Thanksgiving Day games have become such a tradition in the National Football League that teams other than Detroit and Dallas would like a special serving of the day's sweets -- especially the competitive edge that they say is allowed the hosts.
Of the four, cinema is the pleasure which can consistently roll food, sex and countless other feelings, themes and experiences into one interesting batch of tiramisu and, more imporantly, you can look at it (I always crave steak when Glenn Ford bites into that slab of meat in The Big Heat; Lee Marvin's special serving of steaming hot coffee, not so much).
Consider the crab cake special, a serving of two four-ounce knockouts blended with sautéed onion and celery, tangy with mustard and lemon, pan-fried in a deceptively modest cover-up of panko and gussied up again by a red pepper aioli, sweet potato mash and crunchy asparagus.
At Casa Nonna, 310 West 38th Street (Eighth Avenue), in the Garment District, an all-you-can-eat meatball special served with a side of pasta and a full carafe of wine is $35.
Good meat selections include chicken medallions in a brown sauce spiked with bourbon and touched with cream, a juicy grilled rib eye, a tasty shell steak marinated in teriyaki sauce and a memorable rack of lamb special, served pink as ordered, atop a bed of barely wilted baby spinach.
Certainly the menu doesn't offer the kind of casual fare the residents of this restaurant-starved area might want to eat on a Tuesday night: there's no burger, for instance, but there is a veal-chop special, served with pre-recession quantities of shaved truffle.
The same sauce, minus the soy, did wonders for one evening's special entree, a serving of beef Stroganoff that Tanaka prepared according to the classic Western recipe.
Breakfast: One serving of Special K cereal with 2/3 cup skim milk and fruit.
Since those early days, the BBQ has expanded, often landing its grill in Miami for Winter Music Conference, with a healthy serving of special guests and a whole lotta fun.
A selection of the specials served at Mai's.
Aside from some free food and a demonstration of a surreal-looking Oculus Rift game, there was the obvious: sure enough, a serving of very special chocolates was made available.
