Every day is Thanksgiving at your neighborhood diner, where a turkey plate with gravy, stuffing and mashed potatoes is a given. But at most restaurants across the city, it’s a day for a special menu for those opting to dine out. The following array accommodates a range of tastes, needs and budgets. And keep that diner in mind — the kids will love it. (Prix fixe prices are per person.)
Hotel dining, refreshed
Lex Yard
The elegant, lightly gilded dining room, a setting that permits conversation in the newly renovated Waldorf Astoria, leans on tradition with Island Creek oysters, the chef Michael Anthony’s reinterpreted Waldorf salad, roasted and confit turkey, or halibut or short ribs, all with sides family-style, plus dessert, $225.
550 Lexington Avenue (50th Street), 212-355-3000, lexyardnyc.com.
Turkey with a side of history
Gage & Tollner
A throwback, but again hitting its stride, Gage and Tollner serves a family-style dinner in its Gilded Age room. Biscuits, cauliflower soup, roasted turkey with cornbread stuffing (with a vegetarian option) and copious vegetable sides and dessert are included, $135.
372 Fulton Street (Smith Street), Downtown Brooklyn, 347-689-3677, gageandtollner.com.
Where turkey molé is the star …
Cuna
The dinner at the chef Maycoll Calderón’s restaurant, a pop-up for two months, starts with butternut soup and carnitas tostada with black beans, followed by roast turkey with black molé, or sea bass with sweet potatoes and pipián, plus sides and tres leches for dessert, $75.
The Standard East Village, 25 Cooper Square (Sixth Street), 646-845-8739, cuna.nyc.
… or butter turkey
Tamarind Tribeca
Turkeys are going into the tandoor here, though turkey breast simmered in a butter sauce, leg of lamb, and Chettinad tofu might have your name on them, all à la carte, $28 to $44 for main courses.
99 Hudson Street (Laight Street), 212-775-9000, tamarindtribeca.com.
If you crave barbecue
Morgan’s Brooklyn Barbecue
Smoked turkey and smoked turkey wings with sides and pies deliver haunting flavors and succulence in a rustic setting with outdoor seating, $24 to $31.
267 Flatbush Avenue (St. Marks Avenue), Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, 718-622-2224, morgansbrooklynbarbecue.com.
An option with interesting wines
Keuka Kafe
As the name (Keuka is one of the Finger Lakes) might suggest, a cellar of New York State wines and uncommon options from elsewhere, distinguish this restaurant and wine bar. The Wagner cabernet franc is a good match for the four-course prix fixe dinner, especially with the turkey, $65 in Queens, $75 in Manhattan.
112-04 Queens Boulevard, Forest Hills, Queens, 718-880-1478, keukakafe.com; also Keuka Wine Bar, 435 East 86th Street, Manhattan, 646-370-4029, keukawinebar.com.
An elegant choice for big-spenders
Café Carmellini
The only one of chef Andrew Carmellini’s bucketload of restaurants to bear his name is an alluring, leafy room where the prix fixe Thanksgiving includes a Jerusalem artichoke soup, foie gras with figs and the requisite turkey, but also celery root en croûte as a vegetarian option, and a dessert trolley for the table, $195.
250 Fifth Avenue (28th Street), 212-231-9200, cafecarmellini.com.
What if we’re kosher …
Le Marais
This long-established kosher restaurant in Midtown that leans French would head the list with an à la carte menu including potato-leek soup, turkey, prime ribs and pies ($49 for turkey, $92 prime rib).
150 West 46th Street, 212-869-0900, lemarais.net.
… or vegetarian?
Le Basque
This pleasant sky-lit dining room is the restaurant in the vegan City Roots Hospitality collection that will be serving Thanksgiving dinner, family style. Options include sweet potato soup, plant-based meatloaf or maple-glazed turkey or butternut squash ravioli, cheese cake or pecan pie, $75.
15 Union Square West (16th Street), 212-457-6267, lebasque.com.
What if we want to avoid Midtown Manhattan after the parade?
Melba’s
Uptown but also down South will provide Lowcountry collards and yams with the turkey. A vegetable vol-au-vent is also on Melba Wilson’s three-course prix fixe menu, $69.
300 West 114th Street, 212-864-7777, melbasrestaurant.com.
How about a festive alternative to turkey?
Francie
Actually they do not even serve turkey at this vibrant brasserie; the popular crown roast of duck serving two to six people takes its place. Chestnut-sausage stuffing, brussels sprouts, pomme aligot and cranberry mostarda are included, $158, and additional sides and desserts are on the à la carte menu.
136 Broadway (Bedford Avenue), Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 718-218-7572, franciebrooklyn.com.
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Florence Fabricant writes the Off the Menu column and other stories about food, wine and restaurants. She is the author of 13 cookbooks.
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