| Round Up: Elegant Thanksgiving Meals at Top Florida Resorts |
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| October 08, 2009 |
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Thanksgiving dinner. It's the most iconic American meal. And if you're spending the holidays in Florida, consider making it a true holiday break by giving yourself the night off cooking and instead booking in for Thanksgiving dinner at one of the state's many luxury hotels. With the promise of elegant table settings and traditional dishes on the menu, there's a hotel restaurant with your family's name all over it (and the promise of a relaxing gathering for all parties involved!).
I've rounded up a few of the most enticing options -- and I'll be adding more as Turkey Day approaches. Read on, decide what best suits your family, and get ready for a delicious, festive night off:
- The Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay is offering elegant meals at two of the resort's restaurants, Oystercatchers and Petey Brown's. For the most elegant affair, book a table at the recently remodeled Oystercatchers (my favorite for its waterfront locale and simple Florida elegance). There will be four carving stations, with offerings like turkey and horseradish crusted roast beef. And if you're a seafood lover, you'll love the flopping-fresh selections, with two hot seafood stations and a full raw bar with Pacific oysters, wild salmon poki and tuna tataki.
- The classy Atlantic Hotel in Fort Lauderdale is offering a $49 set menu with Cajun traditional turkey with cornbread stuffing, mache and watercress salad, white truffle and wild mushroom bisque and pecan pie or warm pumpkin pie with cinnamon ice cream for dessert.
- Miami's most prestigious address, The Setai is offering an Asian-inspired vegetarian Thanksgiving menu in addition to a traditional one. The vegetarian offerings include dishes such as lotus leaves stuffed with sticky rice and pumpkin soup with aged parmigiano reggiano. For non-vegetarians, the exotic Thanksgiving menu includes crispy salad of Peking duck, clear ham broth with winter melon and roasted free-range turkey with braised savoy cabbage, candied parsnips and chestnut and sage dressing. The dessert menu sounds divine, too, with offerings such as cinnamon pumpkin cheesecake.
- For an elegant and traditional Thanksgiving dinner at one of Southwest Florida's prime oceanfront properties, hit The Ritz-Carlton, Naples for a traditional Thanksgiving buffet (there are several seating times, from 11:30 a.m. until 6:45 p.m.). The cost is $105 per person for adults and $40 for children 12 and under.
- And you can dine in style at another one of my favorite Miami hotels, the Biltmore in Coral Gables, at the Fontana restaurant, where the multi-course menu includes braised boneless free-range turkey stuffed with housemade chestnut and Italian sausage stuffing and served with sweet semolina frites. Other courses include ravioli-stuffed with pumpkin and spinach flan. $59 per person.
- And for an early start to the big eating day, consider the brunch buffet offerings at the Celebration Hotel in Celebration, with brunch seating times from 11 a.m. and a generous spread that includes maple-roasted yams, lamb, roasted chicken, mahi mahi and bourbon pecan tart and apple pie for a sweet ending.
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| Oystercatchers in the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay |
| Credit: Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay |
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