Thanksgiving, the day among the fall season most closely associated with robust, several-course home-cooked meals, is still, in fact, a holiday, and many families opt to outsource their traditional family feasts to take advantage of the opportunity to rest.
Many restaurants in the area are staying open on Thursday, to oblige. A number of casual dining spots like Applebee’s, Cracker Barrel and California Dreaming are staying open all day, and Boll Weevil Cafe, the Juicy Crab and Edgar’s Grille are among local eateries offering Turkey Day meals for those who decide to go out rather than cooking in.
“We are traditionally open the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas to make sure that we can help as many families as possible have a little less stress during the holidays with a good home-cooked meal,” said Havird Usry, vice president of Fatman’s Hospitality Group, about Fatman’s Café’s service on November’s fourth Thursday. “We also cater on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas day for very large groups and businesses that operate 24/7, and have team members that can’t spend time at home during those holidays.”
Those Wednesdays just before Thanksgiving prove the busiest, Usry says, as families rush to pick up their orders. But he also notes that groups picking up catering orders for colleagues working shifts at plants and businesses throughout the CSRA number in the thousands.
Traditional holiday fixings are the main menu items, of course, such as smoked and fried turkey, ham, giblet gravy, cornbread, dressing, collard greens and, Usry makes sure to mention, “our most famous is probably Miss Pearl’s squash casserole!”
As most of the hours of the day itself are already occupied, the Usry family conducts its own Thanksgiving festivities on that prior Wednesday evening, Havird Isry says, with some 40 visitors gathering at the home of Fatman’s owner Brad Usry. Although, for obvious reasons, turkey is not likely on the menu.
“After cooking about 5,000 pounds of turkey, we don’t cook much turkey for family dinner,” he said.
Fatman’s Mill Café & Catering is located at 1450 Greene St.
Skyler Andrews is a reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
