Gonna have to agree that its a terrible idea. There is a reason salmon or halibut is the non red meat alternative in steak restaurants and not turkey.

Well I guess that settles it. I still think if any of y’all tasted my brother’s thanksgiving throwdown you may change your mind. From spatchcocked achiote rubbed, to deep fried, to pork belly roasted, truffle mashed potatoes, stupid butter sticked Mac and cheese varieties, roasted and shredded Brussels sprout and bacon hash and not even getting started on the dressings...it’s not the dry pile of meat with translucent gravy and can shaped cranberry jelly.

It’s also not the kind of undertaking that could be supported as a second choice in steak or chophouse.

Anyway, my main hope for it was someone else would do it, make it successful and I’d be able to tease my brother about it until one of us dies.

Plus for whatever reason she randomly buys (and specifies) organic items

I think if your brother wants to try it out, try it out as a preorder catering type business right before/during Thanksgiving.

Oh that ship sailed ages ago. He’s an expat in Thailand for the last almost 10 years and now works for some food science kitchen creating recipes for McDonald’s and ****.

He does come back to visit at thanksgiving though.

The response the idea got here has been pretty common with a few flash in the pan enthusiasts so I am pretty sure I am just wrong, anyway.

What about a high-end poultry-oriented (not just turkey) restaurant that doesn't serve steak, where one of the signature dishes would be a year-round Thanksgiving dinner?

You could certainly blow through $800 on a weekend in world famous Branson, Missouri!

(Yes, people told me that is a real tourist destination)

That was pretty much the idea. A few versions of Turkey with some rotating slightly exotic alternate choices like quail, game hen, ostrich etc.

The high end booze and wine would be the $$.

It was all a thc fueled thought exercise and we knew it.

I had a friend who wanted to do something similar with meatloaf. It was quite entertaining to listen to his rationale and plans.

****ing crackpots!

JT,


That sounds like half the restaurants in SF.

Pork belly roasted turkey sounds pretty good, but also is a bit of a statement on turkey.

Tom,


Meatloaf concept way more likely to succeed imo. Infinite possibilities, and lots of potential foodie/hipster appeal. Obv would start with the meatloaf truck.

All points conceded. For reference this idea was hatched while he was sous cheffing for one of the darling celebrity tv chefs of San Francisco when celebrity tv chefs were just becoming a thing around ten years ago.

The guy was a real life *******, contrary to his tv persona. He was abusive af to the staff, including my brother who, looking down the long gauntlet of slaps he would be expected to take to reach his goal opted to move on. Some friends of the family dropped in to try the restaurant a month or so after my brother left and asked for him. The server went to the back and the chef relayed that my brother was currently being rushed to the hospital after a bad knife accident in the kitchen. Phone calls of concern were made to my family who luckily knew where he actually was at the time.

It took a lot of will power for me not to go visit that restaurant and get some assault charges behind that.

To the point, though, that style of cooking was just budding in SF at the time. It is played out now. Hipster meatloaf is for sure more up to date.

I actually had this idea myself a long time ago and I found that no one else thought it was as great an idea as I did.

If such a place existed, I'd go there at least a few times a year.

I'm a sucker for a good Thanksgiving dinner. Also it would be nice to have a good one without putting any effort into pulling it off.

You're about ten years off. Which chef? Only ones I can think of from SF are Cosentino and maybe Hubert Keller, the latter of whom is a nice guy irl, at least imo.

I would do anything for a food truck.

But I won't do that.

A meatloaf truck does not appeal to me.

In a weird coincidence, as I was asking my wife to refresh my memory on the details (I gave it the forum chin-scratch good enough for who it’s for treatment the first time), my brother whatsapped me.

It was the former and my brother was just a line cook, not a sous chef as I recalled. It was more like 13-14 years ago, also. Since I named names at this point, it’s only fair to say I just heard one side of the story, though I trust my brother obv, and there is a tiny remote possibility the hospital hoax thing was a mix-up but that seemed unlikely/impossible to everyone involved at the time.

Heh, it doesn't surprise me. I used to love his restaurant in Noe Valley; probably the same place your brother was at.

Yep.

Melkerson,

I feel the exact same way and it baffles me that it is received so poorly when most people seem to go ape-**** over thanksgiving dinner.

Spending 50% of your income on food seems outrageous to me and I love food and buy some organic products. I think the easiest way to save money on food is to eat in and not waste food. Wasting food is a pet hate of mine, apart from the environmental impact you are also pretty much just throwing money away. Growing some of your own food if you can also will help keep costs down.

Johnny,

I don't think I would go to a restaurant specialising in Thanksgiving but I think it would be popular as a one off event like Christmas in July.

****ing hilarious

That $13 garlic sauce definitely jumped out at me too. That’s ridiculous if it’s a standard consumer size.

Maybe she really does just throw out all those sauces after using them once though. Pretty sad she seems to take pride in that attitude of just being wasteful AF.

Kinda after all this time. It is a good story to have. Still stirs a little violent energy deep down inside me though, cuz that’s my ****ing brother, man!

Nootka, JT:

Incanto was possibly my favorite restaurant in SF (including all the much more expensive higher profile places), and his new place cockscomb is really good too (and just a couple blocks from me). But cosentino was widely known here for being an abusive dick to staff like many(most?) of these high-profile chef/restauranteurs.

Who knows how much is true vs spin, but fwiw:
http://www.foodandwine.com/video/che...health-kitchen