8 Ways To Ensure Your Thanksgiving Meal Is Anything but Boring

For many, Thanksgiving is all about keeping it classic: the same place, the same faces, and, of course, the same flavors. But if you’re like us at 5280, a fresh spin on the holiday feast is totally welcome—especially if the family’s coming to your place this year and you haven’t quite nailed that roast turkey recipe (to be fair, you only cook it once a year).

Make Thanksgiving a lot easier—and a lot more interesting—with these eight tips from local foodie establishments.

Make Your Thanksgiving French

Noisette

• Price: Pies start at $35; individual meal kits are $75
• How to order: Pre-order online for pick up between 9 a.m and 3 p.m. on Wednesday, November 27.

So you’ve perfected your deep-fried turkey recipe, but you’re in need of a few more dishes to round out your Thanksgiving spread. Allow Noisette to be your sous chef: The French bakery and restaurant in LoHi is offering takeaway starters and sides, including build-your-own charcuterie and cheese plates and make-at-home stuffing kits; dessert pies in classic flavors (pumpkin, apple, and pecan); and a range of other sweet treats, like truffles, bonbons, and macarons. For a truly hands-off experience, go for their single-serving heat-and-eat meal kit, which includes a confit duck leg, potato purée with chicken gravy, cranberry sauce, Brussels sprouts, and a slice of pumpkin pie. Bon appétit!

Make Your Thanksgiving All About Fall Produce

Somebody People

• Price: $70 per person; tack on an optional cocktail pairing for $55 or a Laws Whiskey House tasting for $30.
• How to attend: Make a reservation for the Thanksgiving feast, 2 to 8 p.m.

Maybe you have a new partner that’s vegan, or perhaps your sister decided that now is the best time to cut back on meat. Regardless, Tofurky is rarely a delight. Luckily, Somebody People in Overland knows that plant-based dining doesn’t need to rely on meat replacements. This year’s veggie-packed menu includes housemade sourdough focaccia with spinach artichoke dip, tamari roasted cabbage, cauliflower salad with a Meyer lemon vinaigrette, glazed carrots, and garlic mashed potatoes with vegan gravy.

Make Your Thanksgiving Truly All-You-Can-Eat

Edge Restaurant & Bar

• Price: $129 per adult; $39 for children 12 and under; free for children under 5
• How to attend: Make a reservation for Thanksgiving Day, noon to 8 p.m.

Planning a Thanksgiving menu that suits everyone’s dietary restrictions and preferences can seem like an impossible feat. Satiate even your pickiest eaters’ appetites with Edge Restaurant & Bar’s Thanksgiving buffet, which offers a smorgasbord of soups, sides, entrées, and holiday desserts. In addition to a turkey roulade with sage pesto and sweet potato casserole, the menu at the downtown restaurant inside the Four Seasons Hotel Denver includes peppercorn-crusted Colorado prime rib, fresh oysters, cinnamon butternut squash, pumpkin pie cream puffs, and more.

Make Your Thanksgiving Hyperlocal

Spade & Spoon

• Price: $179 for the entire box; kits for individual dishes are also available.
• How to order: Place your order online by Thursday, November 21, for delivery on Tuesday, November 26.

If you love cooking for Thanksgiving but hate the shopping that precedes it, try Spade & Spoon’s Everything But the Turkey holiday box. Not only does the meal kit come with all the ingredients and recipes for five sides and a dessert (sausage-apple stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts, kale salad, sweet potato dinner rolls, and a pumpkin pie), but almost all of the ingredients are sourced from local producers, including produce from Hoffman Farms, eggs from What a Yolk Egg Farm, and bacon from River Bear Meats.

Make Your Thanksgiving Cajun

Lincoln’s Roadhouse

• Price: $40 per quart
• How to order: Place an order at the restaurant or by phone (303-777-3700) by Saturday, November 23. Pick up between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Wednesday, November 27.

Gumbo is always on the menu at Lincoln’s Roadhouse, but at this time of year, the Cajun restaurant and blues bar in Platt Park offers to-go quarts of a special turducken version of the dish to honor Thanksgiving’s most bizarre poultry centerpiece. Of course, the three birds won’t be trussed together to high heaven; instead, the restaurant stews together hunks of turkey, duck, chicken, and andouille sausage in rich stock and a dark roux. The resulting quart heads home with French bread from Denver-based Bluepoint Bakery.

Make Your Thanksgiving Slurpable

Osaka Ramen

• Price: $20
• How to attend: Available for dine-in or takeout during regular business hours Monday, November 25 through Saturday, November 30 (excluding Thanksgiving Day, when the restaurant is closed).

Is there any better pairing than a chilly fall day and a steaming bowl of ramen? Grab a table at chef Jeff Osaka’s underground RiNo eatery for a brothy take on a traditional Thanksgiving meal. The tangle of noodles is bathed in a savory herb chicken broth and topped with roasted Brussels sprouts, kabocha (winter squash) tempura, char siu (barbecue) turkey, and a miso cranberry sauce.

Make Your Thanksgiving Coastal

Blue Island Oyster Bar

• Price: Thanksgiving package starts at $165; seafood package starts at $349.
• How to order: Place an order online before 9 p.m. on Thursday, November 21. Pick up between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Wednesday, November 27.

If your favorite part of any holiday meal is the shrimp cocktail appetizer, Blue Island Oyster Bar’s seafood-packed seasonal takeout menu will make you forget you live in a landlocked state. Supplement the restaurant’s turkey-and-stuffing Thanksgiving Dinner Package with sides of Florida stone crab claws, clam chowder, and smoked trout dip. Or, skip the bird and order Everyone’s Favorite Seafood Package, which includes the aforementioned sides plus shrimp cocktail, Blue Island Number 9 oysters (shucking knife included), and a key lime pie.

Make Your Thanksgiving Italian

Osteria Marco and Restaurant Olivia

• Price: Osteria Marco’s to-go meals are $130 (feeds two); Restaurant Olivia’s lasagnas start at $32 (feeds four to six)
• How to order: Osteria Marco: Order online and pick up from noon to 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday, November 27. Restaurant Olivia: Order online by Saturday, November 23, and pick up between noon and 3 p.m. on Wednesday, November 27.

You’ve tried nearly every type of turkey—spatchcocked, deep fried, smoked, and grilled—and you Just. Don’t. Like. It. At these two Italian restaurants, there’s no shame in the turkey-hating game. Osteria Marco’s to-go feast includes a garlic-herb-crusted pork loin with a honey dijon glaze, roasted delicata squash and grilled asparagus, panzanella stuffing with Italian sausage, baked rigatoni, and pumpkin cannoli. Restaurant Olivia offers a lineup of heat-and-eat lasagnas, from traditional beef bolognese to vegetarian-friendly spinach and artichoke.