Giving Thanks in New Orleans

New Orleans' classic Turducken

Muriel's

Bacco

The Rib Room at the Royal Orleans

As with everything, New Orleans does Thanksgiving with distinctive style. To Yats (working-class folks named for their “Where ya’ at?” expression) and other native New Orleanians, Thanksgiving means deep frying the turkey. Ian, born and raised on the bayou, says the deep fry makes the turkey “spicier, crispier and juicier.” Ian speaks the truth; trust me. He adds, “It’s different, like New Orleans.”
Paul, the owner of Hobnobbers Bar and Restaurant, where Miss Mary makes a Thanksgiving supper every Thursday lunch, remembers mirliton casserole—a sweet, indigenous squash with ham, shrimp, crab or whatever’s to your liking—so fondly he has it on his menu. It sells out every day. Mister James handles the valet parking and the door at Rubensteins, the city’s finest men’s clothing store. He remembers potato salad and sweet potato pie, but most of all 7-Up Cake: an old-fashioned pound cake with lime and soda pop added. “You’d bake it in a black iron pot. A good crust had to be extra, extra thick. Eating it was like eating a cookie.”

But the legendary Thanksgiving dish in New Orleans is turducken. Eclectic and excessive, this Cajun creation cooks a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey. Ramone, a self-described “Yat from the Parish,” remembers the magic lay in the layering of dark and white meat. A number of companies on the Internet ship turducken or turducken rolls, along with a classic New Orleans dressing of your choice: cornbread and Creole pork, oyster (pronounced “erster”), shrimp and crawfish, and more.

No one wants to be away from home at Thanksgiving, but sometimes a person has to be on the road at the wrong time. The best home away from home on this holiday is New Orleans. No city cares more about good eating, after all.
Most hotels add a turkey dinner to their dining room menu on Thanksgiving day. A number of restaurants close. Ironically, Hobnobbers is one of them! K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen, in the French Quarter, also is one of them, unfortunately. Chef and owner Paul Prudhomme is hands down the turducken king. “Chef wants his employees to spend the holiday with their families,” the maitre d’ explained. A number of first-rate restaurants, however, await to serve you Thanksgiving fare on Thanksgiving day.

Five French Quarter restaurants are sure to please. Muriel’s, on Jackson Square, will serve up a gourmand’s Thanksgiving feast. The menu is set. Chef Guy will be pumping up local fare with such offerings as Oyster-Artichoke Stuffing, Sweet Potato Pecan Pie and Bread Pudding with white chocolate. The organic Roasted Diestel Free Range Turkey hails from the Napa Valley. And if Turkey Day finds you not in a turkey mood, enjoy Salmon Braised in Shrimp Butter or the Filet of Beef with Wood Grilled Shrimp.

Bacco and the Bourbon House are Brennan family restaurants, which means they are can’t-miss choices. Each will offer a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. They also plan to add local-flavored touches, like Bacco’s sweet potato soufflé rather than the standard yams. Both of these fine restaurants will serve the best from their standard menus, as well.

Mr. B's Bistro, also owned by the Brennan family, recently reopened its doors, an event long-awaited by its many longtime patrons. Located at the corner of Royal and Iberville streets opposite the Monteleone Hotel, Mr. B's also offers a full menu of culinary delights for Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 22, between noon and 8 p.m. For A La Carte starters you can choose from Gumbo Ya Ya, Seafood Gumbo, Duck Spring Rolls, Mr. B's Crab Cake with roasted red pepper remoulade, Fried Oysters on the Half-Shell with bacon horseradish hollandaise, Warm Pear Salad with Sweet Home Farm blue cheese and port wine vinaigrette or Shrimp & Grits. Succulent entrees include Barbequed Shrimp, Pepper Crusted Duck Breast and Risotto, Wood Grilled Fish, Braised Mississippi Rabbit and Pasta Jambalaya. Or you can choose from a wide range of Specials including, of course, turkey. For the kiddies there is a "Little Pilgrims" menu. Whatever your meal choice is, you won't be disappointed. Frommer's Travel Guides rates it two stars out of three, meaning "Very Highly Recommended."

The final French Quarter recommendation is the famous Rib Room, in the Royal Orleans Hotel on St. Louis Street next to the State Supreme Court. The name tells you the specialty of the house: prime rib. But its Thanksgiving dinner is well-known. This year’s menu has not been finalized, but the past offerings should tempt anyone: turkey with oyster dressing, sweet potato tart, traditional green beans, pumpkin soup, egg nog cheesecake. And the cranberry sauce always is homemade. The Rib Room also will offer a number of its standard dishes on Thanksgiving day.
Check for hours, but all of these restaurants are open from early-lunchtime to early-dinnertime. Some of them have separate seatings. Make reservations. And other neighborhoods than the French Quarter have fabulous restaurants, of course. Check with your hotel guide, concierge or cab driver for recommendations and call a few. You will find a meal that will make you say, “Happy Thanksgiving, New Orleans.” Guaranteed.

by Dean Shapiro