The holidays
are a time when people like to get dressed up and celebrate the year as a
family. This year has been an especially stressful year, and the restaurants in
the New Orleans community understand that. Allow them to take the stress off
your plate so they can fill it with their delicious Thanksgiving meals. Here
are five New Orleans favorite classic restaurants where you can spend your
holiday, stress-free. Dress your best (or wear your stretchy-waistband pants), be
thankful that you are sitting around the table with your loved ones, and let the
employees at these amazing restaurants do the rest.
Joséphine
Estelle
Every year, Josephine
Estelle stays open for Thanksgiving to serve
the New Orleans community. This year will be no different. The prix fixe menu
is $65 per person for a fabulous four-course meal. On Thanksgiving Day, the
restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., and then from 5 p.m. - 10 p.m.,
serving the Thanksgiving menu only.
The delicious meal comes with two
options for each of the four courses. The first course has a choice between a fall
chopped salad or a crab and shrimp salad (which has an upcharge of $10). The
second course is pasta—choose between campanelle with wild mushrooms and
truffle sofrito or cavatelli with short ribs and eggplant. Then, the third
course options are either a roasted Joyce Farms turkey breast with all the
fixings (cornbread chicken andouille chestnut dressing, Brussels sprouts, and
cipollini gravy) or grilled swordfish with Brussels sprouts, faro, fennel, and
caviar. Josephine Estelle will also have vegetarian options available upon
request. Finally, for dessert, there will be a beautifully made chocolate tart with
sweet potato, pecan, and Chantilly.
Josephine Estelle will also be taking
orders for Thanksgiving takeout meals for your family to enjoy at home. The
restaurant does recommend making a reservation if you plan to dine in with them
for Thanksgiving. 600 Carondelet St., (504) 930-3070, josephineestelle.com
Compère
Lapin
Recently, Chef
Nina Compton reopened her award-winning flagship restaurant Compère Lapin.
They are so excited to finally be back open, and they will be opening their
doors to your family on Thanksgiving Day. From noon until 4 p.m., the
restaurant will be serving Thanksgiving lunch and dinner from their
family-sized menu. For dine-in only, Chef Compton's menu will be $75, excluding
tax. The menu starts with a fall chopped salad. For the second course, Compère
Lapin will be serving family-sized portions of Roasted Mojo Turkey Legs, jerk sweet
potatoes, green bean casserole, rosemary and sage stuffing, and cranberry sauce
to top it all off. Then, for the best part, the dessert menu offers a
mouthwatering pumpkin flan with caramelized pecans. Make your reservation at
Compère Lapin on OpenTable, before they are full. 535
Tchoupitoulas St., (504) 599-2119, comperelapin.com
Arnaud's
This year
for Thanksgiving, Arnaud's Restaurant will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner
for you and your family to enjoy, for $55 per person. Come eat, drink, and be
thankful with Arnaud's Thanksgiving Table D'Hote menu, which features three
different options for an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert.
The
appetizer menu offers Shrimp Arnaud, smoked duck gumbo, or an Arnaud's Salad. The
Shrimp Arnaud is the restaurant's signature dish, with fresh Gulf shrimp
marinated in their famous tangy Creole remoulade sauce.
For entrées,
Arnaud's menu features traditional roasted turkey, boudin-stuffed quail, and stuffed
Gulf fish, which is baked and stuffed with crabmeat, crawfish, shrimp, savory
breadcrumbs, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses and served with lemon butter and vegetables
Parisiennes. Last but not least, the dessert menu offers two traditional
Thanksgiving desserts with an Arnaud twist: Choose between a chocolate pecan pie
and a cranberry cheesecake with white-chocolate bark. 813 Bienville St.,
(504) 523-5433, arnaudsrestaurant.com
Brennan's
This Thanksgiving,
from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m., Chef Ryan Hacker of Brennan's will be preparing a three-course
Thanksgiving meal. Celebrate your holiday with ease this year and let Brennan's
do the work for you. The three-course feast, priced at $65 per person, has a
variety of options, and they also offer a kids' Thanksgiving menu for $25.
For the
first course, Chef Hacker gives customers many options to choose from. For
example, they offer an oyster and bacon gratin with cheddar Mornay sauce,
truffles, and cornbread crumble, or their seafood filé gumbo with andouille, crabmeat,
and oysters over steamed rice. Another unique option for the first course is
the butternut squash agnolotti, which comes with spiced pumpkin seeds, sage,
and brown butter. Other options include the classic turtle soup, the crab and
celery root salad, and the baby kale and endive salad.
For the
entrées, Brennan's puts their unique touch on the Thanksgiving meal. The menu
features a fried buttermilk-brined turkey breast with cornbread dressing,
roasted Brussels sprouts, cranberry, and rosemary Jus. For a unique option,
Chef Hacker will prepare Eggs Sardou with crispy fried artichoke hearts,
creamed spinach, and choron sauce. The second course also offers Eggs Hussarde,
redfish, a Creole beef tenderloin, or a brown sugar-cured pork loin.
The dessert
menu at Brennan's will make your mouth water by simply reading it. The menu has
a chocolate pumpkin pie with toasted marshmallow and spiced caramel, a pear galette,
or, of course, the world-famous Bananas Foster, which was created at Brennan's
itself in 1951. 417 Royal St., (504) 525-9711, brennansneworleans.com
Mr. B's
Bistro
This
Thanksgiving, the old New Orleans restaurant Mr. B's Bistro is preparing an entire menu just for
Thanksgiving Day. For an appetizer, you'll have the option of either crispy fried
oysters; a jumbo lump crab cake; roasted mushroom ragout with a Madeira wine
cream sauce, served with ciabatta bread and goat cheese; or duck spring rolls,
with mushrooms, spinach, and goat cheese and a ginger-soy dipping sauce. For
soups and salads, the Bistro is serving a baby iceberg salad and a fall salad,
as well as gumbo ya ya and seafood gumbo.
The entrée
menu has many different options for everyone, such as the wood-grilled fish, filet
mignon, Mr. B's barbequed shrimp, or a bourbon pork loin. The menu also features
traditional Thanksgiving dinner with a Tanglewood Farms roasted turkey and all
the fixings, including sage sausage, cornbread dressing, mashed sweet potatoes,
haricots verts, cranberry relish, and house-made gravy. But the highlights of
the Thanksgiving entrées have to be the bacon-wrapped shrimp and grits and the pepper-crusted
duck breast over mushroom risotto.
Mr. B's also
offers a kid's menu that includes dessert, for $14.
Dessert for
the little ones is ice cream with chocolate sauce. For the big kids, the Bistro
has many options, including hot buttered pecan pie, bread pudding, pumpkin cheesecake,
a lemon ice box pie, and profiteroles with chocolate sauce. 201 Royal St.,
(504) 523-2078, mrbsbistro.com
