No Turkey Thanksgiving

Who needs turkey on Thanksgiving?! These holiday food alternatives kill the bird

Who hasn’t seen the 1983 classic A Christmas Story and not gone out for Chinese on Christmas Day at least once?

But can you really have Thanksgiving without a turkey?

Yes, yes you can. Or at least you can add other entrees along with your turkey.

Chef Jamie Goicoechea, of The Woodlands Mi Cocina, says that at his casa they sometimes incorporate tamales and a roasted leg of pork along with more traditional fare.

The Greater Houston Restaurant Association’s new executive director Melissa Stewart does a traditional Thanksgiving meal with extended family but then has a separate special meal with her hubby and child the following Saturday with steak and desserts that they wouldn’t get on turkey day.

P eople who don’t like Brussels sprouts just haven’t had them prepared correctly.

But if you don’t want to cook at all, there’s always Central Market. A popular go-to grocery for Inner Loopers, Central Market kicks it up a notch for the holidays with chef prepared foods you can order and pick up to take home. (Just toss the packaging and you can claim the goods as your own hard work from slaving in the kitchen all day.)

One of the perks of writing about food is that Central Market invites me, and other food writers, for a tasting lunch every year to try their new items. Yeah, I have a hard job.

Now you can get turkeys at Central Market, cooked, uncooked and even pre-brined but uncooked. But there are some new entree items this year you can order as well.

There is the standard white hickory smoked bone-in ham, but also a delicious roasted boneless leg of lamb stuffed with dried Turkish apricots, dried cranberries and mint that could totally replace the traditional turkey. And yes, you can use the leftover lamb in Friday’s morning hash instead of turkey. It’s equally delicious.

Another yummy alternative is the porchetta, traditional Italian pork roast rolled around pistachio pesto and roasted until golden with a slightly crunchy skin. I highly recommend it.

More Than Turkey

New sides include a Swiss chard and leek gratin that is really decadent and roasted Brussels sprouts. People who don’t like Brussels sprouts just haven’t had them prepared correctly.

And Central Market has pies.

We all hope that the fire-shuttered House of Pies reopens in time for Thanksgiving Day, but Central Market has pies to go just in case. With a new pumpkin cream cheese pie and a pear and crystallized ginger that is wonderful.

Central Market kicks it up a notch for the holidays with chef prepared foods.

By the way, Central Market will be open for last minute Thanksgiving shopping until 2 p.m. on the holiday in case you forgot to buy spices or butter, or whatever. There may even be some chef prepared Hatch stuffing left.

So, whatever you choose for you Thanksgiving meal I wish you happiness and deliciousness. As for me, I will be enjoying the company of family at one of the many restaurants that are open on turkey day.

Enjoy. Turkey or not.

Chef Jamie Goicoechea of The Woodlands Mi Cocina says that at his casa they sometimes incorporate tamales and a roasted leg of pork along with more traditional fare.

Mi Concina Restaurants Facebook

Chef Jamie Goicoechea of The Woodlands Mi Cocina says that at his casa they sometimes incorporate tamales and a roasted leg of pork along with more traditional fare.

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New York Times critic awards Houston restaurant 2 stars in glowing review

Courtesy of ChòpnBlọk

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Let’s just call 2025 the year of ChòpnBlọk. In a review published Tuesday, December 16, the New York Times has awarded the Houston restaurant two stars (“very good”).

Written by chief restaurant critic Tejal Rao, the review touts many of the same qualities that the Times already praised when it included ChòpnBlọk on its list of America’s 50 best restaurants.

Rao writes that she usually avoids restaurants that serve food in bowls, but she’s impressed by the way that chef-owner Ope Amosu has put a West African spin on the concept.

“For inspiration, Ope Amosu looked to the kind of chain restaurants that were built to scale, where flavors are often subdued to appeal to the broadest possible audience, focus-grouped to death. But the delight of ChòpnBlok is in its sure sense of self, its lively, multidimensional cooking and clear, delicious vision for modern food from the Black diaspora,” Rao writes.

She singles out specific dishes, including the Nigerian red stew with short rib, the Black Star bowl with shrimp, and the signature Motherland, made with chicken, greens, and plantains. “It’s utterly simple, but draws you in for more with the mouthwatering twang of not-too-much MSG — an international shortcut to building umami that tends to be used carefully, and layered with other forms,” she writes.

The review also touches on the way Amosu switched the restaurant from counter service to full service — described as “warm, informal, and quick with the jokes” — and his time working at Chipotle to learn the basics of the restaurant operations.

A two-star review is only the latest instance of ChòpnBlọk receiving national attention. In addition to the Times 50 best list, Esquire recently named it one of America’s best new restaurants. The Michelin Guide awarded it a Bib Gourmand designation for 2025. Amosu earned a semifinalist nomination for Best Chef: Texas in the 2025 James Beard Awards.

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