French Tart from Whisk (Photo by Sarah Thrift)
1. The Veg-Head
Truly Scrumptious Local Meals: harvest vegetable or butternut squash and apple soups; $11.25 per quart, various pickup locations.
The velvety butternut squash and apple soup won’t just please the meatless in your midst, while the harvest vegetable, a vegan variety, blends Blue Hubbard, butternut and kuri squashes with a nice hint of thyme.
2. Urbane Entertainer
Stella’s Grocery: potato fennel au gratin or shaved Brussels sprouts; $15 each, serves eight
These aren’t the heavy accompaniments they might appear to be — the potatoes are delicate, and the sprouts are light, crisp and, thanks to a scattering of toasted hazelnuts, crunchy.
3. The Glutton for Gluten
Prairie Grain Bread Co.: nine grain or white dinner rolls; six for $2.40; walnut spice raisin bread, 2-pound loaf for $5.15
Stock the ultimate bread basket for your Thanksgiving table: nine-grain dinner rolls with sunflower, sesame, millet and poppy seeds; pillowy white dinner rolls; and walnut spice raisin bread for something sweeter.
4. The Turkey + Three-er
Family Secrets: pans of yams, greens, or mac and cheese; $35 each; serves 20
Family Secrets offers tangy collards, grown in their garden off Creighton Road and simmered with pork; whole yams, candied and punched up with baking spices; and old-school mac and cheese.
5. The Francophile
Whisk: French tart; $25 each, serves 8 to 10.
These are special-order treats, so don’t delay if you want to spoil your guests with red-wine-poached pears with pistachio frangipane, or silky white- and dark-chocolate sesame custards in a chocolate cookie crust.
