Leave it to New Orleans to give an old Creole holiday custom a deliciously modern spin. In this historically Catholic city, Reveillon (French for awakening) dinners were elaborate family feasts served after midnight mass on Christmas Eve. A typical menu might include eggs sardou, turtle soup, oysters and grillades of veal, all accompanied by much toasting, well into the wee hours. Although the practice all but disappeared in the 1940s, local chefs, including Donald Link and Emeril Lagasse, revived the celebration in the 1990s, and typically as many as 40 local restaurants offer seasonal holiday Reveillon menus during the month of December. The oysters pictured are on the menu at Arnaud's.