There’s nothing quite like a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with all the fixings. The juicy turkey, richly flavored mashed potatoes, tart cranberry sauce—and the pile of plates left to clean up after the festivities.
Enjoy Thanksgiving dinner without the mess by visiting one of the many places in Phoenix serving a holiday meal. Options also abound for picking up fully cooked dinners for enjoying at home, sans cleanup, along with festive events to make Thanksgiving 2014 memorable. Just be sure to make reservations early because these popular events tend to book up fairly quickly.
Avanti
This Phoenix restaurant specializes in Italian and Continental fare and is located on Thomas Road. Avanti serves a Thanksgiving dinner buffet from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for those who like eating early and having the rest of the day to digest.
Menu options begin with a bruschetta appetizer followed by salad offerings, including mixed greens or a Waldorf salad. For the main meal, load your plate with pumpkin soup, oven roasted turkey, candied yams, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Save room for a dessert of pumpkin or pecan pie, caramel flan, chocolate mousse, cannoli, tiramisu, and pumpkin cheesecake.
Seasons 52
This Phoenix grill, located on Camelback Road, focuses on seasonally inspired ingredients to present meals that taste supremely fresh. Typically, the restaurant aims for meals fewer than 475 calories, but Thanksgiving dinner is an exception to that rule with a menu geared toward indulgence.
Dine on roasted turkey with herb stuffing, mashed potatoes, maple-glazed butternut squash, and green beans. Cap it off with the restaurant’s special pumpkin mini indulgence.
Buca di Beppo
This nationwide Italian, family-style dining restaurant offers a menu priced per family, instead of per person. Portions are sized large enough to feed everyone. A small, three-person course is available or a larger one suitable for six people.
Valley locations are in Peoria, Chandler, Mesa, and Scottsdale. The menu features a choice of turkey or ham, gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, sausage, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.
Maggiano’s
This Scottsdale restaurant in the Promenade on Scottsdale Road is also a nationwide chain, and it offers an Italian inspired Thanksgiving dinner available for dine-in, carryout, or home delivery. Traditional turkey is available, but the menu also offers a range of alternatives for those looking to spice things up.
The family-style menu starts off with bruschetta, and then offers a choice of salads, including an Italian tossed salad, Caesar, or chopped salad. The third course involves a choice of meat and complementary side, such as turkey with sausage, ham with mashed sweet potatoes, or tilapia with sage, lemon, and tomatoes.
Families may choose two additional sides along with two types of pasta. The meal also includes a choice of two desserts. Pumpkin pie doesn’t make an appearance on the menu, but pumpkin praline cheesecake does, along with warm apple crostada, chocolate zuccotto cake, and tiramisu.
Rawhide Steakhouse
Located at Wild Horse Pass in Chandler, this steakhouse provides an authentic western experience and a Thanksgiving dinner event to remember.
On Thanksgiving, the restaurant is serving up a Thanksgiving buffet complete with live music from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
La Grande Orange Grocery
Located in Phoenix, La Grande Orange Grocery offers fully cooked, customizable meals for carryout so patrons can enjoy stress-free festivities inside their homes.
One option is to buy a whole turkey or prime rib and then select sides and desserts a la carte. Sides include salads, mashed potatoes, and a dazzling array of desserts. Try bouche de noel, flourless chocolate cake, or maybe a six-layer chocolate cake. Red velvet cake, cheesecake, and ginger cake are also options.
Gluten free? No problem. Try the gluten-free holiday dessert sampling, with brownies, coconut bars, and other delicacies cooked just for your special dietary needs.
If you’d like Black Friday breakfast taken care of, too, give the grocery’s breakfast pastries a try.
Another option is to forgo the a la carte and instead purchase a curated meal with all the fixings. Choose from turkey or prime rib. Each comes with set sides.
Chompie’s
This Jewish-style delicatessen is well-known for its bagels and gargantuan sandwiches, but on Thanksgiving, it turns into your favorite meal helper. Chompie’s offers a complete to-go menu complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, and candied yams. Jewish favorites like matzo ball soup are also available, along with a wide assortment of pies.
Meals are available curated or a la carte. Dining-in is also available. Chompie’s has four Valley locations: Chandler, Tempe, Scottsdale, and Phoenix.
L’Auberge de Sedona
If you’d like to splurge or escape town for a night, consider visiting L’Auberge de Sedona, a gorgeous hotel and restaurant set along the banks of Oak Creek. The gourmet, four-course menu, served from noon to 4 p.m., features meal-opening options such as a salad of winter greens, white pumpkin bisque, and an appetizer of pork rillettes with pickled huckleberries.
For the entrée, select among turkey, filet mignon with lobster foam, red snapper with smoked clams, or chestnut lasagna with truffles and Fontina cheese. Dessert options include assorted mini pies or pomegranate sorbet with champagne foam. The restaurant uses local, organic produce whenever possible.
Proof Canteen
This Scottsdale restaurant is serving a special Thanksgiving dinner menu with delicacies like smoked pumpkin soup, whipped sweet potatoes with house-made marshmallow fluff, and roasted beets with goat cheese.
Besides dinner, families may also stop by for a Thanksgiving breakfast or brunch buffet. A three-course dinner is served from 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Thanksgiving Shootout
If you’re looking for a special event to commemorate the holiday, consider attending the Thanksgiving Shootout hockey game sponsored by the Arizona Hockey Clubs. Games take place at rings in Gilbert, Peoria, and Tempe.
Watched teams in divisions ranging from Midget to Squirt duke it out to see who will be this year’s reigning ice hockey champions. Games run from November 28 through 30.
For the pro experience, watch the Arizona Coyotes play the Calgary Flames on Nov. 29 at Gila River Arena. Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.
What are your plans for Thanksgiving dinner?
Image by Tim Sackton via Flickr