photo by Chris Haynes

China King

Too many Boston restaurants have shuttered this year, and now downtown royalty China King is ending its eight-year reign after dinner service on New Year’s Eve. What to get? The crown jewel of owner Doris Huang’s menu is the Peking duck dinner ($70), a three-course meal that includes duck and noodle stir fry (or a veggie version for the carb conscious), a simmered-for-hours duck soup, and crispy duck skin that is perfect for tucking into homemade pancakes and dipping into hoisin sauce. Huang says she’ll be back with another restaurant venture after a break and a recharge (we very much know the feeling), so stock up on her perfectly crisped scallion pancakes—you can toss ‘em in the freezer and reheat them in the oven later—steamed pork buns, and legendary dumplings while you await her return to the culinary throne. Order before: Call the restaurant prior to Wednesday, Dec. 30 to reserve the duck dinner. This 24-hour notice doesn’t apply to other takeout orders, which can be placed online. Pick up: Thursday, Dec. 31.

60 Beach St., Boston, 617-542-1763, bostonchinaking.com.

A holiday charcuterie spread from Eataly. / Photo courtesy of Eataly

Eataly

Ciao, 2020. Eataly invites you to ring in 2021 Roman-noble style with absurdly decadent offerings—including a five-course socially distanced dinner at in-house restaurant Terra, for those who feel comfortable dining indoors. Otherwise, consider family-style takeout options like the Mezzanote 2021 kit ($399), which feeds up to four people with ambrosial antipasto (including Calabro truffle burrata and Wagyu bresaola), mains like lasagna, and chocolate Panettone for dessert. You can also browse entries on Terra and Eataly’s à la cart holiday menu—such as the ravioli with silky pumpkin filling, or the cheesy-breadcrumb-heaped eggplant parm—for pickup. Order by: 9 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 27 for the Mezzanote kit (via Tock, where you also select a delivery time), as well as Terra and Eataly’s à la cart offerings, which can be ordered by phone or by emailing bostonpreorders@eataly.com. Pick up: Eataly will contact patrons to arrange for a time slot for Thursday, Dec. 31.

800 Boylston St., Boston, 617-807-7300, eataly.com.

Frenchie Wine Bistro

Petite South End spot Frenchie is offering a takeout holiday feast for Francophiles. Relish buttery escargot ($18 for two dozen); whole stuffed branzino ($55), wrapped in paper to lock in the flavors of garlic, herbs, and lemon; or sumptuous lobster Thermidor ($70), which stuffs a shell with cooked lobster meat, egg yolk, and Cognac. Naturally, you’ll find plenty of those vital ingredients of French cuisine, butter and cream: See the heavenly pommes dauphinoise casserole of potatoes and Gruyere, the leeks cooked in garlic cream, or the Mont Blanc dessert of meringue doused in house-made chestnut cream and whipped cream. Finally, Frenchie’s online Le French Market invites you to spring for goodies to elevate your at-home charcuterie spreads, including jars of rich foie gras and fig jam, delicate Normandy-style cheese, and boxes of macarons. Takeout from Frenchie is second only to an actual stroll along the Seine, which hopefully is back in the cards for a more travel-friendly 2021. Order by: 6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 27 for holiday takeout options. (Le French Market orders may be placed anytime online or by phone and can be picked up during regular business hours.) Pick up: Thursday, Dec. 31.

560 Tremont St., Boston, 857-233-5941, frenchieboston.com.

Grill 23 & Bar

2020 was the year of high-low fashion: Zoom call-appropriate business-casual on top, sweatpants on the bottom. To continue that trend with your New Year’s Eve eats, consider Grill 23’s caviar-and-potato-chips combo ($90), an optional add-on to the steakhouse’s larger dinner package ($170): Choose between a pair of 100-day dry-aged rib eyes or an herb-marinated chateaubriand roast, and you’ll receive a slew of sides like clam chowder with lobster-infused butter and bacon-laden Brussels sprouts, plus flourless chocolate cake with blood orange curd for dessert. Party favors are included and you can toss in a bottle of bubbly, too, so pop on over—and then, pop the cork. Order before: Sunday, Dec. 27. Pick up: Thursday, Dec. 31 between 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

161 Berkeley St., Boston, 617-542-2255, grill23.com.

Tasting Counter

Get the jump on your New Year’s resolution to cook more with the live and interactive virtual cooking sessions served up by Tasting Counter’s TC@Home program. Let the fine-dining restaurant’s chefs teach you to cook lobster coral dumplings, Wagyu beef chuck flap, and a buckwheat and maple dessert. The package includes all the ingredients for the fine-dining experience, plus entry into one of three interactive Zoom sessions, which are also downloadable for you to revisit later (perfect if you broke into the bubbly a little early). There’s a family-friendly early-bird session ($125) from 4:30-6:30 p.m. which welcomes the future Michelin star-winning kiddos in your house; a 7-9 p.m. “Quarantine & Chill” engagement, and a 9:30 p.m.-12 a.m. bash hosted by chef Peter Ungár, which comes complete with a midnight toast. Order before: Midnight on Wednesday, Dec. 30. Pick up: Thursday, Dec. 31 during a delivery window that Tasting Counter will assign after purchase. Delivery is also offered within 15 miles of Somerville.

14 Tyler St., Somerville, 617-299-6362, tastingcounterathome.com.

The leg of lamb holiday dinner from Woods Hill Pier 4. / Photo courtesy Woods Hill Pier 4

Woods Hill Pier 4

The family-style holiday packages offered by Woods Hill Pier 4 come with cooking and reheating instructions to finish the meals day-of. Just hide the take-out containers from your inevitably impressed family, and no one will ever know that you didn’t spend all day toiling over the stove. Package options include a slow-cooked leg of lamb dinner for six people ($235), a bountiful Spanish seafood stew for four ($185), and a hearty casserole of duck leg confit, Italian sausage, cannelloni beans and more for three to four guests ($135); all come with plenty of sides and fixings. Spring for brunch ($120), too—it’ll serve four with uncured bacon from the Farm at Woods Hill in New Hampshire, as well as sourdough waffles and other goodies that will fully cement your status as the family’s future celebrity chef. Order before: End of day on Monday, Dec. 28. Pick up: Thursday, Dec. 31 between 12 p.m.-5 p.m.

300 Pier 4 Blvd., Boston, 617-981-4577, woodshillpier4.com.