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Thankgiving 2013


EX-PAT2011

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Average at best describes the Thanksgiving dinner here. Potatoes were lumpy and bland, the stuffing was horrible, definitely not home made like mother used to make, but you put gravy on it and it's good. Not enough turkey on the plate...etc. The turkey soup/broth was very good. But then again, turkey fat is usually good anyway. Did anybody else think that the dessert was included in the meal? For $50 pesos you get a delicious piece of chocolate cake. Problem was, could they make it any smaller?

The wine is always good at GO, so no problems in that area. The thing is, the restaurants here seem to think that they can over charge for this meal and the gringos will still pay. After all, it is Thanksgiving, eh? Incidentally, when it came time to pay the bill, the owner, Pedro, was no where to be found. What was he hiding from? I guess we'll just have to do it ourselves next year.

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Went to Mannix for Thanksgiving. Wonderful food. Not like Mother used to make, or I used to make, but very very good and generous, too. Service was fine--the waiters were really hopping. The downstairs was noisy, but we lucked out and had a table by the upstairs window. And the restaurant was sold out for all 3 seatings, huge crowd. Nueva Posada and Salvador's are also good and reliable. And at Salvador's, at least in the past, you can go back to the buffet as often as you like.

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Pedro should hide his head in shame. His meals used to be so good and the prices always worth it.

The prices at some of the restaurants are getting up there, all right. (gasp, re #4) We stayed home, hosted some friends and cooked up a feast that was not turkey-centered. Then, today, we had a delicious turkey plate at Roberto's for lunch at 70 pesos. Leftovers are always the best part of the Thanksgiving dinner, eh? :P

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Pedro should hide his head in shame. His meals used to be so good and the prices always worth it.

The prices at some of the restaurants are getting up there, all right. (gasp, re #4) We stayed home, hosted some friends and cooked up a feast that was not turkey-centered. Then, today, we had a delicious turkey plate at Roberto's for lunch at 70 pesos. Leftovers are always the best part of the Thanksgiving dinner, eh? :P

I know this is heresy but my wife and I have eaten at GO twice and both times felt the food was average and way over priced. Also, 65 pesos for a glass of wine is too much .

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I went to Manix and thought the food was terrible and overpriced. I know many people think Salvador's is beneath them but Salvador's puts on an excellent Thanksgiving and Christmas buffet with a reasonable price which is far superior to what Manix served. Manix served runny potatoes, old tasting dried out turkey, stringy pork (no ham), horrible dressing, everything was bad well not true, the cranberry sauce tasted OK. I would rather cook the whole meal myself than eat the Manix buffet for free.

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Oh, do I ever remember the turkey dinners at Pedro's Gourmet. Go Solar is right on about that. And Joco too: Salvadore's may not be "fancy", but boy have they ever learned to put on a turkey feast. Their birds are the juiciest. And ham and all that other stuff is included. Just keep the marshmallow aspic or whatever it is... away from me, lol.

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Well agree with Joco abot Mannix. this was our third year there and this is the first time we were disappointed. It seemed averything was overcooked, steam table tastes and burnt pumpkin pie. Last year there was staff carving turkey and suckling pig. And with two glasses of wine and mineral water the bill was $660.

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We went to Salvador's and were very pleased. The turkey and ham both were fantastic. All the side dishes and desserts were also very tastey ... they were not the way I would prepare them but they were very good and no clean up :) We have been here for several years and this meal was the best Thanksgiving meal we have eaten out. If I don't cook for Christmas we will be eating at Salvador's. The Staff was very friendly and helpful. The food was prepared well and kept hot and fresh. I was worried because we had a 4:30 p.m. seating and thought it might be getting long in the tooth so to speak ... but we could not have been more pleased with this choice.

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I went to Manix and thought the food was terrible and overpriced. I know many people think Salvador's is beneath them but Salvador's puts on an excellent Thanksgiving and Christmas buffet with a reasonable price which is far superior to what Manix served. Manix served runny potatoes, old tasting dried out turkey, stringy pork (no ham), horrible dressing, everything was bad well not true, the cranberry sauce tasted OK. I would rather cook the whole meal myself than eat the Manix buffet for free.

Can't believe we went to the same place. We all thought it was delicious. Moist turkey, delicious pork, good gravy.... too much and offers to go back for seconds. (I did not eat the potatoes/bread or dessert but I heard no complaints at our table)

I guess its what you are used to.

It was way too noisy for me, though. I do not like the venue for large events because of the noise.

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Can't believe we went to the same place. We all thought it was delicious. Moist turkey, delicious pork, good gravy.... too much and offers to go back for seconds. (I did not eat the potatoes/bread or dessert but I heard no complaints at our table)

I guess its what you are used to.

It was way too noisy for me, though. I do not like the venue for large events because of the noise.

I had about 10 people at our table and they all thought the same as I did that it was poorly cooked, the turkey was prepared at least days ahead of time, frozen thawed and refrozen a few times and the side dishes were terrible.

From now on I won't experiment and will stick with the tried and true at Salvador's. Salvador's knows how to put on a traditional buffet and cook it correctly. Salvador's has many traditional side dishes, several salads and a selection of desserts plus ham, not stringy pork. I don't think anyone could eat the Maxim pork.

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As I said in my original post, the owners think they charge outrageous prices and we can justify that by the "oh, it's Thanksgiving" mentality. Do you not think the restaurant owners also know how we think? Next year we're doing our own Thanksgiving and y'all are invited. ;)

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A note about the prices of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. There seems to me to be some justification for the higher than normal prices because of the higher costs of turkeys and hams here at Lakeside. I know at home turkey was extremely inexpensive ... so much so that many times if you bought at least $50.00 U.S. of groceries you would get a free turkey. This was years ago and has probably changed somewhat but turkey is still relatively inexpensive in the States. The turkeys and hams that we priced at Costco were approximately $40.00 and up for turkey and the same for 1/2 of a ham. We have seen whole hams that are not that big going between $75.00 and $90.00 U.S. Plus, this is a very big undertaking (cooking for so many people and having it come out right and hot and tasty) and surely the restaurants have to have additional staff all day long. In addition, the restaurants like Salvador's for example that have a buffet where you can go back for seconds have to figure in that many people are going to fill their plates to overflowing the first time and then come back for more .... this is nothing like having control over the cost of a meal off the menu. I know I witnessed many with plates piled so high you would think they had not eaten in a week. Also, Salvador's offered you both turkey and ham ... which is in effect two meals in one (considering the double portions of everything else that many had on their plates) :)

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A note about the prices of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. There seems to me to be some justification for the higher than normal prices because of the higher costs of turkeys and hams here at Lakeside. I know at home turkey was extremely inexpensive ... so much so that many times if you bought at least $50.00 U.S. of groceries you would get a free turkey. This was years ago and has probably changed somewhat but turkey is still relatively inexpensive in the States. The turkeys and hams that we priced at Costco were approximately $40.00 and up for turkey and the same for 1/2 of a ham. We have seen whole hams that are not that big going between $75.00 and $90.00 U.S. Plus, this is a very big undertaking (cooking for so many people and having it come out right and hot and tasty) and surely the restaurants have to have additional staff all day long. In addition, the restaurants like Salvador's for example that have a buffet where you can go back for seconds have to figure in that many people are going to fill their plates to overflowing the first time and then come back for more .... this is nothing like having control over the cost of a meal off the menu. I know I witnessed many with plates piled so high you would think they had not eaten in a week. Also, Salvador's offered you both turkey and ham ... which is in effect two meals in one (considering the double portions of everything else that many had on their plates) :)

This year, we bought a fresh (never frozen) 13 kilo (28 pound) turkey. It cost 800 pesos and fed 20 guests with just enough left over for a turkey tetrazzini. The cost of frozen turkeys was in the same ballpark price.

The rest of the menu:

Dressing for the turkey (with dense white bread, dried cranberries, golden raisins, dried apricots, celery, onions, parsley, sage, home-made turkey broth)

Candied fresh carrots

Fresh green beans with diced sweet red peppers

Mashed potatoes

Cream gravy

Home-made cranberry/orange relish

Dinner rolls/butter

Pumpkin pie from Costco

Home-made Pecan Pie

Maçedoine of seasonal figs and persimmons with fruited mascarpone cheese and home-made nuez garapiñada (caramelized pecans)

Pumpkin cheesecake

Home-made whipped cream

Champagne

Selection of mezcales and tequilas

Michoacán-style torito

Coffee

I can't even calculate the cost of this dinner for 20. In addition, I cooked for four days--and guests brought all of the desserts.

Ingredients: who cares about the cost. Work: who cares about the time. Twenty friends and an infinity of gratitude at Thanksgiving: priceless.

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This year, we bought a fresh (never frozen) 13 kilo (28 pound) turkey. It cost 800 pesos and fed 20 guests with just enough left over for a turkey tetrazzini. The cost of frozen turkeys was in the same ballpark price.

The rest of the menu:

Dressing for the turkey (with dense white bread, dried cranberries, golden raisins, dried apricots, celery, onions, parsley, sage, home-made turkey broth)

Candied fresh carrots

Fresh green beans with diced sweet red peppers

Mashed potatoes

Cream gravy

Home-made cranberry/orange relish

Dinner rolls/butter

Pumpkin pie from Costco

Home-made Pecan Pie

Maçedoine of seasonal figs and persimmons with fruited mascarpone cheese and home-made nuez garapiñada (caramelized pecans)

Pumpkin cheesecake

Home-made whipped cream

Champagne

Selection of mezcales and tequilas

Michoacán-style torito

Coffee

I can't even calculate the cost of this dinner for 20. In addition, I cooked for four days--and guests brought all of the desserts.

Ingredients: who cares about the cost. Work: who cares about the time. Twenty friends and an infinity of gratitude at Thanksgiving: priceless.

Sounds delicious. I had despaired of ever finding fresh cranberries here but now will keep trying. Love the green beans and pepper idea for Christmas.

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This year, we bought a fresh (never frozen) 13 kilo (28 pound) turkey. It cost 800 pesos and fed 20 guests with just enough left over for a turkey tetrazzini. The cost of frozen turkeys was in the same ballpark price.

The rest of the menu:

Dressing for the turkey (with dense white bread, dried cranberries, golden raisins, dried apricots, celery, onions, parsley, sage, home-made turkey broth)

Candied fresh carrots

Fresh green beans with diced sweet red peppers

Mashed potatoes

Cream gravy

Home-made cranberry/orange relish

Dinner rolls/butter

Pumpkin pie from Costco

Home-made Pecan Pie

Maçedoine of seasonal figs and persimmons with fruited mascarpone cheese and home-made nuez garapiñada (caramelized pecans)

Pumpkin cheesecake

Home-made whipped cream

Champagne

Selection of mezcales and tequilas

Michoacán-style torito

Coffee

I can't even calculate the cost of this dinner for 20. In addition, I cooked for four days--and guests brought all of the desserts.

Ingredients: who cares about the cost. Work: who cares about the time. Twenty friends and an infinity of gratitude at Thanksgiving: priceless.

More Liana, where did you find the fresh, unfrozen turkey? We looked around but could not find one. Did not check at Puritan Pride though, doh.

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Mexicomoose: More Liana lives in Mexico City, I believe.

You can get a fresh turkey from Puritan Pride, but you need to order weeks ahead of time.

The only thing I have against Salvadore's is the environment, with people piling up plates as though they hadn't eaten in a week (as one poster mentioned), going back to re-pile and then leaving most of it on the plate.

I've heard Manix used to serve an outstanding feast, but that this year it was downhill. I don't know how it went at Roberto's, but the next day when we went for lunch, it was pleasantly emptier, the food was good and the pumpkin pie with raisin rum ice cream was the best I've had in Mexico. Our gang is going there for Christmas.

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