Restaurant Review: Still time for Breakfast with Santa… if you hurry!
With a week and a half left before Christmas, several area restaurants are still serving up frosty, festive delights as you “Breakfast with Santa (or the Grinch)!”
Santa is coming to the West Loop’s Carnivale, 702 West Fulton Market Street on Sunday, December 18! They’re serving a traditional all-you-can-eat holiday buffet, along with a special visit from Santa and Ms. Claus. Sample from several unusual grazing stations around the venue. They include the ‘Salmon and Bagel Station, with smoked salmon, capers, cream cheese, sliced cucumbers, and cherry and raspberry jellies; ‘Paella and Spanish Charcuterie,’ with seafood and vegetable paellas, chorizo sausage, candied almonds and dried fruits; a Churrasco Carving Station featuring Tomahawk bone-in ribeye, braised short-rib barbacoa, while their Pastries and Dessert station features a donut wall, churros, and cotton candy. Soda, coffee and tea are included. Adults are $55, and children ages 10 and under years are $25. For reservations, click here.
Before you attend ‘Light up the Lake’ at Navy Pier, there’s a great place to take kids for an extra-special celebration! Streeterville’s Harry Caray’s Tavern – Navy Pier, 700 E. Grand Avenue, serves up Breakfast with Santa + Wigglewormson Sunday, December 18, from 10am-2pm, serving holiday-inspired breakfast favorites and visits with Santa. Try their Avocado Mistle-Toast, with avocado mash, fried egg, and Texas toast, or the Holiday Hash Skillet, with pulled pork, potatoes, and red & yellow peppers,onion, BBQ sauce, and sunny side-up eggs. Frosty’s French Toast comes with maple syrup and fruit. A live performance by an Old Town School of Folk Music Wiggleworms teacher will have you and your children singing and dancing to holiday classics. BTW…the venue wants you to know that Santa Claus is fully vaccinated. For reservations, click here.
Maybe Lunch or Dinner with Santa instead? At the Loop’s 124-year-old Berghoff Restaurant, 17 W. Adams, on Saturday, December 17, Thursday, December 22, and Friday, December 23, from 1pm-7pm, a very merry holiday meal awaits you and your family, along with a special visit from Santa. The kids can enjoy Die Weihnachtsgurke (the Christmas pickle), a fun Bavarian tradition for kids and those young at heart. As their website explains, “See if you can find the pickle ornament hidden in our Christmas trees throughout the restaurant.” Any child who finds a pickle ornament in any of our trees will receive a year of good luck and a Berghoff Root Beer for $1.00. This year the money raised from the root beer sales will benefit SOS Villages of Illinois, which helps children. Their special Holiday Menu includes a Winter Warm Up Combo, which includesa small Berghoff Salad, a cup of their Soup of the Day, and a Grilled Cheese with provolone served on house-baked sourdough bread. Their famous Bavarian menu includes Spatzleknödel, which is a spätzle dumpling stuffed with smoked gouda, chicken andouille, spinach and fried leeks, topped with a Sriracha buerre blanc, and served with a quinoa and arugula salad. Your meal is complete with their house-made White Chocolate Mousse. 100% of the profits from the sales of the mousse will be donated to the SOS Villages of Illinois. For reservations, click here.
At Kroll’s, an upscale pub in the South Loop, 1736 S. Michigan Avenue, ‘Breakfast with the Grinch’ is already sold out on Saturday, December 17, but you can add your name to the waiting list. If enjoying a morning of Grinchiness, eating and drinking holiday-themed food and beverage, and watching ‘The Grinch’ on Kroll’s four large projection screens while writing your letter to Santa appeal to you, click here to add your name to their waiting list.
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago
