My guided trip through 12 of the city’s Christmas pop-up bars may be over, but I have one more holiday hot tip for you. And I saved if not the best for last, then certainly my favorite for last. That’s right. The Butcher & Bee annual Hanukkah Dinner is back.
The dinner is held in The Rose Room, the restaurant’s private event space, with three long communal tables so you can get to know other latke fans while you feast, family-style, on Scott Littman’s take on traditional recipes. (No relation, by the way; I just love his food.)
“I’ve always been a fan of dining as a group," says Littman. "It encourages community and getting to know your neighbor. It’s really important to share a table with strangers, and especially the communal dining, encourages you to interact with them."
Littman has been cooking up these dinners since 2016 (except during the pandemic) and works to make each one original and a little bit different from the year before, while also staying true to the holiday and the treats we have grown to love, such as putting the signature Butcher & Bee whipped feta on a latke.
Hanukkah isn’t a particularly big deal in terms of religious holidays, but it falls around Christmas (and this year on Christmas), so it tends to get a lot more mainstream play than some other Jewish holidays. The foundational story of Hanukkah is that a quantity of oil that was supposed to be enough to keep a ceremonial temple lamp lit for one night instead lasted for eight nights. To honor that, almost all of the holiday’s foods are fried in oil, with potato pancakes called latkes and filled jelly doughnuts called sufganiyot.
I called Littman to ask what he had planned for my favorite meal of the year, and I nearly fainted when he said the theme was my other favorite food group: New York deli. Butcher & Bee has started serving pastrami sandwiches at brunch. (Fun fact 1: The team got to make pastrami at the legendary Katz deli when they were in New York. Fun fact 2: Back home, they smoke the meat over at sister restaurant Redheaded Stranger.)
So he’ll be serving pastrami on Hanukkah, and the aforementioned whipped feta and latkes. He’s making a matzoh ball and chicken dish that he describes as sort of a take on Southern chicken and dumplings. Also on the menu is a salad with sweet potato, and vegans will appreciate the braised cabbage dish. Dessert includes his mom’s kugel, which was derived from a Joan Nathan recipe, sufganiyot and the Butcher & Bee take on classic chocolate gelt.
Other than the welcome cocktail, drinks are an additional cost on top of the $75 prix-fixe ticket, with options including Mulled Manischewitz, a dill martini and a take on a French 75.
Butcher & Bee is offering two seatings each on both Dec. 27 and Dec. 28 at 5 p.m. or 8:30 p.m., and one 7 p.m. seating on Dec. 29. Seatings are $75 per person and include the welcome beverage plus all-you-can-eat-family-style food (plus maybe a leftover or two to take home). Make your reservation online. Butcher & Bee is located at 902 Main St. in East Nashville.
