Thanksgiving for the Chronic ProcrastinatorGiven how inevitable ruined turkeys and last-minute rat plagues are, it’s no surprise that we are frequently called upon to suggest emergency Thanksgiving takeout options. Obviously, there’s always General Tso and his sparerib armies, but thanks to a cutthroat restaurant marketplace, there are actually a number of places around town that can supply you with a same-day Thanksgiving meal. We enumerated four of them yesterday morning on Good Day New York and see no reason why Grub Street readers should be denied the same guidance. Happy Thanksgiving to all Grub Street neighbors! We’ll be back on Monday.
Thanksgiving Made Easy [Fox 5 New York]
VideoFeed
Mr. Cutlets’s Crash Course: Turkey
With Thanksgiving fast approaching, not a few readers have written in to ask for advice about turkeys. Though we would never consider abandoning the big bird, we’ve had it grilled, boiled, deep-fried, stuffed with a duck, and just about any other way you can name — usually with little improvement to show for it. But smoking seems to be the one technique that brings turkey to the next level, and so we turned to our old pal Robbie Richter, pitmaster at Hill Country BBQ. We grabbed a turkey, a big syringe, a few other supplies, and headed out to Rego Park to Robbie’s mother’s house to do the backyard turkey thing par excellence. The results are here to see; the list of ingredients is available after the jump.
Mediavore
Nello Pissed at Model for Taking His Umbrella; Winner of ‘Next IronOh, Nello! Fiesty Mr. Balan is in his latest rage because he lent a model his $1,000 leather umbrella “because it was raining because I am a gentleman … Stop behaving like a boulevardier [street person] and a petite voleuse [petty thief]. You don’t give me the umbrella, I sue you,” which he is now doing because she returned it broken in two. [NYP]
Related: A Model Breaks Nello’s Heart, Umbrella
The newest Iron Chef is … Cleveland’s Michael Symon. [Serious Eats]
Laurent Tourondel tells Bruni he enjoys dining most in Vietnam, but the influence in the recipes for his Thanksgiving spread is all French. [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
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Katz’s Assures You They’re Safe; Boulud on Buying LocalKatz’s Deli denies selling out to developers and claims it would take “like $50 million” for them to sacrifice the historic deli. [Villager]
Related: Mother of Mercy! Is This the End of Katz’s?
Daniel Boulud reveals his tips for stocking a global pantry, noting that buying locally is all relative: “You drive from Vermont or you fly from California, in less than 24 hours you get it.” [The Canadian Press]
Sort out the growing food-truck scene with this list of the trendsetters including Taco Truck, Dessert Truck from a former Le Cirque pastry chef, and Wafels & Dinges Truck serving “Soft and Chewy waffles or a Light and Crispy covered in powdered sugar, Nutella, strawberries, whipped cream, or maple syrup.” God bless the Belgian Ministry for Culinary Affairs. [Gridskipper]
Related: Taco Wars: Rockers Open New Front in Williamsburg
Neighborhood Watch
Green Greek Comes to Flatiron; Thanksgiving Eats AplentyChelsea: Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit will present a free Thanksgiving 101 wining and dining seminar on Saturday, November 17, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. that will be catered by City Bakery and feature chef Don Pintabona of Dani, pastry chef Nancy Olson of Gramercy Tavern and chef Galen Zamarra from Mas (farmhouse), giving cooking tips in addition to the requisite wine tasting. [Grub Street]
East Village: Chikalicious will be serving on Thanksgiving, if you’d like to pass up a traditional feast for a $12 tasting of “warm cornmeal pound cake with corn ice cream and a duo of grapes in Moscato d’Asti.” [Restaurant Girl] The new and improved Momofuku Noodle Bar now features soft-serve ice cream served in brownie-stuffed cones. [Eater]
Financial District: Blue Ribbon Sound on Ann Street is a recording studio brought to you from the restaurant group of the same name because the owners of the sushi houses and bakeries around town are also “dedicated to high quality sound production in a comfortable and professional environment.” [Down by the Hipster]
Flatiron: Parea will be remade into a rustic Greek eatery, with an organic menu and green architecture. [Restaurant Girl]
Flushing: Sai Bhavan Snack & Sweets at 141-20 Holly Avenue is a good place to find vegetarian South Indian fare to celebrate the India’s annual Festival of Lights. [Gothamist]
Harlem: The farmer’s market outside of Morningside Park at 110th Street and Manhattan Avenue on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. will close for the winter after November 17. [Uptown Flavor]
Midtown East: Alto has a special table for two that overlooks the dining room, but protocol for securing the prized seating remains hazy. [Eater]
In the Magazine
Come Fly With Us in This Week’s IssueWith all New York offers, it’s still not enough. Our appetite for change and novelty is insatiable and voracious. Good thing we have this week’s magazine! Why bother with traditional Thanksgiving, when there are so many global options here? We have recipes for Chinese Thanksgiving from Joe Ng of Chinatown Brasserie, Mexican Thanksgiving from Aaraon Sanchez of Centrico and Paladar, African Thanksgiving from Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit, and more. And if all that isn’t novel enough, and you have to jet out of town, we can tell you where to eat while you’re waiting – both in the airport, and in the surrounding areas. Finally, if you’re sticking close to home, the Underground Gourmet suggests where to get a proper hero.
In Other Magazines
Escaping the Obligatory Turkey FeatureIt’s November in the food-magazine business, so expect feature after endless feature about Thanksgiving, and every imaginable variation on recipes for turkey and stuffing. Gourmet gives a pretty complete account, including big Turkey Day features on the fancy version, the Asian version, the Italian version, and even the vegetarian version. Bon Appétit is about the same, taking the big-name approach: Bruce Aidells on turkey, and Michael Lamonaco on potatoes, among others. A profile of Aidells and his meat-minded kitchen is in November’s Food & Wine, as well as such year-round delights as domestic cheeses and a new brand of whiskey out of Oregon. Saveur, thankfully, limits itself to a nice article about a West Virginia farm, and then dips in on such disparate topics as kale, heritage chickens, prosciutto from Iowa, and other Saveur-like topics. We’re grateful for the respite; Thanksgiving is early this year but not that early.
User’s Guide
Your Last-Minute NYC Thanksgiving, and How Not to Blow It
So short is our memory, and so bottomless our appetite for disaster, that years of failures still haven’t stopped us from attempting full-bore Thanksgiving meals in New York. We’re giving it a go again, at the ruggedly masculine loft of our friend the Seductive Screenwriter. But before explaining what passes for our plans — and then, we regret to inform you, taking the rest of the week off — we’ll list the four main ways to avoid having things go wrong with any given NYC Thanksgiving dinner.
Enjoy your holiday. We’ll see you bright and early on Monday!
User’s Guide
Last-Minute Tables and TurkeysYou’ve let it happen again. So preoccupied were you with designing advanced-materials prostheses or arguing string theory that you forgot to make any plans for Thanksgiving. Well, you’re in luck. Having already provided not one but two separate Thanksgiving dining guides, as well as an ironclad manual for holiday catering, we’ve gone back to see who still has tables for four, and who still has turkeys.
In the Magazine
Thanksgiving for Foodies, DummiesOur Thanksgiving Dining Guide provided a plethora of options for eating out on the big day. But many people who refuse to cook on holidays do so because they like things simple and want to avoid too much decision-making, right? Well, it doesn’t get any simpler than Rob and Robin’s “Talking Turkey” short list, a look at just five Manhattan restaurants, all very fine, and all with special plans for Thanksgiving. Whether it’s Karen DeMasco’s pumpkin fritters at Craft or Daniel Boulud’s organic bird at DB Bistro Moderne, you can’t possibly go wrong with any of these places. Lob a dart at the screen if you have to.
Talking Turkey [NYM]
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A Proud Tradition of Being Plucked, Stuffed, and Eaten: Heritage TurkeysWe’re fans of heritage breeds of turkey, those long-established birds that taste much like the ones our great-grandparents ate. Last year’s comprehensive turkey guide handily sketches out the basics about these guys, but the more in-depth writing we’ve seen on them usually descends into slow-food sanctimony — how evil factory farms are and the rest. That’s where Regina Schrambling, of Gastropoda, comes in. The acerbic critic offers a relaxed but no-B.S. guide to heritage turkeys, which we recommend to anyone thinking he might dump the Butterball this year. “An American Bronze turkey,” she tells us, “could not be more unlike the bloated birds hoisted out of so many ovens in November.”
Meanwhile, for a takedown of the entire turkey tradition, read what this crank had to say in Slashfood.
Talkin’ Turkey [Gastropoda]
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T-Day Destinations, Clubs With Grub, and Culinary QueensOn top of our own Thanksgiving planner, eating-out guide, and Rob and Robin’s picks, a list of more places to get stuffed. [New York Resident]
And s’more. [MUG]
And more. [amNY]
Edible evidence of gentrification on Mott Street [NYT]
New clubs serving grub. [TONY]
Ed eyes apple turnovers. [Ed Levine Eats, parts one and two]
Chelsea chow spots. [Chowhound]
Greenwich Village snacks. [Chowhound]
A taxonomy of culinary Queens. [Queens Gazette]
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A Thanksgiving Planner for Which You Should Truly Be Grateful
We’ve pulled out all the stops on our Thanksgiving Planner, with recipes from the city’s top toques, an authoritative overview of takeout catering, and, in our favorite feature, recommendations for where to book tables. If only we’d had this earlier, it might’ve saved us dozens of disappointing turkey days. You can find restaurants, from Sylvia’s to Blaue Gans, in your neighborhood (or your in-laws’), peruse their menus, and read our mini-reviews. If you plan on eating out, delve into our guide and book right away. In the meantime, here are three general Thanksgiving tips.
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Soup Spots, Haute East Village, and Lower East SweetsNumerous options for “soupies.” [amNY]
East 5th Street, home to the East Village’s rarefied restaurants. [NYT]
White-truffle madness, including Sea Grill’s $1,000 tasting menu. (Dessert: white-truffle beignets and white-truffle ice cream.) [TONY]
Another white-truffle menu for good measure, and it’s a bargain at $385. [MUG]
A heaping helping of Thanksgiving options, from a six-courser at Bouley to thyme- and sage-rubbed takeout bird at Dean & DeLuca. [Citysearch]
Room Service and other places diners can get a room. [NYP]
Related: Inside Room Service’s VIPee
Steak that doesn’t break the bank. [Chowhound]
Heavenly kitchens in Hell’s Kitchen. [Chowhound]
Booze isn’t the only thing the Lower Eastpacking District is good for: There are sweets, too. [Gridskipper]
