SAUGUS, Mass. (AP) – It’s not exactly chestnuts roasting on an open fire. For many people, dinner on Christmas might well be Chinese-style roast duck, shrimp with lobster sauce, Moo Goo Gai Pan or maybe even that old-standby, the Pu Pu Platter.

On Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and throughout the holidays, Chinese restaurants do some of their briskest business of the year.

“As the years went on, we became busier and busier during the holidays,” said Stanley Wong, whose family has owned the Kowloon restaurant in Saugus, Mass., for more than a half century.

Jewish customers account for much of Wong’s business this time of year. Chinese food has long been a popular destination for Jews year-round, but especially on Christmas, when few other restaurants are open.

Among the many celebrity photos adorning the walls of the restaurant were several of Red Auerbach, the legendary former coach, general manager and president of the Boston Celtics.

In his honor, the restaurant named a menu item for him: the Red Auerbach Special, which is beef and shrimp with peapods and water chestnuts in a black bean sauce.

The tradition of Jews going to Chinese restaurants on Christmas Day in the United States dates as far back as the 1930s, if not earlier, said Rabbi David Kay, an assistant rabbi at Congregation Ohev Shalom in Orlando, Fla.

“Chinese restaurants, Asian-owned restaurants, those owners tended to be the only folks who didn’t have Christmas, too,” Kay said. “Quite often, there’s overlap in the immigrant neighborhoods, such as the Lower East Side, Chinatown and Little Italy in New York.

“They’re all near each other, and that tended to be what was close by, as well.”

Another reason for the appeal of Chinese food to Jews, according to Kay, is that there often is a lot of vegetarian items available for people who keep kosher.

In Brookline, a town bordering Boston that has a large Jewish population, a restaurant that serves kosher Chinese food celebrated its grand opening on Dec. 1. Shalom Beijing’s 120 seats were nearly filled on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, said Li Su, whose husband, Jun Yang, owns the restaurant.

Coincidentally, the Jewish festival of Hanukkah began at sundown on Christmas. For that reason, the restaurant added potato latkes to its menu, which features plenty of fish, chicken and duck but is free of pork and shellfish. A rabbi monitors the kitchen to make sure the food is prepared in accordance with Jewish law.

On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, David Gardner, 51, an immigration lawyer, and his wife, Maure, of Beverly Hills, Calif., were having lunch at the Eden Wok, a kosher Chinese restaurant on West 72nd Street. They shared a table with David Chalfen, a film producer who lives in New York.

“Doesn’t everybody always eat Chinese food on Christmas Day?” Chalfen asked.

For the Gardners, eating kosher Chinese food is a tradition in Los Angeles.

“On Thanksgiving, we have turkey. Christmas Day, we always go out for Chinese food,” Maure Gardner said.

On Christmas Day at Kowloon, a steady stream of customers arrived for lunch at the 1,200-seat restaurant. Wong said Christmas Eve was even busier – so busy, in fact, that the restaurant had to limit its menu, with no special orders or substitutions allowed.

Gino Ferrir, of Lynn, and several members of his extended family brought a pile of Christmas presents to unwrap as they waited for their lobster, shrimp and duck dishes to arrive.

“We come here every Christmas. It’s my treat to my family,” said Ferrir, who sat at a large table near the entrance of the restaurant with two sons, an ex-wife and a former mother-in-law, among others.

In San Francisco, the 13th Annual Kung Pao Kosher Comedy Show at the New Asia Restaurant runs Thursday through Sunday, with two shows a night. The dinner show featured a seven-course Chinese dinner and a 90-minute comedy show. Egg rolls and hot tea were served at the cocktail hour show.

“And you don’t have to be Jewish to come. Not all the jokes are based on the Jewish faith,” said Pam Lawrence, who helped organize the event. “Last night, we had a whole contingent from Australia, and only some of them were Jewish.”

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Associated Press writers Richard Pyle in New York, Mike Schneider in Orlando, Michael Kunzelman in Boston and Brian Skoloff in San Francisco contributed to this report.