Dining Out: 5 Family Thanksgiving Feasts On The Town

So you’ve decided against doing the turkey and the stuffing and the cranberry sauce and the mashed potatoes and the green bean casserole and the pies–and instead made the decision to enjoy a relaxing Thanksgiving out? Congratulations! You’ve just saved yourself days (weeks?) of stressing over entertaining jitters and hours of chopping, dicing, rolling, and baking. And, rest assured, NYC is home to many wonderful and family-friendly restaurants. Here’s a fantastic and somewhat eclectic line-up of establishments serving Thanksgiving dinner:

Daniel Boulud’s most casual–but still elegant–restaurant, DBGB, is offering a special three-course Thanksgiving tasting menu. It’s a reasonable 26 for children under 12 and will be delicious and just traditional enough to please even the pickiest of eaters. (Pumpkin spice sundae, anyone?) If this is your first holiday eating turkey not made by you or Aunt Suzie, trust the experts working with the legendary Boulud.

For a slightly less subdued but very hip meal, take the family to Caribbean hot spot Miss Lily’s. With fixins’ like maple mashed sweet potatoes, jerk turkey breast, and classic mac and cheese, their menu’s Thanksgiving offerings promise to please the whole family. More to love: The restaurant’s funky decor is fun and charming, and the service is both laid-back and professional.

If your little ones have adventurous palates, consider Harold Dieterle’s The Marrow, which is offering an abundance of options for starters, mains, sides and, most importantly, desserts! While local roasted turkey is on the menu, your vegetable-loving son or daughter might be more interested in trying the roasted whole-hen-of-the-woods mushroom. Of course, you could be traditional and have the pumpkin pie–or you could live dangerously and opt for the lemon chess pie with buttermilk sherbet.

Italian favorite Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria will be offering a Thanksgiving meal featuring both typical Turkey Day fare and more classic Italian staples. Everyone will start out with the restaurant’s house staples: house made salumi, rustic breads, cheeses, and olives. Then there’ll be a choice of primi, secondi, and dolci. Thanksgiving traditionalists can opt for pumpkin gnocchi while rebels can enjoy smoked black bass crudo. All will be happy to know that the contorni (sides) will be served family-style, which means seconds on the favorite side dish, mashed potatoes!

Hill Country BBQ is also offering a hearty Thanksgiving feast! Though BBQ might not be what the holiday typically evokes, it’s a winning choice–especially since we all know that the sides are what really make the meal and the side offerings here are seriously impressive). From Texas toast stuffing to sweet potato bourbon mash to skillet cornbread, there’s a reason we indulge! For dessert, a choice of classic pies ought to do it, but there’s banana pudding and the restaurant’s famed PB&J cupcake (great for the little guys) for extra indulgence.

And Bubby’s–both the Tribeca and High Line location–are doing something extremely special this Thanksgiving. Not only are they offering a wonderful family-style menu complete with down-home classics like stuffing, green bean casserole, candied yams, and apple pie, but they are also donating 25% of the proceeds (it’s a pay-what-you-want scenario; $60 is suggested) to the NYC Rescue Mission.