This post originally appeared on the December 28, 2020 edition of The Move, a place for Eater editors to reveal their professional recommendations and tips for meals – sometimes well thought out, sometimes weird, but whenever someone moves out. subscribe now.
This year, like many years ago, I will have fast food and champagne on New Year’s Eve. A Shake Shack just opened in my neighborhood, so maybe I can do that … but then again, the 2018 Panda Express hit the right note, and I would be very open to repeat the presentation. I don’t know what fast food options you have in your area, but you are likely to have some. And I strongly recommend joining my little tradition Thursday night.
In earlier times, my argument was simple. Restaurants tend to get crowded on New Year’s Eve and, in any case, these special menus are often expensive. Ticket parties are never as fun as they promise. That takes us home, but after work on vacation, I’m certainly not ready to cook (and clean up after) another big meal. On the other hand, fast food delivery is cheap, requires no prior planning, and is enough outside the rhythm of my typical dinner routine to make it still look like I’m marking the occasion – especially after adding the bubbly requirement.
Champagne – or any other sparkling, dry white wine you want – goes very well with fried foods. Like soda, bubbles cut through the fat inherent in a fast-food meal. I think it works especially well with fast-food fried chicken, whether it’s in a Popeyes combo box, a McDonald’s nugget order, or a Panda Express orange chicken shell. To really immerse myself in the high-low energy that I cultivate in the New Year, I like to make sure the wine itself is a good bottle. It can be an effervescent or crémant pet-nat, but on New Year’s Eve I prefer the classics: Veuve Clicquot, or, if you have more money to spend, Perrier-Jouët or Dom Pérignon.
Fast food and champagne have the same vibe of going out to a packed party for a bite to eat with your real friends. You wouldn’t turn to a fancy dinner in that situation, or anywhere that would make you wait. Although I never personally took wine to a fast-food restaurant, Laterally style, the meal always evokes memories of post-after-party moments of younger and wilder days. Now, I totally skip the party and get the consequences.
This year, of course, the party is not even an option. But at home, with whoever we have in our home or capsule, we can still enjoy the best part of the great New Year’s party – the part when it’s over. And isn’t it a suitable end for 2020, after all?
PS In case you don’t polish the entire bottle in one night, some tools to keep that bottle of sparkling wine sparkling for days.
