Hot Trends: Local restaurants open for business on Christmas Day

Christmas traditions are as varied as the families who celebrate the holiday. In one house, Christmas dinner might mean a team of people stirring and basting for hours, while in another house, dinner might mean heading to a local restaurant.

A number of Hendersonville eateries will be open on Wednesday to cater to those who prefer to dine out.

At Haus Heidelberg German restaurant in Hendersonville, owner Helge Gresser and his staff will serve 200 to 250 people on Christmas Day.

"We have people come all the way from Charlotte who used to live here," he said. "There are at least a dozen couples that I will see on Christmas Day who I haven't seen all year. I feel really good about that. People do love the tradition. I try to keep the special the same every year."

The special on Christmas Day is pork tenderloin schnitzel with port wine in a chanterelle and German forest mushroom sauce, served with egg dumpling spatzle. The appetizer is white asparagus soup with German ham, and dessert is apple strudel with a cognac vanilla sauce topped with whipped cream. Additional entrees, including pork chops and chicken, are also on the restaurant's Christmas Day menu.

"We have a lot of people that come in on Christmas because we are one of the few places that are open," Gresser said. "We used to be the only restaurant in town that was open on Christmas, but now there are others."

One of those is Season's at Highland Lake Inn. Peter Fassbender, director of food and beverage services at Season's, will serve about 700 people on Christmas Day in a buffet-style format. His menu includes turkey and root vegetable pot pie, smoked Norwegian salmon, salt-crusted New York strip steak, and apricot brown sugar glazed ham - his most popular dish.

"There is a lot of planning that goes into serving 700 people on Christmas Day," he said. "We've ordered 100 pounds of salmon and 160 pounds of ham. Getting all of that prepared in two days is quite an accomplishment, but we've been serving on Christmas Day for so long that it's pretty standard for us now."

Some families like to eat out on Christmas Day so "that one person doesn't have to be a slave in the kitchen throughout the entire day," Fassbender said. "At Season's, the family can spend the time together and forget about the cooking and the cleaning of the dishes and let us handle it for them and just enjoy their time together."

Area restaurants open on Christmas Day include:

◆ Beijing Restaurant, Kanuga Road, Hendersonville, 693-3710

◆ Black Rose, Main Street, Hendersonville, 698-2622

◆ Champa, Main Street, Hendersonville, 696-9800

◆ China Buffet, Henderson Crossing Plaza, Hendersonville, 692- 6881

◆ China Dynasty, Brevard Road, Hendersonville, 890-5535

◆ Denny's, Four Seasons Boulevard, Hendersonville, 693-8754

◆ Fortune Asian, Asheville Highway, 692-9882

◆ Hardees, Four Seasons Boulevard, Hendersonville, 697-8881

◆ Haus Heidelberg, Greenville Highway, Hendersonville, 693-8227

◆ Kin's Kitchen, Chimney Rock Road, Hendersonville, 698-5585

◆ Lime Leaf, Main Street, Hendersonville, 692- 3300

◆ Lon Sen Chinese Restaurant, Thompson Street, Hendersonville, 697-2498

◆ Season's Restaurant, Lily Pad Lane, Flat Rock, 696-9094

◆ Son Japanese Restaurant, Forest Gate Center, Pisgah Forest, 883-9808

◆ Subway locations in Hendersonville and Brevard

◆ Umi, Main Street, Hendersonville, 698- 8048

◆ Waffle House locations in Hendersonville and Brevard.

Please call for hours of operation and reservations.

Reach Tanker at 828-694-7871 or nancy. tanker@blueridgenow.com.