Where to eat on Christmas Eve in NYC

Christmas Eve should be spent enjoying each other’s company, not cooking all day then waking up to dirty dishesinstead of presents. Theserestaurants will welcome your merry band of family of fellow holidayorphans for a no-stressdinner party.

Shay & Ivy

Flatiron’s new progressive American restaurant is offering a complimentary glass of wine, because it’s been that kind of year. The three-course prix fixe menu includes options like roasted pumpkin toast with a chipotle honey zing, ginger miso-marinated skirt steak and a six-layer chocolate cake for dessert. $50, 39 W. 24th St.

Blu on Park

Though this Upper East Side restaurant spanning three floors of a brownstone may look right out of the 1920s, it’s the place to catch your family up on the thoroughly modern poke trend. It’s among the appetizer options on the Christmas Eve prix fixe menu, which also includes queen-cut prime rib with potato gratin, four-hour braised short ribs and individual housemade apple pies to end. $79, 116 E. 60th St.

Flinders Lane

Give your ugly sweater another chance to shine this season over dinner at Flinders Lane, where they’re not just welcome but encouraged. The three-course Aussie tasting menu has options like steak tartare with oyster creme to start, lobster mornay and the traditional dessert of pavlova, made with mangoes and passion fruit (it’s summer where they come from, go with it). Make sure everyone in your party brings a canned good to donate to Trinity Services — you’ll be doing good, and each one is also good for a free drink. $65, 162 Ave. A, East Village

Tessa

This Michelin-recommended upscale neighborhood go-to will be serving some of its comfort food hits like meatballs made with pasture-raised lamb and topped with parmigiano crisps and 2016’s most popular chicken, Sasso, cooked under a brick with beech mushroom, spaetzle, dried cherry and apples. 349 Amsterdam Ave., Upper West Side

Loring Place

ABC Cocina’s acclaimed chef Dan Kluger just opened his own restaurant last Saturday, so you can still jump on a reservation for what’s sure to become the city’s favorite new upscale dinner spot. Trust the chef’s long-earned wisdom when you see surprising dishes like wood-grilled broccoli in pistachio-mint sauce and a date, mozzarella, bacon, chili and radicchio pizza. 21 W. Eighth St., Greenwich Village

Kings County Imperial

Just not that into the Christmas classics? Chef Josh Grinker is serving the same beloved menu of market-driven Chinese fare in Williamsburg, where everything is business as usual on Christmas Eve. Gather up all your fellow holiday orphans for an Imperial feast and dig into chicken dumplings with cinnamon red oil, tea-smoked mu shu duck and an Irish Hawaiian cocktail to really confuse your sense of direction. 20 Skillman Ave., Brooklyn

Paowalla

Floyd Cardoz’s return to the NYC dining scene is nothing short of one of the year’s best restaurants. The chef, a native of Goa, is drawing on his heritage to count down to Christmas with a different daily special of modern Indian fare all 12 days like carb-stuffed calamari, seam bream recheado and beef tenderloin roulade. On Dec. 23 and 24, he’ll bring the biggest hits back together for a tasting menu, which comes with a Christmas gift for you: a copy of his cookbook, “Flavorwalla.” 195 Spring St.