Christmas Day dining in Baltimore remains quiet, and our list of openings remains mostly static from year to year.
In fact, our list of places open this year looks almost exactly like the list we had last year. The only new additions to the Christmas Day list are two restaurants at the new Horseshoe Casino Baltimore.
There are considerably more dining options for Christmas Eve, which we've listed below the Christmas Day options.
For the most part, we've confined the Christmas Day list to restaurants that are opening before 5 p.m.
They include:
Turning to Christmas Eve, restaurants serving a traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes menu, along with their regular menus, on Christmas Eve include Aldo's (306 S. High St., 410-727-0700, aldositaly.com), which has a $69 four-course menu; Aida Cafe & Wine Bar (6741 Columbia Gateway Drive, 410-953-0500, aidabistro.com) in Columbia, which will be serving its special $40 menu on Dec. 23 as well as on Christmas Eve; Rumor Mill in Ellicott City, which is serving an a la carte version, and Pazo (1425 Aliceanna St., 410-534-7296, pazorestaurant.com), where the prix-fixe menu is $55.
Sotto Sopra is open for Christmas Eve dinner from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Farmstead Grill in Canton (3721 Boston St., 410-762-2100, farmsteadgrill.com) is celebrating its first Christmas Eve, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. with a $42 three-course menu from Galen Sampson. The fare includes braised beef cheeks, wild salmon and Alaskan halibut. Casual fare, selected items from the a la carte menu and a children's menu will also be available.
Cunningham's (1 Olympic Place, Towson, 410-339-7730, in Towson is open Christmas Eve from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. on New Years Eve.
In Harbor East, Charleston (1000 Lancaster St., 410-332-7373, charlestonrestaruant.com) is offering Cindy Wolf's multi-course, seasonal prix-fixe tasting menu with the special addition of holiday-inspired courses on New Year's Eve, from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Cinghiale (822 Lancaster St., 410-547-8282, cgeno.com) is serving Julian Marucci's a la carte modern Italian menu with additional holiday-inspired selections, from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Petit Louis Bistro in Columbia (10215 Wincopin Circle, 410-964-9999, petitlouis.com) is serving a $35 prix-fixe Champagne menu in addition to the full a la carte menu, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Some places, like Volt in Frederick (228 N. Market St., 301-696-8658, voltrestaurant.com)
are open on Christmas Eve just long enough to grab an early dinner.
Aggio (614 Water St., 410-528-0200, volt-aggio.com) is open until 8 p.m. as are Kooper's North (12240 Tullamore Road, Lutherville-Timonium, 410-853-7324, koopersnorth.com) and Kooper's Jacksonville (3493 Sweet Air Road, Phoenix-Jacksonville, 443-689-7252, koopersjacksonville.com).