Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner in Downtown Restaurant

A friend from Boston just e-mailed that someone she knows will be in town and wants a restaurant recommendation for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. I have no idea what to recommend. I saw the Fireside recommendation in the take-out turkey thread but I think that's too far north for this person. I'm assuming they want to be in the Loop-West Loop-South Loop-River North-Gold Coast-Old Town-Wicker Park-Lincoln Park area.

Any ideas?

Reza's offers a buffet on Thanksgiving with the traditional items and a full complement of Persian stuff. Dunno if that appeals. They've got a location at 432 W. Ontario.

Here's a link to a recent thread on the same topic: http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=16185

Hi LTH forum,

I need your great wisdom please. I am looking for a restaurant Downtown Chicago or Wicker Park for Thanksgiving Dinner. It will be me and my lady friend. We are open to any and all ideas but don't want to spend more than $100 if possible. Traditional Thanksgiving dinner would be cool but not necessary. The location doesn't have to be in those areas either as long as it is accessible from the Blue Line. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Happy Thanksgiving to all

Matt

Matt, I was making a reservation at David Burke's Primehouse the other day and noticed that they are doing what sounds like a very nice, complete Thanksgiving dinner for $38 per person. Your choice of turkey, ham or prime rib with all the trimmings.

http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/resta ... u%2008.pdf

Years ago, I took this as an excuse to go to the Cape Cod Room. It's probably over that budget, but I figured, the perfect time to go to a restaurant trapped in amber is for a meal I want to be old-fashioned in the first place....

Cape Cod Room
The Drake Hotel
140 E Walton St
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 787-2200

At this point, you may be limited not only by which restaurants are open on the holiday, but also by which ones still aren't fully booked.

Here are some listings and resources to give you additional ideas:

- list of Opentable restaurants serving on Thanksgiving
- Metromix list of restaurants serving on Thanksgiving
- Metromix search for dining events mentioning Thanksgiving

I swear, Weber Grill is good Thanksgiving. Smoked turkey, sausage stuffing, dutch apple pie....

basis wrote:I swear, Weber Grill is good Thanksgiving. Smoked turkey, sausage stuffing, dutch apple pie....

My brother was a server at the downtown Weber location last Thanksgiving. The impression I received from him is that it went better than expected, and turned out well for a thanksgiving prepared at a grill.

Something he would be willing to repeat from the customer's side, if something a little nicer sounding didn't work out.

Mike G wrote:Years ago, I took this as an excuse to go to the Cape Cod Room. It's probably over that budget, but I figured, the perfect time to go to a restaurant trapped in amber is for a meal I want to be old-fashioned in the first place....

Cape Cod Room
The Drake Hotel
140 E Walton St
Chicago, IL 60611
(312) 787-2200

Last night a friend said she goes with her family to the Drake every year. She said is is $90 per person and is very good.

Certainly not the first to start a topic like this, doubt I will be the last. But anyway:

I've taken it upon myself to find a place for my father and I to dine this Thanksgiving. I'm well aware of the lists put out by Metromix/Opentable/etc., but I was hoping to mine the LTH community for some better recs.

Some parameters:
- We live in River North, so something "relatively close" (walking or short El ride) is preferred
- No buffets please - looking for prix fixe
- Turkey would be nice

Thanks in advance!

For a few years when my Mom refused to cook, the family went to the Signature Room for Thanksgiving. It is a buffet, but each table gets it's own turkey and you'd get to being home the leftover bird. So we'd just eat the buffet and take home a whole turkey. The buffet was good. Lots of traditional foods.

Mary

David Burke's Primehouse is serving an excellent Thanksgiving dinner menu, including turkey as well as steaks etc. It's bargain-priced at $39 (with a supplement for a few of their more expensive items), including a leftover sandwich to bring home. Kids 10 and over are $15, those younger are free. The full menu is here.

Not within walking distance, but the husband and I were at Chuck's in Burbank for dinner Friday night, and this year Chuck is having two seatings for a Thanksgiving buffet. If I weren't already committed to cooking for my family, I might do this one myself.

Suzy

Primehouse seems intriguing, and your post prompted me to include one more parameter:

I'd like to have Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant I'd be excited to go to normally, i.e. not just someplace that happens to be serving food on Thanksgiving. Does anyone know if Blackbird, MK and restaurants of that ilk will be open?

Last Thanksgiving I dined at Ditka's. It was quite nice.

jbertold wrote:Primehouse seems intriguing, and your post prompted me to include one more parameter:

I'd like to have Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant I'd be excited to go to normally, i.e. not just someplace that happens to be serving food on Thanksgiving. Does anyone know if Blackbird, MK and restaurants of that ilk will be open?

Most places like that - single locations of upscale chef-driven restaurants, especially those not located in hotels - generally are not open on major holidays, but there are a few exceptions.

One exception (in a hotel) is Cafe des Architectes, the wonderful contemporary American-French restaurant under the guidance of Martial Noguier in the beautiful Sofitel. They are serving Thanksgiving dinner (click here for the menu). Opentable is not showing openings but I would suggest calling; it's possible they are booking Thanksgiving reservations themselves rather than letting them go on Opentable.

Otherwise, Opentable does a pretty good job of keeping up with which of its restaurants are open on holidays. I just checked for a 3 pm reservation for 4. Blackbird is temporarily offline; MK shows no availability, so they are probably closed.

Opentable lists places that are offering special Thanksgiving dinners on their Thanksgiving page; in addition to David Burke's Primehouse, some of the more interesting restaurants listed there include Big Jones, C-House, Courtright's, and Vermilion. A couple more places - Custom House and Mercat a la Planxa - are not listed there but are showing Opentable availability on Thanksgiving afternoon; I would double-check by phone to find out what they're planning and make sure that's not an error (which happens, sometimes).

I'm already holding a reservation at Burke's...

Not downtown, but Palette Bistro in south Lakeview, just north of Lincoln Park on Southport, is doing a three-course prix-fixe menu this year for $32. It does include some fairly traditional choices.

Details at: http://paletteonsouthport.com/Thanksgiving_Dinner_2009.html

Could anyone recommend a restaurant serving a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner in the Bartlett/Hanover Park/Streamwood vicinity? Thanks!