M.M. Cloutier
From gravy-drizzled turkey and fixings to bountiful buffets brimming with seafood, sweets and more, a cornucopia of fare awaits if you’re planning on dining out in Palm Beach for Thanksgiving.
While some restaurants, such as Palm Beach Grill, will stick to their regular menus of longtime favorites, many others on the island will offer buffets, multicourse menus and specials for the Nov. 23 holiday.
Of course, turkey figures prominently in the mix, but other main-course options abound — from seafood to prime-grade beef to luscious pastas.
In addition to their Thanksgiving specials, some restaurants also will make their regular menus available, so be sure to ask if you’d like to peruse or order from that on Thanksgiving.
Either way, making advance reservations is required or highly recommended at most places.
Lavish Thanksgiving buffets
Whether in their ballrooms or oceanfront restaurants, Palm Beach’s resort hotels are offering bountiful Thanksgiving buffets.
At The Breakers’ Ponce de Leon Ballroom with its multiple crystal chandeliers, “festive harvest décor” will set the stage for a sumptuous holiday buffet ($275 a person; $100 for children 12 and younger).
Though the ballroom holiday buffet now is sold out, a waiting list is being taken.
The buffet from 2 to 6 p.m. will feature chilled seafood, salads, appetizers, carving stations, signature dishes and decadent desserts.
Another bountiful buffet is set for the Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach, where ocean-view Florie’s restaurant from 12:30 to 8 p.m. will feature a raw bar, charcuterie, salads, egg dishes, Thanksgiving classics, desserts and more.
The buffet at Florie’s, a restaurant partnered with renowned Michelin-starred chef Mauro Colagreco, is $195 for adults; $75 for children ages 5 to 12.
At Eau Palm Beach Resort in Manalapan, a Thanksgiving buffet ($155 adults; $45 children 11 and younger) will take place from 4 to 9 p.m. in the resort’s Italian-inflected Polpo restaurant.
The restaurant is a sister to the Polpo in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Along with an ocean view, guests will enjoy classic holiday dishes, Italian specialties, salads, a pasta station, raw bar, desserts and more.
Holiday fare, course by course
Thanksgiving unfolds in a progressive series of dishes as part of three-course holiday menus offered at various Palm Beach restaurants.
At Café Boulud at The Brazilian Court with its historic courtyards, a three-course Thanksgiving menu, offered from noon to 9 p.m., is $190 for adults and $80 children younger than 12.
Among the appetizers: hamachi crudo, and pâté en croûte with duck, pecans and apple.
A traditional turkey entree will be served with sweet potato millefeuille, cranberry compote, truffled mac and cheese and more. Other entree options include potato gnocchi and Dover sole.
For dessert, Café Boulud will offer pumpkin pie and hazelnut tart.
Another three-course menu in town will be offered with a golf-course view at The Breakers’ Flagler Steakhouse.
Available from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., the menu ($235 adults; $75 for children 12 and younger) will feature Thanksgiving classics — such as butter-basted turkey with walnut-and-sage stuffing, candied acorn squash and more — as well as steakhouse classics such as surf-and-turf with a lobster tail and filet mignon.
Among the holiday desserts at Flagler Steakhouse: cranberry Linzer tart with Grand Marnier creme Anglaise.
Meanwhile, indoor-outdoor Café L’Europe plans to open its doors at 5 p.m. for Thanksgiving, when it will feature a three-course menu for $165 for adults and $65 for children younger than 12.
In addition to traditional turkey with squash, stuffing, gravy, vegetables and cranberry sauce, entree selections also will include filet mignon au poivre, pan-seared veal chop, and Dover sole meunière.
Among the appetizers: corn-and-squash chowder. Look for pumpkin cheesecake as a dessert option at Café L’Europe.
At the White Elephant boutique hotel, LoLa 41, known for its cuisine influenced by countries along the 41st parallel, is offering a three-course Thanksgiving menu from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. for $80 a person.
To start, guests can choose between acorn squash-and-crab bisque or a baby kale salad.
Along with pepper-and-herb turkey, candied ham will be offered as an entree choice. Side dishes range from Yukon Gold potato puree to green beans and wild mushroom-and-sage sourdough stuffing.
For dessert, Lola 41 will feature pecan-and-apple torte, among other options.
In Manalapan, Eau Palm Beach Resort’s steak-and-seafood restaurant Angle is offering guests a four-course Thanksgiving menu ($145 a person) available from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
The meal starts with roasted pumpkin soup, followed by a choice of beet terrine or haricots verts.
Turkey roulade is the third course, served with confit dark meat, apple cornbread stuffing, sweet-potato brulée, Brussels sprouts and more.
Slow-roasted pumpkin pie is Angle’s featured dessert.
Holiday a la carte menus, daily specials
Many restaurants are featuring daily specials or a la carte holiday menus with individually priced selections ranging from butternut squash soup to a surf-and-turf combo.
At oh-so-French bistro La Goulue, look for a French twist on Thanksgiving when a special a la carte menu will offer appetizer selections from a seafood bar as well as pumpkin-and-cheese soufflé topped with charred marshmallows ($28).
La Goulue’s holiday menu, available from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., will feature such entrees as an organic turkey-and-fixings plate ($42) with sweet potato casserole, Brussels sprouts, traditional stuffing and more, as well as herb- and mustard-crusted rack of lamb ($76) with sweet potato cake, wilted spinach and garlic confit.
Pumpkin tart ($16) with maple whipped cream, and caramelized pecan tart ($16) are among La Goulue’s holiday desserts.
Thanksgiving daily specials are planned at Trevini, where guests can enjoy them indoors or along the dining patio canopied by the restaurant’s blue-and white-striped awnings.
From 11:30 to 8 p.m., specials will include zucchini blossoms ($25) with eggplant tortino and tomato coulis, and pumpkin ravioli with Romano fonduto with pea coulis and oven-dried olives ($30).
Roast turkey ($45) will be served with sausage stuffing, green beans and sweet-potato mash, and guests can choose from such desserts as pumpkin budino ($16).
At Le Bilboquet, nestled in a via off Worth Avenue, guests seated indoors or outdoors can enjoy such holiday specials as organic turkey ($44) with porcini stuffing, hibiscus cranberries, gravy and a choice of two classic holiday side dishes of diners’ choice.
Le Bilboquet’s specials, available from noon to 7:45 p.m., also include such appetizers as butternut squash soup ($18) and lacinato kale salad ($23) with buttermilk, citrus panko and fine herbs.
Look for pumpkin pie and pecan pie (each $18).
Guests at Swifty’s at The Colony Hotel can dine indoors or poolside as they partake in such Thanksgiving specials as maple, black pepper and rosemary roasted turkey ($78) with confit turkey ragout and madeira-and-caramelized onion gravy; or honey- and mustard-glazed ham ($78) with apple sauce.
Six side dishes will accompany those entrees — from green bean-and-mushroom casserole to chestnut, apple and cornbread stuffing.
Pecan pie or apple and ginger-crisp pie will be $18 each at Swifty’s, where holiday specials will be available from noon to 9:30 p.m.
Meat Market also has planned daily specials for Thanksgiving (prices to be determined), offering them from 4 to 10 p.m.
Look for turkey leg roulade stuffed with dark rye, hazelnuts, dried cherries and pear, and cranberry-brined turkey breast with parsnip-sweet potato mash, cranberry yuzu marmalade and turkey-rosemary gravy.
A mixed grill plate will feature the turkey breast and leg roulade, plus pistachio-crusted lamb chops with apricot-mustard sauce.
Turkey also will star at Henry’s Palm Beach, named after Palm Beach’s first official developer, Henry Flagler.
A turkey entree ($64 adults; $25 children 12 and younger) with a variety of fixings will be offered from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Light and dark meat will be served with sage-accented stuffing, cranberries, gravy, oven-roasted vegetables, roasted squash, whipped potatoes and more.
Holiday desserts at Henry’s are set to include pumpkin-pecan tart ($19) served with Tahitian-vanilla ice cream.
Meanwhile, Bricktop’s, home to indoor and covered patio seating, is offering a turkey special ($40) served with herb stuffing, whipped potatoes, sauteed corn and Hawaiian rolls, among other sides.
Add an eight-ounce prime rib to that feast and it’s an additional $8. Kids can feast on a holiday turkey meal for $10 at Bricktop’s, which will offer its holiday specials from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Sant Ambroeus, with its indoor and fountain-side outdoor seating, also has Thanksgiving daily specials planned.
Turkey roulade ($54) will be served with Italian sausage, sweet-potato puree, cranberries and Concord grape sauce.
Butternut squash soup ($19), beef carpaccio ($37) and tagliatelle with sausage and mushrooms are among other Sant Ambroeus holiday specials (call the restaurant for its holiday hours of operation).
Look for pumpkin soup with gnocchi and pecans ($19) and lobster mac and cheese ($41) among the Thanksgiving specials at Bice, which will be open for the holiday from 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
With its indoor and outdoor via seating, Bice also will offer holiday celebrants a turkey repast ($39), complete with ham, roasted sweet potatoes, green beans, pickled onions and cranberry chutney.
Bice’s holiday desserts? Try pumpkin pie ($18) with cinnamon whipped cream and applesauce.
