Where to go for Chinese food on Christmas Day

by Joanna Prisco | Originally appeared in Special to The Record | December 22, 2016

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, give serious thought to Chinese food for your holiday feast. After all, it’s a tradition among your Jewish neighbors – an eight­ decades ­old tradition that historians believe began in New Jersey.

Rabbi Joshua Plaut, PhD., dedicated an entire chapter to the subject in his book “A Kosher Christmas: ‘Tis the Season to Be Jewish,” and cited the origin of Jews eating Chinese food on the holiday as dating “at least as early as 1935, when The New York Times reported a certain restaurant owner named Eng Shee Chuck who brought chow mein on Christmas Day to the Jewish Children’s Home in Newark.

Here’s a superlative local restaurant to keep the custom alive – or begin a new one.

Cheng Du 23 in Wayne

Lauded as among the best Chinese restaurants in the state, Cheng Du 23 is a popular destination for many families on Dec. 25. Owner and culinary director Kevin Lin interprets the cuisine’s holiday appeal as multifold.

“There are many [people of] different ethnic backgrounds that don’t celebrate Christmas,” Lin says. “But we also have found that many people just don’t want to cook and go through the production of making a huge dinner at home, so eating out at a Chinese restaurant is good for them.”

Lin says his most popular winter dishes include Sichuan­ style dry pot with shrimp, beef, chicken and fish fillet; pork shank with baby bok choy; steamed flounder fillets with ginger, scallions and soy sauce; and sautéed snow­pea leaves in garlic.