Thanksgiving’s still about two weeks out, but you can start getting a taste for the holiday feast now, thanks to some of the city’s more enterprising culinary pilgrims. For your consideration, and obviously to help whet your appetite for the gluttonous festivities that lie ahead, we present six riffs on the turkey day spread that range from hot dogs, to overstuffed croquettes, and hoagies. Click through, check them out, and get gobbling.
Underdogs
The newly expanded hot dog boutique has the Tryp under its menu’s Sausage category. With a smoked turkey sausage topped with stuffing and cranberry relish, the seasonally appropriate wiener piles the best parts of the holiday feast onto a hot dog bun. If you haven’t figure it out already, “tryp” refers tryptophan, the sleepy secret ingredient that sends gramps on a bee-line to the La-Z-Boy when dinner’s over.
Smokin’ Betty’s
The Center City spot has been turning heads, and simultaneously priming the turkey day pump with its turducken burger since opening in 2009. The sandwich stacks a combination of ground turkey, chicken and truffled duck rillettes on a bun with sweet potato ribbons, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy.
Blind Pig
This NoLibs watering hole’s chef-owner David Hentz takes the key components of the holiday’s spread to craft his signature Thanksgiving balls. Chunks of roasted turkey are embedded in weighty orbs of mashed potatoes and stuffing, breaded and fried until crisp and golden brown. It’s served with giblet gravy and cranberry sauce. The only thing missing is the green bean casserole.
Jake’s Sandwich Board
You know the makers of some of the city’s most gluttonous sandwiches have something cooking for the Thanksgiving season. It’s a turducken-inspired hoagie that heaps fists-full of turkey, duck, and chicken onto a roll, and buries it all with layers of cranberry sauce, apple-sausage stuffing, hash browns, and Creole seasoning. To complete the picture, they also offer a pumpkin pie milkshake.
Wawa
Each year at this time, the local convenience store chain brings back its Turkey Gobbler, a feast fit for Thanksgiving — sliced hot turkey bathed in gravy, stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce — tucked into a hoagie roll. As an added bonus, you can add bacon and cheese to it.
Growlers
The menu at this Bella Vista newcomer presents its own take on the turducken in the form of a burger. A patty of ground turkey, chicken and duck is served topped with cranberry goat cheese and friend shallots. The bar and restaurant also offers a roast chicken dish that comes with soft pretzel stuffing.
