Alfredo’s on Folly offers a traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes for the holidays December 21, 22, & 23
by Lorne Chambers | Editor
The Feast of the Seven Fishes is a longstanding Christmas tradition rooted in the Italian-American experience. For Michael Scognamiglio, owner of Alfredo’s on Folly, it holds many personal and professional memories.
“The theme of eating seafood on Christmas Eve was always something that I grew up with on the Italian side of my family. Not necessarily calling it ‘The Feast of Seven Fishes’ and having seven different types of seafood, but just having seafood in general, being what we ate for our dinner,” recalls Scognamiglio. “Certain dishes were a ‘must have’ for us like Baccala (whipped salt cod) and Fritti Misti (mixed fried seafood). I still remember my Nonna frying bay scallops, and those particularly being more special versus the more familiar standard fried shrimp and calamari.”
Professionally, the Feast holds special memories for Scognamiglio who has not only hosted it for the last four years at Alfredo’s, but did it for a decade prior at his previous restaurant Bacco in Mt. Pleasant before bringing his talents to the beach.
“After doing this dinner in the restaurant setting for so many years, having to keep the menu all new is something that I try to follow,” says Scognamiglio. “It gets tough sometimes bringing creativity and reinvention to the same traditional seafood used typically for the dinner, but luckily I get the whole year to think about it since it only comes one time a year. Also, another thing I do is that I have to include more than seven different types of seafood. Usually it’s about eight or nine.”
For this year’s feast, Alfredo’s will offer three seatings: Sunday, Dec. 21, Monday, Dec. 22, and Tuesday, Dec. 23. All seatings are at 6:30 p.m. and are by reservation only. Each seating will hold around 25 people. When Scognamiglio first started doing the Feast at Alfredo’s it was only for one night. But because the demand was so high, he decided to add two more seatings this year.
“Doing this dinner has become really special for my staff and me,” says Scognamiglio. “Seeing customers who have come over the past years, even from when I did it at Bacco, means a lot, and it’s nice knowing that I am able to mirror what great memories of food & family I had growing up to other families by keeping traditions like this one going.”
Alfredo’s on Folly’s Feast of the Seven Fishes will be held on Dec. 21, 22, and 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Cost for the dinner is $100 per person, plus tax and gratuity.106 West Hudson Ave. To make a reservation or for more information, call (843) 633-0225 or visit www.alfredosonfolly.com.
