Bellmore Eateries Provide All the Fixings for Thanksgiving

For most people, Thanksgiving brings along thoughts of a mammoth turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and apple pies.

However, there are those of us who have no ambition to cook on Thanksgiving and would gladly starve before going near a stove. But fear not Bellmore residents, two local eateries have all the festivities covered.

Both Zorn's of Bellmore and the Bare Naked Bakery have Thanksgiving covered to the last ounce of gravy.

Zorn's will be offering the "turkey feast," which can be picked up until 8:30 p.m. the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. The meal is cold when picked up and comes in reheatable trays for the microwave or oven.

"It comes out fantastic," said Peter Zorn, general manager of the Zorn's of Bellmore. "We've done tests, you can't even tell that the turkey has been reheated as opposed to cooking the turkey freshly that day."

The feast includes a roasted turkey, side dishes of stuffing, gravy, cranberries, an apple pie and dinner rolls.

"It's the whole Thanksgiving feast," Zorn said.

Zorn said he expects close to 200 orders for Thanksgiving. He also expects the restaurant to be very crowded the night before to the point that people will have to wait outside.

"[It's] much busier," he said. "Thanksgiving is so unique in the sense that most of the time we're selling chicken, ribs and side dishes, and this is turkey. It's a much busier day."

But providing a more-than-hardy Thanksgiving meal for families around Bellmore is something Zorn said he takes great pride in.

"It's so rewarding," he said. "Thanksgiving is a family holiday and everyone celebrates it. ... You just enjoy this kind of holiday. It's busy, but it's fun, because people are coming in to pick up their food and they're going to enjoy it."

Right down the road from Zorn's is the Bare Naked Bakery, which has a slew of options for people looking to take the gluten-free route – something not easy to get on Thanksgiving.

"We get a lot of special orders," said Bridget Brennan, chef and owner of the bakery. "… It's awesome for our customers to be able to get a gluten-free version of their home-cooked meals."

The bakery will be open until 8:30 the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving and will offer a special menu for Turkey Day. The menu will feature different types of bread such as corn bread, pumpkin bread, cinnamon raisin bread, mock "rye" bread and white bread.

"We always try to listen to the request of our customers, to see what's in demand," said Brennan of her Thanksgiving menu. "Most of it is for people who have specialty needs. It's really just the basics, like cornbread or things that they can't normally get or haven't had in years."

Also on the menu are the usual favorites of mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing, as well as Thanksgiving-themed paninis entitled, "The Pilgrim," "The Mayflower," and "Gobble Gobble Grilled Cheese."

"It's all inspired by the holiday and by the customers' traditions, that for many years they've either gone without or have had to have really processed versions of or inadequate versions of it," Brennan said.

Other local restaurants that will be open until late on Thanksgiving Eve will be Elisa's Restaurant until 9:30 p.m., Piccolo Ristorante until 10 p.m., China Unicorn until 10 p.m., Pasquale's Pizza & Pasta Cafe until 10 p.m., Cafe Symposio until 10:30 p.m. and Antonette's until 11 p.m.