After you watch the Macy's parade, head out into the city for Thanksgiving dinner.
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Do you slave in your kitchen every Thanksgiving, cooking all day? Does your entire family count on you to provide the food and entertainment? Would you love to spend the day having someone else do all of the work for you: the cooking, the serving and cleaning the dishes? If you answered yes, then put your cookbooks and old family recipes away. This year, head to New York City.
In this article, we'll look at some restaurants where you can get a traditional Thanksgiving meal, as well as some restaurants that provide a unique holiday dining experience.
Thanksgiving Dinner At
Fraunces Tavern
If you're looking to reflect on America's history during your Thanksgiving meal, you couldn't ask for a better venue than Fraunces Tavern. Housed in one of the oldest buildings in Manhattan, this establishment was a favorite of revolutionary leaders, including General George Washington, who delivered his famous officers' farewell address in the tavern's long room. Today, the Fraunces is both a restaurant and museum, with numerous rooms throughout the three-story building open to the public. The restaurant, after closing for a few years in the late '90s, was renovated and reopened under a partnership headed by New York restaurateur Mike Rakusin (Sweet Basil, Chelsea Cafe). The popular Thanksgiving dinner here is a three-course prix fixe priced at $60, not including tax or gratuity. Kids can enjoy their meal for $27.50. Main courses in years past have included Vermont Turkey, Cajun Florida Swordfish and vegetarian pumpkin ravioli. Pumpkin cheesecake and cranberry cobbler have been past desert menu staples. Worried about the need to dress up in your revolutionary finest? Don't be. In "the spirit of freedom and independence," the Fraunces doesn't enforce a dress code.
Fraunces Tavern is in downtown Manhattan.
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The Fraunces is located in downtown Manhattan at 54 Pearl St. and will be open from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Space is quite limited, so make haste to call the restaurant's patriotic reservation line at 212-968-1776.
