PLANNING TURKEY DAY: Let someone else cook

Southeast full of dine-in and take-out options for Thanksgiving meal

Thanksgiving is a holiday when families can get together, chew the fat and the lean and generally enjoy culinary treats that don't get a lot of play any other time of year.

The downside, of course, is that it involves hours, if not days, of preparation, and often nearly as much time to clean up. Fortunately, for those disinclined to that sort of heavy labor, there are many options available.

At the top of the impress-the-in-laws category is Lawry's The Prime Rib at 4043 Howard Hughes Parkway. It will be serving what it describes as "The Whole Nine Yards," with traditional Thanksgiving turkey, whipped potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce and cornbread for $28 per person. Dessert is $7 more, and choices include pumpkin or pecan pie and English trifle.

Reservations are recommended. Lawry's The Prime Rib will be open from 1 to 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. Call 893-2223 for more information.

McCormick & Schmick's, located at 335 Hughes Center Drive, also will have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in well-appointed surroundings. The meal includes a vegetable, and pumpkin pie for dessert, and costs $18.95 per person.

For a less traditional setting, Mr. Lucky's inside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino at 4455 Paradise Road offers a choice of ham or turkey dinner for $14.95.

Marie Callender's, with a southeast location at 4800 S. Eastern Ave., will offer five meal plans through their Take-Home Feast program, including the Turkey Feast, Ham Feast, the Ultimate Whole Turkey Feast, Ham and Turkey Combo Feast and the Ultimate Ham and Turkey Feast.

Each meal includes your choice of meat, with the ultimate meals featuring whole roasted turkey, ham, and your choice of trimmings, a few of which may include: mashed potatoes, fire-roasted yams, apple-sage stuffing, vegetables, fresh baked cornbread, and whole pumpkin or apple pie.

In addition, if you simply want to pick up one of their tasty pies to augment your home-cooked Thanksgiving dinner, they're sure to have baked a fair amount of pumpkin and pecan pies, along with their usual assortment.

Of course, the sooner you get the pie the better, as they're likely to be going fast on Turkey Day. The restaurant is open on Thanksgiving from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Memphis Championship Barbecue at 2250 E. Warm Springs Road will feature its Holiday Feast for $15.99 for adults and $7.99 for kids.

The meal includes a choice of turkey or country-smoked ham, tossed green salad, rolls with honey butter, and a choice of five side dishes, such as candied yams, cornbread dressing and green bean casserole. Dinner comes with a choice of pumpkin or sweet potato pie, or apple cobbler.

Reservations are recommended, as it's always busy on Thanksgiving, a fact that manager Markini Clarke attributes to the restaurant's ambience.

"It's like being somewhere else," Clarke said. "It's all the comforts of home, without having to do the dishes."

The restaurant is open from noon to 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day.

For folks who like the idea of enjoying a Thanksgiving meal at home, but aren't exactly keen on doing the cooking, Memphis Championship Barbecue also will prepare a whole take-out meal that feeds four to six people.

The meal includes a whole 14- to 16-pound turkey, a quart each of mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed corn and sage dressing, as well as a dozen dinner rolls and a whole sweet potato pie for $69.99. Officially, you need to order a week ahead, but the restaurant always makes up a few extra orders for last-minute shoppers.

It also offers whole cooked turkeys for $45 and both spiral cut and boneless pit ham for $69.99.

Albertsons also offers a packaged dinner in need of re-heating.

There are three types -- the spiral cut ham dinner, turkey dinner and USDA Choice prime rib dinner. Prices range from $39.99 to $59.99, depending on the number of people to be fed and whether you choose a classic or ultimate package.

Dinner packages come with sides like home-style bread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and a 10-inch pumpkin pie.

All meals are fully cooked, assembled at a central location and distributed at your area store. Allow two to three hours re-heating time.

If you decide to go this route, take note that Albertsons requests 48-hour advance notice.

"Ordering early is essential because they sell like crazy," said Lilia M. Rodriguez, corporate public affairs manager.

Orders are taken at the Albertsons deli counter. Locations in the southeast include 7271 S. Eastern Ave.; 1300 E. Flamingo Road; 2575 S. Maryland Parkway; 2300 E. Tropicana Ave.; and 9725 S. Maryland Parkway.