Feast of the Seven Fishes in NYC: What It Is, How to Order
By Nico Ferraro · October 29, 2026 · 7 min read
As National Geographic describes it, the Feast of the Seven Fishes is a tradition of Italian Americans who enjoy “(at least) seven different seafood dishes on Christmas Eve.” On their regular menus, Babbo prints exactly seven seafood dishes, L’Artusi eight, Zero Otto Nove eleven and Ai Fiori sixteen, while Rubirosa prints five. Counts come from each restaurant’s own website and definitions from Treccani, the Denver Public Library and National Geographic, all checked in October 2026.
What is the Feast of the Seven Fishes?
The Denver Public Library’s archives staff, in a 2015 article, found “no formal definitions for the Feast,” with almost no one agreeing on which seven fishes belong. The phrase, it adds, is neither a term the Catholic church uses nor a recognized feast.
On why seven, the library lists the theories a 2008 New York Times article laid out without choosing (the seven sacraments, the seven hills of Rome, the seven deadly sins) and concludes: “As near as we can tell, no one really knows.”
Do Italians in Italy celebrate the Feast of the Seven Fishes?
Not under that name. National Geographic reports, citing anthropology professor Michael Di Giovine of West Chester University of Pennsylvania, that “festa dei sette pesci” is not heard in Italy, where the holiday is simply “la vigilia,” the eve of Christmas, and fish is “really only eaten in Southern Italy on the holiday.”
Treccani, the Italian encyclopedia institute, defines a cenone as a lavish dinner with many guests, in particular the one held with some solemnity on Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve. Its children’s encyclopedia says Christmas feasting traditionally had two parts: the cenone della Vigilia, “rigorosamente di magro” (strictly meatless), and a lunch on the 25th led by capon and broth. Its essay on the Mediterranean diet says the traditional southern vigil meal usually centered on fresh or preserved fish, with seven, nine, thirteen or twenty-five courses depending on the zone, so seven is one of four counts. Treccani passages are translated here.
Can you eat meat on Christmas Eve?
Treccani’s dictionary entry on the vigil says the Catholic vigil once brought fasting and abstinence, and that with both abolished it is limited to Mass and a few preparatory rites. Its children’s encyclopedia, quoted above, still describes the traditional Christmas Eve dinner as strictly meatless, while the Denver library found households serving lamb or roast beef and others eating no fish. What is on the table varies by family. Restaurants leave the choice open: all five menus below print meat or poultry beside the seafood, among them Babbo’s Chicken al Mattone and Ai Fiori’s New York Strip.
How many seafood dishes do five NYC menus print?
These five each publish a full menu online with seafood in several courses. A seafood dish here is one whose name or ingredients name a fish or shellfish as a main component; garnishes, stocks, pizza toppings and caviar service are not counted. Dollar prices are as printed in October 2026. “Cheapest seven” means the sum of the seven lowest menu prices, one of each dish, before tax, tip and drinks. Ai Fiori prints bare numbers with no currency sign, so its figures need confirming.
| Dishes | Restaurant and address | Printed prices | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Ai Fiori, 400 5th Avenue, The Langham | unmarked numbers; confirm | Most seafood on one page |
| 11 | Zero Otto Nove, 15 West 21st Street | $24 to $39 | Widest priced choice; cheapest seven cost 196 dollars |
| 8 | L’Artusi, 228 West 10th Street | $27 to $50 | Raw fish, pasta and fish plates under four headings; cheapest seven cost 237 dollars |
| 7 | Babbo, 110 Waverly Place | $26 to $56 | Exactly seven; all seven cost 251 dollars ordered once each |
| 5 | Rubirosa, 235 Mulberry Street | none listed | Groups of 8 to 22, family-style |
Babbo: seven, with none to spare
Babbo’s home page prints tuna ($27) and fluke ($26) under Crudi, grilled octopus ($32) under Apericena, linguine vongole ($33), lobster fusilloni ($42) and black spaghetti with rock shrimp ($35) under Primi, and grilled branzino ($56) under Secondi. A seven-dish table takes every seafood plate there.
L’Artusi: eight under four headings
L’Artusi’s home page and menu page print the same dinner list. Fluke ($27) and tuna ($27) sit under Crudo, octopus alla piastra ($32) among the antipasti, perciatelli nero with crab ($38) and bigoli alle vongole ($32) among the pastas, and day boat scallops ($45), branzino ($36) and halibut ($50) under Pesce. The cheapest seven leave out the $50 halibut. Crudo counts toward the opening course even when a menu files it under its own heading, as the antipasto explainer covers.
Zero Otto Nove: eleven, and a lot of clams
The Flatiron restaurant describes a Southern Italian kitchen and says its name comes from 089, Salerno’s telephone area code. The antipasti and salads include grilled octopus ($24), shrimp and scallops ($25), grilled calamari and shrimp ($25) and a seafood salad ($26). Four pasta and rice dishes follow: linguine con vongole ($31), linguine with cuttlefish and squid ink ($31), tubettini with octopus and clams ($34) and risotto alla pescatore ($34). Three fish plates close the list: zuppa di pesce ($38), salmon ($38) and branzino in cartoccio ($39). Counting ingredient lines, clams appear in five of the eleven dishes, shrimp in four and octopus in three. The page is undated.
Ai Fiori: sixteen, with a caveat
Ai Fiori’s dinner page lists five raw dishes (oysters, hamachi, tuna tartare, fluke with caviar, steelhead trout), three antipasti (lobster knuckles, grilled octopus, lobster bisque), four primi (squid ink trofie, spaghetti with blue crab, shrimp risotto, taglietelle royale with lobster and sea urchin) and four secondi (branzino, halibut, lobster, scallops). Numbers such as 38 for the grilled octopus and 58 for the lobster carry no dollar sign, and the page still lists summer dishes like Summer Succotash. Confirm the current menu and prices.
Rubirosa: five, and no prices
Rubirosa’s menus page lists roasted octopus, baked clams, crispy calamari, linguine alla vongole and a Black & White Tagliatelle of shrimp, cockles and calamari, with no price beside any of them.
How do you build seven fishes from a regular menu?
- Decide what seven counts. National Geographic’s wording is seven seafood dishes, which the four larger menus can supply. For seven different animals, repeats matter: a careless seven at Zero Otto Nove puts clams on the table several times.
- Take one dish per heading. Raw fish, a small plate, a pasta and a fish main make a natural sequence. What a primi course is explains the pasta slot, and how seafood pasta is built covers fra diavolo and frutti di mare.
- Price the table first. One of each of the cheapest seven costs 196 dollars at Zero Otto Nove, 237 at L’Artusi and 251 at Babbo.
- Ask about groups early. L’Artusi’s page puts its Private Wine Room at up to 14 guests, with food and beverage minimums. Babbo asks groups to contact it directly.
Is a Christmas Eve seven fishes menu published yet?
As of October 22, 2026, when these pages were read, none of the five publishes a Christmas Eve menu or price, so every count above describes a regular menu. Ai Fiori’s menu list includes a “Thanksgiving 2026” page and nothing for Christmas. Eataly’s holidays page invites guests to “join us for festive specials and tasting menus at our restaurants” but names no Christmas Eve menu.
December 24, 2026 is a Thursday. The regular Thursday dinner hours listed are 5 to 10pm at Babbo, 5:00 PM to 11 PM at L’Artusi, 5:00 to 9:30 PM at Zero Otto Nove and after 5:00pm at Ai Fiori; Rubirosa lists 11AM to 11PM. No page says whether December 24 differs. L’Artusi’s page says reservations release “on a two-week rolling basis, each day at 9 AM,” which on its face means December 24 tables are not yet open for online booking; call to ask how holidays are handled.
Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of the Feast of the Seven Fishes?
The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian-American Christmas Eve dinner of at least seven seafood dishes, according to National Geographic. The Denver Public Library found no formal definition and no agreed reason for the number seven. Treccani records seven, nine, thirteen or twenty-five courses at traditional southern Italian Christmas Eve meals.
How do you say Feast of the Seven Fishes in Italian?
National Geographic’s Italian rendering of the Feast of the Seven Fishes is “festa dei sette pesci,” but its source says the phrase is not heard in Italy. There the day is la vigilia, and Treccani’s children’s encyclopedia calls the Christmas Eve dinner the cenone della Vigilia.
Can you eat meat on Christmas Eve?
Treccani’s children’s encyclopedia describes the traditional Christmas Eve dinner as strictly meatless, but its dictionary says the fasting and abstinence once attached to Catholic vigils, Christmas among them, have been abolished, and the Denver Public Library found families serving lamb or roast beef. In October 2026 Babbo, L’Artusi, Zero Otto Nove, Rubirosa and Ai Fiori all print meat or poultry dishes beside their seafood.
Which NYC Italian restaurants print seven or more seafood dishes?
On their regular menus in October 2026, Babbo prints exactly seven seafood dishes, L’Artusi eight, Zero Otto Nove eleven, Ai Fiori sixteen and Rubirosa five. None publishes a Christmas Eve menu yet, so call to confirm.
