By Carol Brock
Some establishments close for the day: Peking Duck (Chinese) in Forest Hills; Cooking with Jazz (Cajun) in Whitestone (No Paul Prudhomme deep fried whole turkey and pecan pie!); La Baraka (French/North African) in Little Neck). And so it goes.
Of course, many are doing the traditional Pilgrim's pride number with turkey and cranberries, sweet potatoes, pumpkin and mince pie. As a child I would have been devastated if there hadn't been a turkey dinner like that, although it was OK if the cranberries were canned whole berries or relish instead of Mother's applesauce-like cranberry sauce. And two pies were better than one, but there must be pumpkin pie, preferably made with the pale, flat shaped cheese pumpkins that Grandma grew.
Later, when I was a working mother, if we went to the Douglaston Club as a family, I personally gave thanks for the duck, ham and salmon alternates and ordered one.
Those who dine in today's ethnically diverse Queens can find many restaurants that incorporate ethnic touches into their featured Thanksgiving menu. Country Style West Indian (Queens Village) knows, as management points out, “when you go into a Jamaican home on Thanksgiving day you're served curried goat and rice.” And that's what they're featuring – but “there is turkey for the children.”
O Lavrador (Portuguese, in Jamaica) celebrates Thanksgiving day with shrimp with hot sauce, clams in garlic sauce and sausage Lavrador for appetizers. Roast suckling pig, shrimp with rice and broiled sirloin steak as well as turkey are the entree choices.
Spanish/Continental Marbella in Bayside offers mussels in vinaigrette, empanadas, shrimp and crabmeat salad along with a turkey with a chestnut, fig, walnut, apple and chopped meat stuffing. There are pumpkin, apple and mince pies and a Spanish version of creme brulee, flan and nautilla custard for the sweet conclusion.
Czechoslovakian Zlata Praha in Astoria presents a choice of stuffed turkey, ham, goose and duck with sauerkraut and dumplings. Or loin of pork with cabbage and dumplings.
Patrick's Pub & Cafe in Little Neck serves forth roast turkey with Frank Mockler's (“He's Irish”) walnut and sausage stuffing, ham with champagne sauce, duck and steamed fish. Besides the pumpkin and mince pie there are Irish sherry pudding and bourbon bread pudding.
Thomasina Catering Hall in Jamaica goes Southern with ham as well as turkey and macaroni and cheese, collard greens and sweet potato pie. Interesting.
It's the stuffing that's most likely to have the ethnic touch. Ben's Best (Rego Park) combines chestnut with mushrooms. Il Fagiano (Italian) in Whitestone uses a raisin, chestnut and rice stuffing.
Me? I'm taking the day off from reviewing restaurants and going back to the original with wild turkey cooked on a wood burning stove. We've been invited to join our neighbors for oysters on toast points, a turkey with two stuffings: bread in the cavity and mashed potato in the crop; and venison sauerbraten.
Pilgrim gourmet 2000.
