Thanksgiving Dinner OUT

So, its going to be a quite Turkey Day in Tatertown. No visitors-no going away. That means that its just the three of us and the boys have given me a pass on cooking. So, we're looking for somewhere great to have dinner. Anybody have any recommendations? We'd still be looking for someplace that is serving a traditional dinner, but not a crappy buffet or anything.

 

Heart in Hand in Clifton, VA. It has been a few years, but it was excellent and very traditional.

 

We've done Clyde's - will again this year - but it may be hard getting a reservation until the evening, My son who works there says the day is booked pretty solid...

 

It's going to be just us here, too, but I like making Thanksgiving dinner so we'll be here. Actually, the best part is the instant dinners from leftovers for days afterward... We'll be watching the Cowboys game after eating.

 

Many Moons ago we scored a seating at Mount Vernon. Not too shabby!

 

How about a prepared turkey dinner from Wegman's?

 

Lansdowne always does a Thanksgiving buffet/dinner, but I have never personally been. You might also try Tuskies in Leesburg to see what they are offering on Thanksgiving.

 

Tuskies is closed for Thanksgiving, but they do an amazing take-out Thanksgiving dinner. We did that last year. This year, we will be @ McCormick & Schmick's. I am done being the sole cooker/re-heater and cleaner.

Open Table is a good way to find out who is open. www.opentable.com

 

Although a little off-topic, but along this line. Not many people know that the Honey Baked Ham company also does turkey. We've gotten it for seven years now.



http://www.honeybakedforyou.com/menu/SGTurkey.aspx

 

We used to go to the ritzy McLean Hilton.

Incredible spread, plus you got a turkey and pumpkin pie that you could take home the leftovers. A bit pricey - I want to say $40 per person - but it's very nice atmosphere and the food was very good. But it's been several years, so I don't know if they've still got the same quality or the prices.

 

2nd on open table as a resource. I wonder if local papers have ads for places doing turkey day dinners...?

 

I like this idea. As someone who works in the hospitality industry, I try to avoid making my brethren work on holidays, especially Thanksgiving.

 

Did it once, never again. Even though it's 'prepared' you still have a lot of work to do to finish it. Not to mention EVERYTHING has to be cooked at different temperatures at different times. It even takes a couple of hours to get the turkey done.

Sure, it's a time saver in prep time, but that's it.

 

I'm surprised - I thought when you bought a "prepared" dinner everything was ready to go except for maybe warming in the oven. Harris Teeter is advertising a turkey dinner and it says "fully cooked" butterball turkey. Based on what I've seen in their deli, I imagine the sides are fully cooked as well. The microwave would get a workout warming things when you're ready to eat but it sounds like it's just a matter of plating and serving.

However, there is an asterisk in Giant's ad that says to allow up to 2 hours to reheat. HT might be the same. I guess if you reheated the entire turkey it would take a while. If it were me, I'd slice it up and then heat each plate individually like for leftovers.

So it's still a little bit of effort but less than doing everything yourself.

 

Wow. Not my experience at all. Just the opposite. You must have gotten something different. Some of the stuff I picked up was still warm and ready to eat.

 

This was 2 years ago. Everything was cold cold. Even they gravy was frozen! It was the fully prepared T-giving dinner that they were advertising that year. We picked it up @ 9am on Thanksgiving morning.

Trust me, I wish we'd had the experience you did!

 

Thanks for all the great ideas. In the end, I followed the Open Table idea and we're going to Chef Geoff's in Tysons.

Looks fantastic!


https://www.chefgeoff.com/assets/files/cgt/pdf/Thanksgiving 2009 without prices TYSONS.pdf


And can a place that serves truffle popcorn be bad?

Happy Turkey Day, everyone!

 

Aren't they working anyway? Wouldn't they rather have my business and make money?

 

Many of us "shift workers" like working the holidays. Love the extra pay!

 

Eggspecatations in Chantilly is having a turkey dinner on Thursday. I love that place.