Planning a family dinner can be stressful from all fronts – your mother doesn’t like traditional French food, your brother thinks Santa Monica is too far, and your aunt is insisting you find some place she can bring her dog. Instead of imploding – it is only the start of November, you have to pace yourself – check out round two of our list of the most haute Thanksgiving menus across the city. If your family’s not happy at one of these establishments, perhaps it’s time for therapy.
What’s not to love about a restaurant whose very essence is that of 1960s New York or that inspires you to wear a fedora and order a whiskey. Jar, on Beverly Blvd., has a Thanksgiving Day, three-course set menu that will make you want to call your husband Don Draper. After dining on Oyster Stew, Roasted Brussel Sprouts, and a Roasted Turkey, you’ll be faced with the difficulty of deciding between the Pumpkin Pie or the Fall Crisp a la mode. What would Don do?
Tavern, in the old home of Hamburger Hamlet in Brentwood, offers two options this year – their autumn picnic boxes with Slow-Roasted Niman Ranch Beef, Roasted Vegetables, and Prosciutto and Figs with Burrata Cheese that you can pick up and take with you to the nearest grassy knoll or their Thanksgiving Day menu which rings in at $75 per adult and $45 per child under 12. Settling into their orange leather banquets seems especially timely with an offer like that.
Assuming someone in the family is fond of nibbling cheeses from a traditional marble block, Patina next door to the Walt Disney Concert Hall might be the way to go. Their Thanksgiving menu includes Butternut Squash Ravioli, Golden Roasted Turkey, a caviar cart, a selection of cheeses, a dessert menu that will make even the pickiest eater amongst you salivate, and a set of Thanksgiving cocktails that will make the pickiest eater amongst you easier to tolerate.
The thought of preheating an oven just so you can baste a turkey for hours makes you want to take a nap. Grace Restaurant has come up with the Holy Grail: Thanksgiving To Go. Pickup is Wednesday, November 25 which gives you plenty of time to bin the tin foil and wipe your forehead with a bit of flour for effect. The menu includes an Oven Roasted Turkey, Thyme and Black Truffle Gravy, and Sweet Potato Pecan Pie with Toasted Marshmallows. You don’t need to be honest on Thanksgiving, just grateful.
