Eating Out
Lots of restaurants in the Raleigh-Durham area are open for business on Thanksgiving.
Diners looking for an upscale Thanksgiving experience might want to try the holiday dinners served at Four Square, Irregardless cafe or the Fearrington House Restaurant in Pittsboro.
The Angus Barn Restaurant's Thanksgiving buffet is upscale, yet family-friendly (it even has mac n' cheese), and offers special pricing for kids and seniors.
Budget-conscious diners will appreciate the traditional holiday fare served at chain restaurants such as Cracker Barrel (open all day on Thanksgiving), which has locations throughout the Triangle.
Community Meals
If fellowship is on your menu this Thanksgiving, check out one of the community meals that are taking place in the Triangle. The Triangle Vegetarian Society's Thanksgiving Feast is an annual event that draws hundreds of participants (it is one of the largest vegetarian Thanksgiving celebrations in the United States). It's a great place to give thanks in the company some truly food-conscious folks!Prepared Foods at Home
If you want to eat at home this Thanksgiving, but also want to go easy on the cooking, prepared foods are the answer! Many restaurants and grocery stores in the Raleigh-Durham area sell complete family-style Thanksgiving dinners ready to take home and serve.For example, Triangle-area Whole Foods Markets set you up for Thanksgiving success by selling all kinds of prepared holiday meals, even vegan ones. Oh, and don't forget the centerpiece: Whole Foods even sells pre-made cornucopias! Whole Foods has locations in Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh and Cary.
Dickey's Barbecue is one of several Raleigh-Durham area restaurant that offer holiday meals to go. Dickey's holiday meals include your choice of fried turkey, Cajun turkey or spiral-slice ham plus an array of side dishes.
If you're looking for an intermediate option between cooking from scratch and prepared foods, consider trying one of the "meal assembly" businesses that have cropped up all over the Triangle during the past few years. The idea is simple: go to the meal assembly store and assemble your own meals (following the store's own recipes) from raw ingredients that they have chopped and prepared. You'll go home with casseroles, side dishes and desserts that are ready to cook or to freeze, but you won't have to do any shopping, chopping, or clean-up.
Many of the local meal assembly kitchens in the Triangle offer special Thanksgiving menus. For example, Dream Dinners in Durham is offering a "Holiday Side Station" where you can assemble your own green bean casserole, stuffing, and mashed potatoes with gravy. Then, all you have to do is take your pre-assembled meals home and bake or heat them.
Other Raleigh-Durham area meal-assembly businesses include Dinner Savvy in Apex, NC and Entrée Vous, which offers a complete Thanksgiving dinner package. Entrée Vous has locations in Morrisville, Durham and Raleigh.