For the past several years, the Majestic Grille has hosted Sunday Suppers during the holidays. The evenings include special Christmas dishes and, in a nice nod to the site’s past as a former movie theater, screenings of holiday classics such as It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.
And then there’s the Annual Clark’s Christmas Dinner, happening this year on Thursday, December 20th, 7:30 p.m. The event, says Deni Reilly, who owns the Majestic with her husband Patrick, was created as a thank-you to the restaurant’s regulars. This affair eschews seasonal sentimentality in favor of outrageous fun that come via the particulars: the screening of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, the Christmas Vacation character costume contest, and the tackiest Christmas sweater contest.
“It gets crazy,” Reilly says.
By crazy, she means the space filling with up to 300 folks; the patrons who decorate their tables with flashing Christmas lights; the gaggle of bathrobed Eddies, along with the mink-and-lingerie-wearing Marys, and post-squirrel Clarks; the Rocky Horror Picture Show-esque screaming of the film’s favorite lines.
As for those tacky Christmas sweaters, Reilly says they’ve evolved from the more staid tops most certainly gifted by grandmothers to homemade numbers decked out with popsicle sticks and cotton balls and the full-on assaults featuring lights and music.
The menu that Patrick has put together for this year’s dinner has a Southern angle: chopped house salad, fried chicken, stewed beans, mac-and-cheese, and homemade pie. (The regular menu is available as well.) There are also specials on Clark’s eggnog, of course.
Cost for the dinner is $26.95 per person. Reservations required: 522-8555.
