Here are a few Santa Cruz restaurants – including casual, formal, and take-out – offering special Thanksgiving dinner or lunch this Thursday. Also below are details on a vegetarian restaurant that’s closed Thursday but offering a Thanksgiving entrée to pick up on Wednesday, and information on selected San Jose and San Francisco area restaurants.

Santa Cruz Restaurants

Ideal Bar & Grill Its Thanksgiving feast starts at 11 a.m. Herb Roasted Turkey ($14.95) is served with maple roasted yams, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing, and orange-cranberry sauce.

Chaminade  Reservations are required; call 800-283-6569. The cost is $46.95 for adults, $16.95 for kids 6-12, and free for kids under 6. Selections include asparagus with caramelized onions and feta cheese, salad with local farm tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, polenta and basil vinaigrette, teriyaki salmon with papaya relish, roast lamb leg, whole roast turkey, and house smoked pork loin with fried pancetta garnish.

Clouds This downtown restaurant is offering both traditional and less traditional choices for Thanksgiving, all served from noon-8pm. The Clouds Thanksgiving special, $36 for two people, includes a classic turkey dinner for two (with mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc.) plus a bottle of wine (Merlot or Chardonnay) and two pieces of pumpkin pie. Other menu items are not part of this $36 special; diners can order the turkey dinner on its own, or entrees such as chicken or tofu stir-fry, blackened salmon, and Panko-encrusted ahi tuna.

Dharma’s This is the place for a vegetarian Thanksgiving at your own house (restaurant is closed on Thursday so need to pick up a day before). Dharma’s “Holiday Feast” entrée is breaded tofu stuffed with a wild rice medley, served with mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, candied yams, a small side salad with honey-mustard dressing, and a side of cranberry-mango sauce. If you’re vegetarian you might enjoy my article about Top 10 vegetarian web sites which includes sites with recipes and news.

Hoffman’s offers its regular menu plus holiday specials on Thanksgiving. Brunch will be 8am-2pm and dinner is 2:30-8pm. Reservations are strongly recommended. The restaurant and bakery also has Thanksgiving treats available to go, including pumpkin and pecan pies ($14), pumpkin cheesecake ($24), wheat rolls ($6/dozen), and apple strudel ($9.95).

Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticceria offers Thanksgiving dinner (complete meal or a la carte items) on November 25-26 and Thanksgiving treats from November 13-26. For complete meals, reserving and paying ahead before pick-up is required. Dinner selections include carrot ginger soup, sweet potato crumble, vegetarian butternut squash and hazelnut lasagna, and turkey. Bakery items include francese or whole grain rolls ($6.00/dozen - other varieties available), pumpkin soufflé roll ($28.95) and olallieberry pie ($19.95).

Severino’s Grill serves a Thanksgiving buffet from 12-6 p.m.; the price is $25.99 for adults and $12.99 for kids 10 and under. Buffet selections include hand carved turkey, honey glazed ham, leg of lamb, lobster ravioli, prawn scampi, clam chowder, and an assortment of desserts.

San Jose & Saratoga
Yankee Pier The Santana Row restaurant offers a special Thanksgiving feast.  Yankee Pier is serving a three-course prix fixe menu featuring a traditional Thanksgiving Turkey dinner or a Whole Maine Lobster dinner (Alaskan Halibut is the third alternative) for $39.00 ($19.95 for kids 3-10 and free for children under 3). The same menu is also available at its Lafayette and Larkspur locations.

Left Bank  This Santana Row restaurant is serving a four-course fixed price menu for $39.75 from noon-8pm (items are also available a la carte; regular menu not available on Thanksgiving). Vegetarian and non-vegetarian selections include butternut squash with crème fraiche, chives, and roasted pumpkin seeds and Norbest natural roasted turkey with mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, and brussels sprouts with lardoons. A kids’ menu will also be offered. The same menu is also available at the restaurant’s Menlo Park and Larkspur locations.

Plumed Horse  If you’d like to splurge on a fancy, top-rated restaurant for Thanksgiving, this is your place. The four-course fixed price dinner is $80 for adults and $40 for kids: this is more expensive than your other options but Plumed Horse was awarded a Michelin star (fabulous accolade for a restaurant!) in the 2010 guide. Selections include a choice of celery soup with duck confit, diced pear, and porcini mushrooms or pumpkin soup with diver sea scallops, Syrian pumpkin seed oil, and pepitas, and a choice of traditional oven-roasted turkey or vegetable risotto or Scottish Salmon with accompaniments such as lobster hollandaise.

San Francisco
Café Gratitude is offering free Thanksgiving lunch at its locations in San Francisco,
Berkeley, San Rafael, and Healdsburg. Click here for details.

Americano Looking to treat yourself in San Francisco? Americano  was named in Bon Appetit’s “Top 10 Restaurants for Thanksgiving” – a nationwide list published this month. A four-course dinner is $85 for adults (optional wine pairing $25 extra) and $35 for kids 12 and under. Thanksgiving dinner hours are 2:30-6:30pm. Americano’s Chef Paul Arenstam served fabulous food at the SF Chefs Food Wine Festival in August; read about his dish and others plus view a slide show of the food and selected chefs.

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