Brooklyn Restaurants Open On Christmas**

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Brooklyn Restaurants Open On Christmas**

***If cooking Christmas dinner is making you cringe like my hubby was when I asked him to take this photo then you should read this post

Tis' the season to start amassing even more credit card debt, regret behavior at work parties and spend a dizzying amount of time feeling inadequate about your potentially tacky-looking mantle and pathetic-looking reindeer cookies (Die. Pinterest. Die.) So I thought I'd bring some Brooklynites some holiday cheer that comes in the form of a list of restaurants that are open on Christmas or Christmas Eve...and some are open on both days. Stop feeling guilty about what you're not making or beating yourself up because your table setting would make Martha's hate list. Let someone else (IE) a restaurant do all the dirty work for you...

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First Bites Reviews: Swan Dive

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First Bites Reviews: Swan Dive

Swan Dive turns into the most organic playgroup you've even seen. Kids can roam free, draw with chalk, play corn hole (or just stand inappropriately on the base) and parents can drink cocktails and not worry about disrupting the neighbors (you are)...but it doesn't matter. The food is mostly meat and lets just hope your kids aren't nude shy...

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First Bites Reviews: MOB Brooklyn

/ MOB Brooklyn /
First Bites Reviews: MOB Brooklyn

So this place is in the heart of Brooklyn and is a vegetarian-only, vegan, gluten-free optional restaurant. You can only wear hemp and showers are not encouraged (KIDDING.) But I do command you to stop your eye roll and Free Yo Mind! Even the most loyal of meat eaters would have a hard time saying anything bad about the food here. It is that good. If you think you could never have mac and cheese without the cheese...I dare you to try their cashew-based mac and "cheese." You won't even miss the cheese. Their gluten-free, veggie burgers are something to write home about and they start the meal with complimentary gluten-free pumpkin muffins...which are also blow-your-mind good. Oh, and portabella steaks are a thing. Did I mention that they are MASSIVELY kid-friendly?!

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[Furst] Bites Reviews: Calexico

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[Furst] Bites Reviews: Calexico

Calexico is a venue that started out selling their burritos and tacos out of a food truck and now have locations all over New York...but they still sell out of carts. Armed with Jenson, we popped in for some lunch at their new*ish Red Hook location before hitting the Brooklyn waterfront. 

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[Furst] Bites Reviews: Hanco's

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[Furst] Bites Reviews: Hanco's

If banh mi and pho is your kryptonite, than you need to look no further. But just because I could bathe in their pork banh mi and vermicelli shredded chicken dish, doesn't mean it's the most ideal place for schitzo toddlers. 

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[Furst] Bites Reviews: Provence en Boite

/ Provence en Boite/
[Furst] Bites Reviews: Provence en Boite

 Furst Bites decided to get buck wild and brunch with another baby. That meant two strollers and twice the potential for epic meltdowns. We were every restaurant's dream that morning. Adding to our first world brunch problems that only people with kids understand was the question of, "What place is open at 9AM that isn't a diner." You'd be surprised to learn just how many establishments don't open until later on the weekends. I have mad respect for those places. But we needed to eat and  one fab spot in our hood opens early. It's a little French place that is truly is a little slice of Paris in our Brooklyn neighborhood.

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Vinny's of Carroll Gardens

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Happy Monday! We're switching things up a bit here. As in video switching up. All this writing about food had me thinking that maybe (just maybe) people (OK, my mom) wanted to see some of these posts come to life. So we kicked off our inaugural Furst Bites video post at Vinny's of Carroll Gardens.

There was penne vodka pasta, Jesus statues and a virtually empty restaurant...because were were dining at 4:45PM. It was all very rock 'n' roll people. What I realized when I was editing is this post should really be about how toddlers suck the fun out of eating out. There I said it. I swore I'd never be like "those" parents who NEVER take their kids out to eat  because that is just lame. But I am slowly coming around to the lame side of the fence. After inhaling mass quantities of pasta and eggplant parmigiana at unnatural speeds, we left without paying the bill because we were just that frazzled. I also learned that my twelve years of Catholic schooling has been for naught when I pointed out "Baby Jesus " to Jenson and my non-Catholic husband pointed out it was actually St. Vincent. Big oops. 

But the good news is dining with a toddler is great for sobriety as I could barely finish one glass of wine and we were home before 6PM with a whole lot of drinking to do couch side. So things weren't all bad. 

LOCATION: Vinny's of Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn