The Christmas holidays hold special memories of family and food for Priscila Satkoff, chef/owner of the upscale ¡Salpicón! Mexican restaurant in Chicago.

"In Mexico, people really celebrate Christmas Eve," says Satkoff, who spent her childhood in Colonia San Angel, Mexico City. "Growing up, that was the big night, and we always had a big dinner with family."

Satkoff recreates the celebration from her childhood with a special Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) dinner at ¡Salpicón! on Dec. 24. "I create a menu of my childhood favorites," she explains. "I include many of the dishes my mom used to make on Christmas Eve."

Bacalao – a stew-like mixture of salt cod, garlic, tomatoes, olives, cloves, cinnamon, pickled jalapeños and potatoes – is one of the most popular featured items. "The bacalao, I waited for the dish all year long!" Satkoff recalls when asked which Christmas meal she most loved as a child.

The Nochebuena meal is a fixed-price offering that includes a choice of entremeses (appetizers); sopa (soup) or ensalada (salad); platos fuertes (entrees) and postres (desserts). Some of the 2003 menu selections were:

Entremeses: Chile Ancho Relleno (ancho chile stuffed with potatoes and chorizo); Bacalao Navideño; Codorniz en Salsa de Chile con Miel (garlic-marinated and grilled quail in an ancho chile sauce); Crepas de Huitlacoche (huitlacoche stuffed into a cilantro crepe topped with poblano cream sauce and Manchego cheese); Enchiladas de Pescado (baked enchiladas with achiote-marinated halibut and roasted tomatillo sauce).

Sopa/Ensalada: Sopa de Lentejas con Pina, Tocino y Chile Pasilla (lentil soup garnished with grilled pineapple, smoked bacon, pasilla chile and queso añejo); Ensalada de Nochebuena (beet, jicama and fresh orange salad garnished with roasted peanuts).

Platos Fuertes: Nac Cum de Pescado (halibut marinated in achiote, garlic and orange juice, wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled); Chiles en Nogada (poblano chiles stuffed with pork picadillo, raisins, olives, almonds, capers, peach, apple and plantains with walnut cream sauce and pomegranate seeds); Salmon al Hinojo (grilled salmon glazed with ancho chile, served with tomatillo-serrano sauce); Pollito Yucateco (poussin marinated in achiote with garlic, wrapped in banana leaf, topped with habanero salsa and frijoles); Mixiote de Borrego (lamb shank in Oaxacan red mole).