It’s Thanksgiving Day and the dining room table is adorned with a smorgasbord of delectable treats. The candied yams entice you with their intoxicating aroma and lively color. The tender turkey sits in the center of the table, waiting for the sweet caress of a carving knife. And just as you lean forward to taste it, you wake up in your dorm room.
You might be in the same predicament as other students who can’t go home for Thanksgiving break, but here are some savory solutions to keep you away from the frozen dinner aisle at the supermarket.
Feasting with friends
Like some students, you can spend your break with another family. Nausheen Jacob did that last year and plans to spend Thursday at a friend’s house. The junior business major from New Dehli, India enjoys the Thanksgiving holiday away from home.
“I’m not really homesick, so I enjoy spending time with other people’s family, learning other cultures and having fun,” she said. “The home-cooked food is great. I just like the entire layout.”
Senior international relations major Matt Kuder isn’t going back home, either. Instead of going home with a friend, he plans to stay on campus Thursday since “[friends] offered to bring me leftovers,” he said.
Turkey Day restaurants
If you aren’t able to go to a friend’s family dinner or snag some leftovers, you still have options. Some restaurants are welcoming guests with open arms and Thanksgiving Day specials.
The San Francisco Rose located at 3024 Greenville Ave. will be open all day, serving a traditional Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie for $9.95. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Dinner reservations are recommended for parties greater than six.
For a more elegant dining experience and live music, try the Avanti Ristorante or the Old Warsaw.
The Avanti Ristorante located at 2720 McKinney Ave. will also serve a four-course meal for $29 along with their regular menu of authentic Italian food. The Old Warsaw located at 2616 Maple Ave. will prepare two special turkeys for the occasion, in addition to their European cuisine. Prices range from $21 to $35 and dinner is served from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.
If you want to forgo the turkey dinner and try a nontraditional holiday meal, head over to the India Palace Restaurant and Bar located at 12817 Preston Road for a variety of spicy dishes. Try their popular Indian-style tandoori barbecue chicken, lamb and beef curry dishes and Indian wheat breads. Prices range from $8 to $20 for an entrée. Dinner is served from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.
If dinner and a movie sounds like fun, why not do both at the same time at the Studio Movie Grill at 5405 Beltline Road. You can choose from pizza, chicken tenders, four-cheese quesadilla or a made-to-order burger. General admission is $7.50, but you get a $2 discount with your student ID. The average price for an entrée is $8.95.
Giving back
If you’d like to put the “give” back in Thanksgiving, you can dish out meals instead of consume them.
Homeless shelters around the city are serving Thanksgiving dinner to their patrons on Thursday. The Dallas Life Foundation located downtown at 1100 Cadiz St. has two shifts. Volunteers for the first shift from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. will help set up tables and meals for dinner, while those in the 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. shift will actually serve dinner.
The Visiting Nurses Association of Texas sponsors Thanksgiving Day Meals on Wheels, which delivers meals to the elderly and disabled who are unable to leave their houses. They usually deliver hot lunches to 2,500 people in the Dallas area, but on Thanksgiving, 2,000 people will be home alone, volunteer coordinator Gayle Collins said.
“Our clients are living on less than $7,200 a year. We try to take all of our clients a little something for the holidays,” she said.
Although they have enough people to deliver on Thursday, volunteers are needed on Wednesday and Friday to help prepare and clean up for the event. Volunteers will work in the office located at 1440 W. Mockingbird Lane and assist with general office duties. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and volunteers can come in at any time.
Collins said that if students can’t donate their time, the association is collecting socks, slippers and toiletries for delivery.
For more information, call Gayle Collins at (214) 689-0629.
