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 Chicago Reviews: Little Goat Diner

/ Little Goat Diner/
First Bites Chicago Reviews: Little Goat Diner

Little Goat gets high marks for being open super early on the weekends (7 AM!), which is helpful if you have little creatures at home who arise with the sun. They also offer valet parking, which seems like an unnecessary extravagance early on a Saturday morning, until your hanger overtakes you and you scream at your husband because there are no. goddamn. parking. spots.

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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: 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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Furst Bites Reviews: The Standard Grill

/ Standard Grill/
Furst Bites Reviews: The Standard Grill

If you Google the Standard Grill, words like "trendy" and "clubby" will show up in the restaurant description.  These are words that should actively scare you and your offspring away. And I have mad respect for that.  I have many a found memories of wasting (wasting happily I might add) the day away in the beer garden and I do not ever recall needing to step over an army of strollers. That is a beautiful thing. But we decided to march on in anyway. 

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Furst Bites Reviews: Hill Country Barbecue Market-Brooklyn

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Furst Bites Reviews: Hill Country Barbecue Market-Brooklyn

If a group of toddlers joined forces to devise the perfect place to eat brunch on a Sunday....Hill Country Barbecue is probably what they would concoct. It's like we stumbled upon Frontierland in Downtown Brooklyn. The day started innocently enough. In fact, the day started with zero thought on finding a brunch place that tailored to my child.

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Furst Bites Reviews: The Bridges DUMBO

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Furst Bites Reviews: The Bridges DUMBO

It was a Sunday and it was the first weekend of March Madness. My request to have brunch at a TV-free venue was not going over well. And then all of a sudden I realized I did sound crazy and really, really not fun. So I immediately switched gears and went into a "lets do this properly" mode. Give me a place with LOTS of screens and lots of fried food on the menu. We had friends in DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass) who were already watching the games at The Bridges. Since we were already playing outside at Brooklyn Bridge Park, it was an easy 10 minute stroll to the place. Here is our review:

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Furst Bites Restaurant Review Guide

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Once upon a time I was a die-hard Yelper and would not even think about eating somewhere until I had properly vetted Yelp. This meant combing through the reviews and then engaging in deep analysis/arguments/discussions on whether or not I thought the reviewers were just plain whack or if they were the competition trying to knock this restaurant off a pedestal. Then there would be a group vote and God forbid someone suggested a place I had not heard of, it was back to the initial Yelp vetting process. Yelp was my everything and I took it very seriously. 

And then once I had a kid, I just didn't go out to eat as frequently (SAD) and now I just look for a different type of review when I eat out. And it pretty much boils down to how much of a relative pain in the ass will my kid be in contrast to all the other diners. If it is high, I usually steer clear. It got me thinking that there really isn't a review site for parents. So Furst Bites is setting out to be the Zagat for families.

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