Even as a kid I had the intuitive sense that Christmas sucked. Not Christmas the Santa-candy-toys Christmas, but the excruciating boringness of Christmas Day. Christmas Eve was the fun part: the anticipation, the staying up so late your eyes stung, as grownups got hammered on Old Fashioneds. You'd have to dodge their drunken, wet-lipped kisses.
We're pretty sure Incanto's Chris Cosentino gets Christmas Eve. Again this year he's presiding over the Feast of the Seven Fishes, the restaurant's night-before seafood prix fixe, which looks to the Italian tradition of fishy vigilia di natales (Incanto's website has a 2004 letter from owner Mark Pastore about the custom). The actual menu won't come together till Dec. 23, we guess, but you can get a sense of the thing from Cosentino's preliminary menu (seafood salad, roasted Dorade wrapped in seaweed). Almost guaranteed, though: liquored-up adults planting wet kisses.
Feast of the Seven Fishes
When: Fri., Dec. 24
Where: Incanto, 1550 Church (at Duncan), 641-4500
Cost: $49 for the three-course menu, not including beverages, tax, or tips
Reservations: Book online, or call the restaurant Wed.-Mon. after 3 p.m.
