In the fall, the thoughts of local restaurateurs and diners turn to warming spices and turkey with all the trimmings.
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Alloro D.O.C. Trattoria at the Tucson Hilton East, Chef Virginia Wooters
What’s your favorite fall food memory?
My mom makes a killer pot roast with roasted potatoes and carrots, and a pan sauce gravy that is magical. I always ask her to make it once the weather cools down.
What does your restaurant do that’s special for Thanksgiving?
Here at the Hilton we are doing a Thanksgiving buffet with all the classics, and all made from scratch.
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
Fall food is definitely my favorite. I love comfort style foods and I’m obsessed with fall and winter fruits. I really enjoy making stews and soups, roasting meats.
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Dedicated, Chef Rebecca Wicker
What’s your favorite fall food memory?
I’ll always remember waking up to the smell of celery and onions on Thanksgiving morning. Mom and Grandma were already in the kitchen by 6 a.m., starting on the turkey and stuffing. Those savory smells were a tantalizing preview of what was to come, which always included me asking Grandma for cream cheese stuffed celery sticks!
What does your restaurant do that’s special for Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving reminds me of why I started Dedicated in the first place. As a holiday that centers around food, if you can’t participate because of food allergies, it’s easy to feel like you don’t belong — even at your own dinner table. Nothing feels better than knowing that so many people in Southern Arizona can participate in their Thanksgiving dinner, eat bread and pie and gravy and stuffing and all the things, knowing it is safe and delicious. We help people safely enjoy the holidays with their family.
On a practical note, we are closed on Thanksgiving Day. For our out-of-town friends, we ship nationwide on Mondays! We will be accepting pre-orders through Monday, Nov. 25.
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
We stick to the classics during this time of year, staying focused on the traditional holiday foods that people with gluten issues and other allergies miss the most. I’m especially excited about who I’m cooking with this fall/winter — our amazing team at Dedicated! Most of our bakers have been with us for at least one holiday season, so it feels like we’re going into this year prepared, excited, and eager to once again serve the community.
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Fronimo’s Greek Cafe, owners George and Tracy Fronimakis
What’s your favorite fall food memory?
We didn’t have much food to eat while living in the village, but when I return to Greece, I always look forward to eating kouneli stifado, which is rabbit braised in tomatoes, red wine, and onions.
What does your restaurant do that’s special for Thanksgiving, or if you are closed, what do you make for family and/or friends?
We are always closed for Thanksgiving so that our employees can enjoy the holiday with their families. We always prepare traditional American Thanksgiving food, but our favorite dishes are yams with apples and cinnamon, and a cranberry salad with grapes, walnuts, and whipping cream.
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
We always enjoy preparing fresh green beans and potatoes simmered with tomatoes, onions, and olive oil. It is a hearty winter meal paired with a large piece of feta cheese and crusty bread.
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Claire’s Café, co-owner Claire Johnson
What’s your favorite fall food memory?
My mother’s sweet and sour cabbage and stuffed peppers, the taste was from the old country and it was like nothing else!
What does your restaurant do that’s special for Thanksgiving, or if you are closed, what do you make for family and/or friends?
We are closed on Thanksgiving. But usually we do a free community meal for hundreds (650 last year) at Thanksgiving … we’ve been doing it 31 years!
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
Shepherd’s pie, beef stew, more vegetarian vegetable soups, all comfort foods.
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Caffe Torino, Chef Daniela Borella
What’s your favorite fall food memory?
Chestnuts roasted on an open fire back in Italy.
If you are closed for Thanksgiving, what do you make for family and/or friends?
We would make homemade tortellini as a family.
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
Polenta with Italian stew and all kinds of different squashes.
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Taste of Tucson Downtown, owners Sherry Weiss and Elysa Crum
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
With the change in seasons, we love using pumpkin and sweet potatoes in some of our favorite dishes and breads. Sherry has baked a pumpkin bread recipe for over 30 years that her family requests every Thanksgiving, and Elysa loves to experiment with new recipes for sweet potatoes. Cinnamon, apples, brown sugar, and nuts are ingredients often found in these delicious dishes.
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Gourmet Girls Gluten Free Bakery/Bistro, Chef Mary Steiger
What’s your favorite fall food memory?
A favorite memory is having hot cider and cinnamon donuts for a nighttime treat on the first cool evenings.
What does your restaurant do that’s special for Thanksgiving?
We are closed on Thanksgiving, but we make everything but the turkey for our guests to pre-order for their own meals — pumpkin pie, of course, along with pecan, apple, and cherry pies, plus stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, and dinner rolls. And it’s all gluten-free to take the worry out of the holiday meal. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is our busiest day of the year and after the last order has been picked up we serve up a meal, including the turkey, for all our hard working employees and their families.
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
I love working with winter vegetables — butternut and acorn squash, Brussels sprouts, yams and sweet potatoes. I’m looking forward to creating some warming soups featuring these ingredients, and we already are offering our vegan pumpkin chili in the dining room.
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Harvest, co-owner Reza Shapouri
What’s your favorite fall food memory?
My favorite fall food memory is the pumpkin pie my wife makes every year. It’s the one thing that I look forward to more than anything else on the Thanksgiving day table.
What does your restaurant do that’s special for Thanksgiving, or if you are closed, what do you make for family and/or friends?
We are not open for business on Thanksgiving Thursday so that we and our employees can spend the day with our families. Every year we have a large number of our family and friends over, decorate the place, and we don’t ask people to bring any food or drinks as long as they just bring themselves.
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
We have new menu items at both of our locations coming up right before Thanksgiving.
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Desert Diamond Casinos, Executive Chef Bryan Franz
What’s your favorite fall food memory?
Fall food memories form around family and friends: grandma’s scratch spiced apple and pumpkin pie filling; grandpa and I rolling out his secret pie crust recipe; mom baking breads and roasting assorted nuts in a horno (outdoor adobe oven); dad bringing in game meat to prepare. A time where family and friends from all over come together for thanks and giving. These fall food memories are staples to my daily outlook.
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
Our Sonoran desert provides us an amazing selection of great quality fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, and flours from ranchers, farmers, and co-ops alike. We proudly showcase a seasonal selection daily at both our Desert Diamond Casinos properties, Tucson and Sahuarita.
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Vero Amore, Suzanne Kaiser, co-owner with her sons, Aric and Joshua Mussman
What’s your favorite fall food memory?
Thanksgiving with the family … kishkes at my grandmother’s house. The marshmallows on the top of the sweet potatoes were my favorite!
If you are closed for Thanksgiving, what do you make for family and/or friends?
We serve all of the traditional foods, turkey, sweet potato and mashed potatoes, dressing with turkey sausage, green bean casserole, and homemade cranberry sauce.
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
The cheese wheel, which is fettucine Alfredo with prosciutto (also available vegetarian) prepared in a wheel of Parmesan.
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Eclectic Café, co-owner Jason
McCarty
What’s your favorite fall food memory?
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. My perfect meal is a turkey dinner with all the trimmings and my mother-in-law’s special stuffing that has jalapenos and radishes and ground beef in it. It is really good! She makes an extra pan just for me!
What does your restaurant do that’s special for Thanksgiving, or if you are closed, what do you make for family and/or friends?
We are closed. I make the mashed potatoes traditional style, an Italian green pea recipe, a chocolate pecan pie, and a bourbon chocolate pecan for the adults.
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
A pumpkin and chorizo bisque in the wintertime at the restaurant. Plus, a new seasonal menu will be out in December.
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Opa’s Best, Qais Papoutsis, co-owner
What’s your favorite fall food memory?
Lamb shanks and turkey for Thanksgiving.
What does your restaurant do that’s special for Thanksgiving, or if you are closed, what do you make for family and/or friends?
Our menu includes roasted lamb, lemon potatoes, mashed potatoes, and rice.
What are you looking forward to cooking with this fall/winter?
More soups, and Athenian stuffed chicken.
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