New Orleans restaurants revive Creole custom
Christmastime for Tyson and Ginny Graham means driving nearly 300 miles (480 kilometers) south of their Columbus, Mississippi, home to New Orleans for shopping, holiday concerts and the highlight of their trip - indulging in a grand reveillon dinner.
The elaborate meals, which stem from the old French tradition of eating a lavish meal after midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, have become a popular draw for visitors to New Orleans during the holiday season.
In the weeks surrounding Christmas, some 50 restaurants offer four- to five-course meals of pan-roasted oysters, braised pork belly, duck confit, foie gras beignets and other holiday delicacies.
The recipes have roots that date back to the beginning of the French city's nearly 300-year history.
Though some restaurants serve reveillon dinners after midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and after midnight fireworks on New Year's Eve like in the old days, most offer the special menus during regular dinner hours.
"Thank goodness,'' Tyson Graham, 71, said with a laugh.
"After midnight is a little late for me.
'' Graham said since he and his wife of 45 years, Ginny, discovered the city's reveillon dinners about 15 years ago, they've been to New Orleans almost every December.
"It's been a great way for us to experience all the restaurants we've frequented over the years, but we get to have something a little different,'' he said.
The way it works: Restaurants offer fixed-price reveillon menus on top of their regular dinner menu starting in the weeks before Christmas and continuing through New Year's Eve.
Reveillon dinner prices can range
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