Where to Celebrate Thanksgiving in Manhattan — Union Square, Gramercy and Chelsea

In Part III, we travel to the lower central part of the city, Union Square, Gramercy and Chelsea for more Thanksgiving special dinners.

Union Square:

Tocqueville: Husband-and-wife team Jo-Ann Makovitzky and Marco Moreira’s passion for food comes alive on Thanksgiving, with French and American flavors blended to create the perfect holiday menu, served from 12pm-9pm for $95 per person and $48 for children under 10. Appetizers include creamless puree of kabocha squash soup; Connecticut aged Dutch farm house cheddar salad; Hudson Valley duck foie gras; wild field lettuce salad; Fishers Island oysters; Maine Lobster, Nantucket scallop, and oyster chowder; and truffled creamy parmesan grits and sunny side up country egg. Entrée selections include applewood smoked slow roasted rack of pork; roast organic free range turkey; lightly house smoked Chatham cod; and twenty-one day old rib eye of beef. Make sure to save room to indulge in one of the desserts including Greenmarket apple pizza; pecan tart; pumpkin trifle; chocolate trio; or a Thanksgiving sundae.

1 East 15^th Street; 212-647-1515; www.tocquevillerestaurant.com

Gramercy:

Pure Food and Wine: Vegans, don’t despair.  There’s a Thanksgiving option for you, too.  This raw-food/vegan restaurant just off Union Square has a four-course prix-fixe menu filled with seasonal flavors for $72 per person.  Served from 3pm-9pm, starters include black walnut gallete with black mission fig and cippolini onions, lemon mascarpone, braised escarole; and a salad of curly red mustard greens and wild arugula with pomegranate seeds and Granny Smith apple.  A second course of delicate squash soup with bourbon maple reduction and clove oil is followed by a choice of poached lobster mushrooms, sunchoke and argan oil puree, or pumpkin seed and sage tart.  To finish, choose from red wine poached apples with spice cake, or pumpkin parfait, both with vanilla ice cream.

54 Irving Place; 212-477-1010; www.purefoodandwine.com

Angelo & Maxie's: Tear yourself away from the succulent looking steaks at Angelo & Maxie’s and enjoy the special $35.95 prix-fixe menu including an appetizer (cream of wild mushroom soup or Maxie’s house salad); roasted turkey entrée with Maxie’s traditional stuffing, cranberry compote, fall vegetables, and choice of garlic or sweet mashed potatoes; and dessert (pecan pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, or fresh fruit). If you must have your red-meat fix, have no fear! The regular menu will also be offered all night long!

233 Park Avenue South; 212-220-9200; www.angelo-maxies.com

BLT Prime: Laurent Tourondel’s BLT Prime will catch your attention the instant you walk in with its 30-foot dry aging room right in the middle of the dining room. The $68 prix-fixe menu will be offered from 2pm-9pm. Starters include celery root, chestnut, and apple soup; porcini risotto; and goat cheese beignet salad. If you can resist the dry-aged roasted prime rib with confit garlic jus and caramelized onion bread pudding, opt for the roasted turkey with chestnut sausage stuffing and cranberry-grenadine sauce or the lightly-smoked wild salmon with American sturgeon caviar and green apple nage, both served with chestnut-sausage stuffing, Brussels sprouts, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes, or sweet potato gratin. Enjoy a decadent dessert such as the chocolate feuilletine rocky road, chestnut floating island, or pumpkin tart.

111 East 22^nd Street; 212-995-8500; www.bltprime.com

Chelsea:

The Red Cat: This funky Mediterranean-inspired restaurant is offering a three-course prix-fixe menu for $70 per person. Starters include sweet parsnip soup (caramelized acorn squash, sage croutons), crispy fried oysters (horseradish savory slaw, bacon butter), warm delicate squash salad (toasted pecans, pomegranate, arugula, cider vinaigrette), bitter green salad with gruyere (potatoes, bacon, apples, shiitakes), and risotto Milanese. In addition to the traditional butter basted organic turkey, entrées offered are red wine braised short ribs, pan roast filet of cod, grilled New York strip steak, and crispy sautéed skate wing. Vegetable sides include chive mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts with candied pecans and dried cherries, red hot rapini with smoked paprika and garlic, and buttered spaghetti squash. Indulge in any of the four delicious dessert choices: apple cranberry crisp, sticky toffee cake, pumpkin pie, or rocky road bread pudding.

227 Tenth Avenue; 212-242-1122; www.theredcat.com

Want more?
Thanksgiving in Hell's Kitchen, Times Square and Uptown
Thanksgiving in Midtown Manhattan
Thanksgiving in Downtown NYC, the Village, and Meatpacking District
Thanksgiving in Brooklyn

This entry was posted on Monday, November 22nd, 2010 at 1:03 am and is filed under Stuff to Do. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.