New York's Best Turkey Dishes

Thanksgiving is really one of the best holidays invented.  You don’t have to shop for the perfect present for every single person you know or fork out tons of cash.  Thanksgiving is about one thing: Eating ’til you’re stuffed and giving thanks for the feast.  The dish we most look forward to is roast turkey.  Aside from indistinct lunch sandwiches and this once a year holiday, roast turkey is hard to come by on the restaurant scene.

This year you don’t have to wait until the 25th to get your turkey fix. There are plenty of stand-out turkey dishes being served all over the city.  Some are part of a pre-Thanksgiving feast leading up to the big day, while others can be enjoyed year-round. For lunch, we head to Torrisi Italian Specialties and Henry Public for two of the tastiest turkey sandwiches in town. There’s ethnic interpretations at Molyvos or Palo Santo in Brooklyn.  And, of course, if you don’t feel like cooking on Thanksgiving, you can let chefs like Bobby Flay or Andrew Carmellini cook dinner for you.

Molyvos – Sausage, Chestnut & Rice Stuffed Turkey
Address:
871 7th Avenue # 4
Phone: (212) 582-7500
Just because
Thanksgiving is an American holiday doesn’t mean you have to eat the
same old roast turkey every year.  Molyvos makes a convincing
case for going against tradition with a Mediterranean-style turkey  Even
if you have plans for Thanksgiving day, you can still sample Molyvos’
three-course Thanksgiving menu all month.  For 45 dollars, it’s one of
this season’s biggest steals in the city right now. The kitchen stuffs
their roasted bird with sausage, rice and chestnuts and serves it with a
warm, flaky side of spanakopita layered with wild greens instead of
spinach.  Opa!

Torrisi Italian Specialties – Roast Turkey or Roast Turkey Sandwich
Address:
250 Mulberry St. nr. Prince Street
Phone: (212) 965-0955
This little deli has gotten quite a lot of attention since it opened less than a year ago.  This Thanksgiving, they’re selling whole, roast turkeys that you could claim as your own if your conscience will allow it.  Chef-owners Rick Torrisi and Mario Carbone are talented enough to work
in five-starred kitchens, but they chose to use their skills to refine
humble Italian-American food.  By day, they’re a sandwich shop that peddles a killer eggplant parmigiania , but every night they transform into an ambitious restaurant with a daily changing menu.  If you’re out of town, you can sample Torrisi’s turkey hero any day of the week.  They’ve raised the bar on the bland turkey sandwich with this complex creation slathered with spicy tomato sauce, tinged with honey and fresh herbs, and served on fresh, crusty Italian bread.

Locanda Verde – Wood-Fired Turkey
Address: 377 Greenwich St., btwn. Moore and Harrison Sts.
Phone: (212) 925-3797
Chef Andrew Carmellini has raised the bar on Italian home-cooking at this Tribeca eatery, tucked inside the Greenwich Hotel.  On Thanksgiving, he’s raising the bar on this traditional American feast.  You might as well hang up your apron and make a reservation at Locanda Verde instead.  Carmellini roasts every bird in a wood-fired oven to achieve a perfectly crispy skin and moist juicy interior.  And when there’s turkey, you know there will be stuffing. Locanda Verde’s version is laced with figs and hazelnuts.  That’s just the tip of the iceberg.  From 3 pm- 9 pm on the 25th, there will be brussels sprouts, squash, gravy and cranberry sauce. Not to mention an outstanding selection of desserts created by Karen DeMasco.  Prepare to be stuffed.

Palo Santo – Turkey Mole Poblano
Address: 652 Union St. bet.
Fourth and Fifth avenues (Brooklyn)
Phone: (718) 636-6311
With
its fireplace and backyard fountain, Palo Santo is a fine place for a
date. And its mole is a dish that makes for great dinner conversation.
Mole is one of the most complex, difficult sauces to perfect, but this
Park Slope pan-Latin spot comes pretty close. Surprisingly, the
intensely smoky, chocolate-based sauce doesn’t overpower the braised
turkey meat. The balance of flavors in terrific, and we usually find
ourselves licking the bowl.

Henry Public – Turkey Sandwich
Address: 329 Henry St. nr. Pacific Street (Brooklyn)
Phone: (718) 852-8630
Henry Public looks like it’s been around since the turn of the century, but it actually just opened this year. It’s a great addition New York restaurant scene and so is their turkey sandwich.  They braise dark meat in milk, so it’s shredded and super moist.  Take a bite and you’ll also discover fried onions and pickles between two slices of thick-cut, toasted Pullman bread. If only all turkey sandwiches were as good as this one, lunch would be our favorite meal of the day.

Jive Turkey – Fried Turkey
Address: 570 Myrtle Ave. bet. Classon Avenue and Emerson Place (Brooklyn)
Phone: (718) 797-1688
Aricka Westbrooks used to deep-fry whole turkeys in her cramped Brooklyn backyard until she realized it was slightly dangerous.  So this southern food lover decided to open a takeout shop instead. Now, she can have her turkey anytime and so can you.  Jive Turkey offers legs, wings and of course, whole turkeys, all with incredibly crispy skin.  The best part is that the turkeys can be prepared with 13 different types of seasonings.  We’re partial to the honey pecan, though the peach bourbon also makes a strong showing, too.

Little Owl – Roast Turkey
Address: 90 Bedford St. nr. Grove Street
Phone: (212) 741-4695
Thiscorner spot is easily one of the most quaint and cozy restaurants in the West Village.  There are only 10 tables and floor-to-ceiling windows with a view of Bedford Street. The only thing that beats the atmosphere is the food. Chef Joey Campanero knows how to make simple food taste unforgettable, and his roast turkey is no exception. This Thanksgiving, he’s also serving basil gnocchi and a pumpkin panna cotta for dessert.

Bar Americain – Maple-Glazed Turkey
Address: 152 West 52nd St. bet. Sixth and Seventh avenues
Phone: (212) 265-9700
If only are relatives were as creative as Bobby Flay, Thanksgiving would be a whole lot more exciting.  No matter. You can skip slaving in the kitchen for the day and eat out this year on Bar Americain’s Thanksgiving menu, which features a maple-glazed turkey.  Before the main attraction, there’s pumpkin soup, creamed kale, cranberry chutney and sweet potato pie or apple pie for dessert.

Brother Jimmy’s – Cajun Fried Turkey
Various locations
brotherjimmys.com
If you’re in the mood for a more laidback dinner this year, Brother Jimmy’s is a fine alternative.  Turkey
often gets a bad rap for lacking flavor,  but Brother Jimmy’s
Cajun-style turkey is anything but under seasoned. It’s particularly  great for big families because you can order a bird that will feed up to 20 people. In keeping with the theme, there’s southern sides, like cornbread stuffing and
candied yams with walnuts.

 BLT Market – Roast Turkey with Chestnut & Sausage Stuffing
Address: 1430 Avenue of the Americas
Phone: (212) 521-6125
Locavore cooking and seasonality mainstream with their Ritz Carlton BLT location. The restaurant’s Thanksgiving  day menu certainly doesn’t skip on farm-fresh ingredients, serving small farm-sourced turkey with a hearty stuffing of chestnuts and sausage. The turkey comes with all the standard Thanksgiving sides, but they are turned up a notch. The creamy mashed potatoes are studded with garlic, the cranberry sauce is spiked with grenadine and the gravy has more than a hint of rosemary.

Leo’s Latticini – Roast Turkey with Fresh Mozzarella
Address: 46-02 104th St. (Queens)
Phone: (718) 898-6069
The locals know this legendary Corona eatery as “Mama’s” because the late owner, Nancy DeBenedittis, made every customer feel at home with her hospitality and Italian-American cooking. DeBenedittis passed away last year, but her three daughters have kept the place running smoothly and the hero sandwiches are just as delicious as ever.  Our favorite is the roast turkey, a weekly special that comes slathered in brown gravy, and topped with house-made fresh mozzarella on a freshly baked roll.

Shopsin’s – Gobble Breakfast Sandwich
Address: 120 Essex Street
Beloved curmudgeon, Kenny Shopsin, offers hundreds of dishes at his Essex Street Market outpost.  Fortunately, you really can’t go wrong with any dish.  When we’re craving turkey, we order the Gobble sandwich, the ultimate breakfast of Thanksgiving leftovers, which comes with eggs, roast turkey, sausage stuffing, gravy and bread.  And you don’t have to wait until Black Friday to eat it because Shopsin’s serves this sandwich year-round.

 Amy Ruth’s – The Bert Padel
Address: 113 West. 116th St. nr. Lenox Avenue
Phone: (212) 280-8799
If you want soul food in New York, you might want to head uptown to Amy Ruth’s.  Carl Redding not only named his Harlem restaurant after his grandmother and we’re wager she’d be proud of the food. Many of the dishes on the menu are also named after people, including “The Bert Padel,” which is the Sunday turkey special. The herb-infused roast bird comes with a wonderful fruit and nut stuffing. It goes perfectly with our other favorite dish at Amy Ruth’s: the sweet potato pie.