Renowned chef Beau MacMillan pretty much embodies the spirit of Thanksgiving.
The executive chef at Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain hails from the land of all-things Thanksgiving, Plymouth, Massachusetts, which etches in stone his love of the holiday.
So each year at the swanky resort, MacMillan provides out-of-town guests and those who do not want to cook with a culinary feast to give thanks to the harvest season.
Beau MacMillan provides out-of-town guests with a stellar holiday meal at Sanctuary’s Elements restaurant.
This year is no different. Sanctuary is offering two Thanksgiving experiences—a meal in its restaurant, Elements, as well as dinner in its ballroom, The Views.
“We do have a pretty good Thanksgiving lined up,” says MacMillan, who goes by the nickname “Beau Mac.” “We’ve established ourselves as one of those special-occasion restaurants and holiday restaurants. Not only do you have the opportunity to go into Elements if you want to and have that amazing view and a killer prix fixe menu, but this year we’re opening up our ballroom and doing larger parties in a buffet setting.”
The holiday buffet in The Views is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and comes complete with live entertainment, action and carving stations along with a variety of beginnings like salads, artisan breads and assorted cheeses. The buffet is $55 per adult and $20 for children ages 6-12, plus tax and gratuity.
Thanksgiving dinner at Elements is from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. and will be a four-course New American prix-fixe feast. Beginnings include savory fall flavors like roasted butternut squash soup, pumpkin gnocchi, and duck confit with sweet potato hash.
Entrée selections include traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings, roasted halibut with white bean and chorizo stew, baby clams with smoked paprika aioli, and pan-roasted filet of beef with garlicky parsley crust, dauphinoise potatoes, haricot verts and sauce perigueux. An array of desserts are also offered. Dinner is $75 per adult and $25 for children ages 6-12, plus tax and gratuity.
More and more, folks are looking for alternatives to Thanksgiving, whether it be dining in a restaurant or purchasing a catered meal from a grocery store. Some are even bringing their own meals to relatives’ homes due to dietary restrictions.
MacMillan acknowledges that he sticks to Thanksgiving favorites when creating meals, although he sneaks in a few nontraditional dishes as well. One year, he put an Asian spin on Brussels sprouts.
“If we’re going to, say, make a puree of pumpkin and butternut squash, we’ll add a bit of ginger and star anise to them,” he says. “Nothing too outlandish. I’ve done turduckens. I’ve done deep-fried turkeys. We’ve roasted turkeys. We’ve done it all. I think it’s fun to constantly evolve and throw new mixes in.
“But you can’t mess with stuffing and mashed potatoes.”
Luci’s Healthy Marketplace in Phoenix is serving up catered meals for $139.99 with enough dishes to feed six to eight people.
Luci’s Healthy Marketplace carries a host of gluten-free and vegetarian products.Photo by Kimberly Carrillo
“It’s our first time,” says the store/restaurant’s namesake Lucia Schnitzer. “We’ve been asked by our customers if we ever planned on doing it. The intent was always there. We’re in a place now—five and a half years after opening—where we can offer an amazing catered feast this Thanksgiving.”
The $139.99 meal comes with a locally roasted turkey, one quart of turkey gravy, one pint of fresh cranberry sauce with local honey (gluten-free and vegetarian), Luci’s pumpkin pie, cornbread stuffing, green bean casserole (vegetarian), gluten-free and vegan roasted root vegetables and Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. A la carte items are available as well.
Schnitzer explains that she’s proud of what her chef, Stephen Nakashian, has created because it’s affordable.
“If you bought those ingredients individually, it would be way over that price,” she says.
“We wanted to make it reasonable. We offer a natural turkey, not one that was injected with all kinds of things. Our chef is amazing. His recipes are off the charts. We’re really excited to be able to provide something like this to any one of our customers.”
Luci’s Healthy Marketplace also gives something that not a lot of stores offer: An array of choices specific to different diets, whether they be by choice or dictated by health problems.
“If you know you can’t have gluten—say the stuffing—there are other ways to do it,” she says. “There’s a local bread product called Gluten-Free Creations (Bakery). We were one of the first retailers to pick up their products. They used to do everything ecommerce. You can use their bread, toast it up, cube it up and make an amazing stuffing out of it.”
Luci’s also offers vegan alternatives to add to her meal.
“If you were a mouse and you loved to eat cheese, where are you going to find good vegan cheese?” she asks. “You want to make sure it matches the right taste profile, like mac and cheese and all those nostalgic foods that we’re accustomed to. We’ve handpicked some really good cheese alternatives that have the right taste profile, like Daiya.”
Christy Moore is a vegetarian while her husband, Mitchell, is an avid hunter. She was unaware that her “lid organizer” was actually meant for cooking a turkey. Photo by Kimberly Carrillo
Christy Moore, who works as executive director of Valley Leadership, is an eight-year vegetarian who ordered a take-out meal from Green New American Vegetarian restaurant in Tempe a few years back when her husband, Mitchell, was out of town.
She was delighted with the food choices, considering when she sits down for a meal with family, she chooses to eat side dishes that are vegetarian-friendly.
“If all the side dishes are made with a vegetable-based broth, as opposed meat based broth, I can eat that and then just avoid the turkey. I tried a Tofurky once, but it just wasn’t tasty. It’s just not necessary. There are mashed potatoes, casseroles an
d biscuits that I can eat.”
Moore is so separated from a meat-lover’s Thanksgiving that she was unaware that her “lid organizer” was actually meant for cooking a turkey.
The ironic thing about Moore’s quest to live healthy? Her husband is an avid hunter who proudly displays Ernie the Elk on the wall between the living room and kitchen.
Because of her husband and his family’s propensity to eat meat, Moore will sometimes bring her own dishes. She’s careful, however, not to offend folks who aren’t vegetarians.
“I think it’s important to note that my family has gone out of their way to make sure that there are plenty of options for me at the table,” she says. “I walk into every space understanding that my choices shouldn’t influence other people’s choices or inconvenience them. I often go to the party with my own options.”
Schnitzer is limited by her diet as well, so she is unable, for the most part, to have her meal catered.
“We have a kosher home,” she says. “We don’t mix meat and milk together. I’m also lactose intolerant. So my dairy-free foods (at Luci’s) go hand in hand.
“With my kitchen, if I’m making a meat meal, there is Daiya cheese or dairy-free products that’ll work with my diet restrictions. Our turkey, unfortunately, I can’t get here (at Luci’s) because it has to be a kosher turkey. But we cook up a storm.”
Luci’s Healthy Marketplace is open on Thanksgiving for those who maybe don’t want to cook, or who don’t have family in town.
the Elk hangs in the Moores’ home in Mesa.Photo by Kimberly Carrillo
“Our main purpose is this: There are people who don’t have family here,” she says. “They are not going to go have a Thanksgiving feast. So we provide it here. They can see the barista they’re so familiar with. Thanksgiving is supposed to bring people together and feel grateful.”
That’s the exact sentiment that MacMillan and Moore have as well. They say that more important than the consumption of food is the camaraderie between family and friends.
“I think Thanksgiving really is about breaking bread,” MacMillan says, “It’s about passing and sharing. This (at Sanctuary) is a little more elaborate. It’s involved with a little more people.
“From a seasonal aspect, you have all these incredible rustic, earthy, rich ingredients to work with from butternut squash to pumpkin to richer wishes with winter herbs and greens. It’s just incredible, not only from a growing up in Plymouth standpoint, but knowing what it’s all about.”
He shares that belief with his staff.
“Right around Thanksgiving time, I’ll get a Facebook post, a phone call, text or email from guys who have come and gone,” he says. “They’ll say, ‘Chef, I’m thinking about you. I’m thinking about Thanksgiving and the times we had in the kitchen.’
“It’s a bonding thing. It’s about giving and spending time together, with people you love to work with or love in your family.”
Mitchell and Christy Moore agree saying they embrace the true meaning of Thanksgiving—whether it involves turkey or not.
“When I think of Thanksgiving, it’s the feast, the leftover sandwiches later on, the being with family,” Mitchell says.
“Certainly the meal brings you together, but as a vegetarian I don’t think you’re missing out on anything by not enjoying the meat products on the table. That essence of Thanksgiving is still there.”