Thanksgiving 2021

Thanksgiving Sandwiches

Last November, Holly and I were both working from home everyday. Because of this, we were able to do something we had wanted to do for a while: try different Thanksgiving sandwiches from local restaurants. For the most part, these were only available at lunchtime so we weren’t able to take advantage of these offerings when we were on campus 5 days a week.

This year, we’re working at home 3 or 4 days a week so were again able to order Thanksgiving sandwiches.

We did so on 3 occasions.

We started with The Gobbler from Mike’s BBQ which featured smoked turkey, fried stuffing balls, cran-mayo, and gravy. The fried stuffing balls were genius but made the sandwich quite heavy. Delicious, but heavy. They were also too big to actually eat on the sandwich so we had them on the side.

We next got the Hot Turk from Woodrow’s Sandwich Shop. It had house-roasted turkey, horseradish gravy, cran-pear sauce, american cheese, stuffing, and fried sage on a seeded roll.

Our last sandwich was also called The Gobbler. This one was from the Triangle Tavern and was made from roasted turkey, rosemary mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, stuffin’, and cranberry sauce on a seeded Carangi roll. This one tasted most like a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

We had hoped to have this for lunch as well but unlike the other offerings, their Gobbler was available only after 5 pm so we had it for dinner. The upside was that we were able to have wine with it. We had stocked up on some Thanksgiving wines and chose to have a Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Château Saint-André Corbin.

Triangle Gobbler from Triangle Tavern with Châteauneuf-du-Pape

They were all delicious in their own ways so I’m not inclined to pick a favorite. If we have the opportunity to have different Thanksgiving sandwiches next year, we’ll certainly be checking on these restaurants.

Dinner at Home

For Thanksgiving Day, Holly and I made dinner at home as has become our tradition. Since it’s just the 2 of us, we don’t get a turkey. We have gotten turkey legs in the past but usually, we get a whole chicken which is what we did this year. We made a Roast Chicken with Lemon and Za’atar from a New York Times recipe.

For our sides, we made Blistered Green Beans with Creamy Tahini and Fresh Hot Sauce from Dining In by Alison Roman, Cornbread Dressing from Sweet Potato Soul by Jenne Claiborne, Cabernet Cranberry and Blueberry Sauce from Averie Cooks, and a Root Vegetable Gratin based on a recipe from I Can Cook Vegan by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Everything turned out great except we may have cooked the cranberry sauce too long. We had made this recipe before so we know the recipe is usually good.

Thanksgiving Dinner Out

The day after Thanksgiving, we took the train up to Northeast Philadelphia to see my brother for dinner. We went to Radice in Blue Bell. The owners of Radice had also owned Moonstruck which was an Italian restaurant close to where my brother lives. It had been there for about 40 years, and my family had often gone there. We were pretty heartbroken when it closed but at least we have their other restaurant to eat at, although it’s a good 40 minute drive from where my brother lives.

It had a pretty similar menu as Moonstruck so it was a familiar and comforting meal.

We shared appetizers of Bucatini Cacio E Pepe and Arancini of sea scallops, butternut squash, scallion. For our entrees, my brother ordered the pork chop special, Holly ordered the Mushroom Pappardelle, and I had the Lasagna. As expected, everything was delicious.