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Chicago Sun Times
Food -December 20, 2006

The fish, an enduring symbol of Christ, may never be more revered than on Christmas Eve, when many Catholics celebrate with a meatless feast.

Once part of a sacred vigil mandated by the Catholic Church, the custom commemorates the wait for Christ's birth. In southern Italy, the meat-free banquet of La Vigilia di Natale developed into the elaborate Festa dei Sette Pesci, or Feast of the Seven Fishes, now observed around the world by those of Italian descent.

Chef John Caputo, who will be serving such a feast Dec. 24 at Bin 36, 339 N. Dearborn, grew up with the tradition in New York. "Growing up in an Italian family, every holiday is a big celebration," Caputo says, "but this is by far my favorite."

In his Brooklyn family home, he recalls, "We go to the table about 6 o'clock at night, and we don't leave till we get ready to go to midnight Mass."

Tradition varies with family

No one knows quite how the tradition started or the significance of the number seven, though some suggest it stands for the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church -- baptism, penance, Holy Eucharist, confirmation, marriage, holy orders and the sacrament of the sick -- or the seven days it took Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem.

Only individual family tradition and the cook's imagination limits what can be served in the Feast of the Seven Fishes. There's no set menu and every family serves its own favorite dishes.

Some families stick to an Italian theme; others go for a global repast. To some, "seven fishes" means seven distinct seafood courses. Some prepare separate dishes each containing a different type of seafood. To others, "seven fishes" just means seven kinds of seafood, and they streamline the tradition by combining different fish or shellfish in a single dish. Others cook even more than seven seafood dishes.

"We always started with shellfish on the half shell, oysters and clams," Caputo says.

"This was a meal everybody took part in. As a kid, I loved helping my father open up the oysters and clams. That was my job."

Other dishes on the Caputo table, he says, might have included octopus in tomato sauce over linguini, baked clams oreganata, lobster baked with lemon and an assortment of breaded, pan-fried seafood such as scallops and shrimp. In other Italian families, holiday traditions include baccala (salt cod), fried smelts, shrimp cocktail and seafood salads.

"When my grandfather was alive -- he was the only one who would eat it -- we also had broiled eel," Caputo recalls. "It made the whole house stink. Every year there'd be a big argument about it."

Bin 36 updates the feast

Today, at Bin 36, Caputo says, he carries on the seven fishes tradition, updating and upgrading the menu to a fancier restaurant-style banquet. "People love it," he says. "We've been doing this for five years. Every year, we change what we're serving. Each year it grows a little.

"I want this to remain a Bin 36 tradition. I always make sure it's the one holiday I'm at the restaurant. My wife and all our friends come, and we have a big table just for them."

Restaurant menu

• Shellfish terrine with saffron gelee
• Chive crepe cake with smoked salmon, smoked sturgeon mousse and Illinois sturgeon caviar
• Swordfish carpaccio with Meyer lemon and shaved bottarga
• Pan-roasted langoustine with celery root-potato puree, Tuscan kale and Chardonnay butter
• Sauteed Nantucket bay scallops, porcini confit salad, hazelnuts and broken sherry vinaigrette
• Octopus cassoulet with braised cuttlefish
• Crispy calamari
• Sauteed John Dory with potato risotto and black truffles

• Oysters on the half shell
• Shrimp antipasto
• Tuna and canellini-bean salad
• Octopus with linguini
• Steamed mussels
• Baked fish
• Green salad with salted anchovies

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