Feast Tracking | Where to Find 10 of the Most Festive New England Foods

’Tis the season for festive foods: pecan pie for Thanksgiving, Christmas stollen and gingerbread, Hanukkah latkes and rugelach, soul food for Kwanzaa, and tamales for Three Kings Day. All over New England, cooks and bakers are turning out stellar holiday classics that are worth seeking out. (Good news: Several are available for mail order, too—just look for the items marked with an asterisk.)

10 New England Holiday Foods to Track Down This Season

Beef Wellington
Mooo | Boston and Burlington, MA

Mooo’s classic beef Wellington—a pastry-wrapped dome of filet mignon topped with foie gras, spinach, and a mixture of finely chopped mushrooms with herbs and shallots—is a year-round favorite at this luxe steakhouse. In our minds, such richness and decadence seems uniquely suited to the holidays. For the most potent Christmas vibes, visit the original location in Boston’s XV Beacon hotel, then take a stroll around Beacon Hill to admire the holiday trimmings and (slightly) offset the meal.

Bûche de Noël
Hen & Heifer | Guilford, CT

Chef-owner Whang Suh makes edible art in this petite pastry atelier and designs a bespoke bûche de Noël each year. As of press time, this year’s flavor was yet to be decided, but previous years’ creations have included such combinations as chocolate-orange-hazelnut and chestnut-cranberry-chocolate, with alternating layers of praline, ganache, sponge, mousse, and custard.

Christmas Stollen*
L.A. Burdick | Walpole, NH; Cambridge and Boston, MA

Our first craving upon entering an L.A. Burdick café is always chocolate, whether in candy form, pastry, or pudding-thick hot chocolate. But at Christmastime, we lineup for their stollen, a brioche-like bread studded with almonds, rum-soaked raisins, candied citrus, cardamom, and nutmeg. Dusted with sugar and packed in a muslin bag, it also makes a lovely gift.

Rugelach
Oak Bake Shop | Providence, RI

This self-described “Jew-ish” bakery in Providence’s Mount Hope neighborhood serves flaky, tender chocolate rugelach—with an irresistible cream cheese–enriched dough—at Hanukkah and all year round. While there, try the hamantaschen or the classic black and white cookies. Afterward, head over to sister bakery PVDonuts for Israeli-style filled doughnuts called sufganiyot.

Tamales
Mi Lupita Bakery & Restaurant | Waterbury, CT

Tamales are an ancient food, with deep roots in Aztec, Mayan, and other Mesoamerican cultures. As Mexico became Christianized, tamales began to be associated with three winter religious holidays: Christmas, the Three Kings celebration on January 6, and Candlemas on February 2. The tamales from Connecticut’s Mi Lupita are always on offer, but they’re extra meaningful around the holidays. Choose from pork-filled tamales in a green tomatillo-based sauce, chicken tamales doused in a red guajillo chili sauce, and rajas con pollo tamales filled with jalapeno, tomato, onion, and chicken.

Soul Food
Grace by Nia | Boston, MA

Kwanzaa is a celebration of much more than food, but the dishes that are served during this seven-day holiday are diverse, rich in symbolism, and drawn from the African diaspora. That can mean jollof rice one night and catfish and mac ’n’ cheese another. On the final day of Kwanzaa (also New Year’s Day), Nia Grace of the Seaport restaurant and music venue Grace by Nia will serve a brunch menu of soul food classics that includes collard greens (symbolizing good luck), black-eyed peas (wealth), pork (prosperity), and cornbread (gold). And on the side: a generous helping of live tunes.

Latkes
Lehrhaus | Somerville, MA

Lehrhaus is a unique concept: a tavern serving modern takes on Jewish foods from across the diaspora, where you can also take classes on everything from the secret history of Jews in punk music to the philosophy of keeping kosher. For Hanukkah, everyone is welcome to try the excellent potato and onion latkes topped with herbed labneh or mango-tahini sauce (amba tehina).

Eggnog
Arethusa Farm Dairy Shops | Multiple locations, CT

This eggnog is the real deal: a mixture of milk, cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Much of the milk and cream comes from Litchfield’s Arethusa farm, lending just the right amount of richness (the rest is sourced from a local co-op). We also love the festive glass bottles, which feature a different calf or farm scene every year. You may have a new collectible on your hands.

Gingerbread
Bohemian Bakery | Montpelier, VT

Rich with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, cocoa, and black pepper, Bohemian’s soft, glazed gingerbread is molded in a bas-relief floral pattern that makes it almost too pretty to eat. Almost. While you’re there, salute owners Annie Bakst and Robert Hunt, who endured this summer’s catastrophic flooding of Montpelier and rallied to reopen, to the delight of locals and visitors alike.

Bourbon Pecan Pie*
Two Fat Cats | Portland, ME

There are two reasons why we’ll gobble up any pie from this American-style bakery: the flaky, all-butter crust and the high-quality filling, whether that’s local wild blueberries and apples in season or the toasted pecans that flavor this bourbon-scented delight. This pie is so good it’s on the menu year-round.