Where to eat in Flagstaff on Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving is a time for gathering with friends and family and sharing your appreciation of what they add to your life… plus good food. Celebrate together without making mom and grandma cook all day. Instead let some of the city’s finest establishments prepare your Turkey Day feast. (Reservations are recommended, unless otherwise noted.)

Cottage Place
126 W Cottage
774-8431
cottageplace.com
Get in on Frank’s famous five-course meal. The Cottage Place opens at noon for Thanksgiving where you’ll enjoy an appetizer, soup, salad, a choice of about 9 different entrees including turkey of course and choice of dessert.  Price $30-$45 per person, based on which entree you choose. They’ll also have a special children’s menu for those in your party under 12.

Little America
2515 East Butler
779-2741
littleamerica.com/flagstaff/thanksgiving_brunch.html
You don’t need reservations for this annual feast. Remember that if you burn your first turkey – all hope is not lost. Little America’s Thanksgiving Day Champagne Brunch is a delight every year. It runs from 10am to 3pm. $29.95 for adults, $14.95 for children 7-11 and free for children 6 and under plus tax and tip. The meal will include turkey, prime rib, Alaskan crab legs, omelets, a chocolate fountain, desserts, champagne, tea coffee and much more. Check their website for a full menu.(Their popular holiday lights festival kicks off the next day!)

Josephine's Modern American Bistro
503 North Humphreys Street
779-3400
josephinesrestaurant.com
Josephine’s “Thanksgiving Banquet” will run from noon to 7pm. It’s $35 per person and $12.50 for children under 10. The meal features starters like scrumptious butternut squash soup and champagne vinaigrette salad, a main course of roasted cider brined natural 'Red Bird Farm' turkey, apricot preserve and clove rubbed Smithfield Ham, beef Wellington served with bordelaise sauce and cedar plank charbroiled Atlantic salmon plus traditional sides with desserts ranging from traditional pumpkin pie to a flourless chocolate torte. Check out the full menu on their website.

Radisson Woodlands Hotel
1175 West Route 66
773-8888
A carving station with everything from turkey to prime rib, entrees from chicken to pork loin, a breakfast station and all the traditional accompaniments plus champagne make up the annual turkey day feast at the Radisson. Seating times run from 10am to 3pm. Adults are $26.95, children 6 to 12 are $10.95 and little ones under 6 are free.

Mormon Lake Lodge
Main Street, Mormon Lake
928-354-2227 x14
MormonLakeLodge.com
Head about half an hour southwest of town for a holiday in the pines at the rustic Mormon Lake Lodge. Here they’ve serve up a family style turkey dinner with all the trimmings for 50 years… you even get to carve it at your table. So you’ve got all the fun of having your family in an intimate setting and leftovers but no one has to be trapped in the kitchen all day for it to happen. The family-style feast is for parties of four or more, reservations required. Smaller parties can order individual meals of turkey or prime rib, no reservation required. Adults are $19, kids 5-12 are $15 and kids 4 and under are free for the family feast. Individual meals are $18 adults/$16 kids for the turkey and $24/$18 adults/kids for the prime rib. All meals include lobster bisque soup, salad, cherry hazelnut stuffing, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, almond rice pilaf, candied yams with marshmallows, green bean walnut medley, orange-ginger glazed baby carrots, and choice of dessert. You bring home all the leftovers. Their Saloon will be open next door from 11am to 7pm that day as well to hang out together afterwards. Dinner is served from 11am to 4pm.

(originally written by me for Flagstaff Live Nov 11 edition)