The 7 Best Foodie Destinations for Thanksgiving This Year

What are you doing about Thanksgiving this year? 2020 has been . . . well . . .  trying (that would be a polite way to say REALLY SERIOUSLY AWFUL). And yet if we are lucky enough, we will still have the opportunity to share a meal with loved ones and focus on the things we are grateful for. But where? With the pandemic putting a damper on family Turkey Day gatherings this year, consider traveling solo or with your quarantine pod to these delicious, socially distant dining destinations. We’ve got the intel on where to travel for a luxury gourmet meal for Thanksgiving 2020. Our ace correspondent Jeanette Settembre has curated a list of the 7 best foodie destinations in America for the fall and Thanksgiving this year.

it’s time to make Thanksgiving 2020 plans

We’ve spent a lot more time in the kitchen this year. Stocking our pantries with staples like canned soups, cereals, boxed pasta and all purpose flour in the early days of the pandemic.

We’ve leaned heavily into comfort foods, slicing up too-ripe bananas for banana breads and jumping on board the sour dough bread baking bandwagon. When the grocery store felt too risky, we defrosted frozen meals — a pot pie, a pizza. 

Now, as one of the biggest meals of the year approaches, we know that despite all the challenges, there’s still a lot to be thankful for in 2020. For example, months of isolation have made us value hospitality, the humanity in being taken care of, and how unifying it feels to share a meal with loved ones and strangers, at a time when many of us still cannot. 

So what’s the right way to approach Thanksgiving dinner in 2020? Dear reader, the good news is that there’s no one answer and no one right way. We’ve been exploring all the options, including lovely places for a Thanksgiving getaway. Now we’re doubling down and sharing our top picks of the travel destinations best for foodies this Thanksgiving. Because it is one of the most important meals of the year – so why not make it one of the most delicious you’ve had all year?

Whether you opt for a delicious escape to the luxury-chic wilderness of Lenox, Massachusetts, where Michelin-starred French chef Daniel Boulud serves as a chef in residency at at an 18th century, Tudor-style mansion in the Berkshires. Or head down to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia’s wine country. There’s a floating restaurant at the confluence of Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River in Northwest Idaho. 

Make it a foodie festival! In lieu of hosting the Turkey Day feast this year, consider relishing these food-focused travel destinations for Thanksgiving instead. And by the way, you can do this earlier in the fall, too –  there’s no need to wait for late November to hit the road and have a marvelous meal.

The 7 Best Foodie Destinations for fall and Thanksgiving This Year

1. Cafe Boulud at Blantyre, Lenox, Massachusetts 

French chef Daniel Boulud is bringing a taste of his three-Michelin-star cuisine from his namesake restaurant Daniel, a New York City institution, to the Berkshires of Lenox Massachusetts for a residency through 2021.

Cafe Boulud will live inside Blantyre, a Tudor-style mansion and estate built in 1902 and surrounded by stunning fall foliage. Dinner is served Wednesdays through Sunday and features a French-focused weekend brunch with a seasonal twist. 

Boulud’s Thanksgiving menu will feature starters like a pumpkin soup with spice croutons and lingonberry and duck paté with dried figs in a saffron quince chutney; and mains like a mushroom and sage risotto.

Of course, there will be a traditional Berkshire Turkey with apple and chestnut stuffing, orange-cranberry relish and shallot- rosemary gravy. Meals will be served throughout the property’s expansive 110-acre mansion in compliance with state and CDC guidelines. Guest rooms feature a fireplace in each, a spa and a 9,000 bottle wine cellar. 

2. The Point Resort, Saranac Lake, New York  

The Point Resort is a boutique property in Upstate New York’s Saranac Lake, built by the Rockefellers as a retreat during the Adirondack Great Camps.  

It’s now home to some of New York City’s most acclaimed chefs, with alumni from restaurants like Le Bernardin, The Modern and Marta working in residence. 

The Point’s menu, general manager Joe Maiurano says, is inspired by each chef’s culinary background. For example, Seoul-born chef Jae Jung, who trained in New Orleans and under Chef Eric Ripert at Le Bernardin in New York City, brings Creole-inspired flavors to dishes like Korean fried quail with kohlrabi slaw. Other featured dishes include a black truffle risotto with striped bass. 

For dinner, chefs prepare 4-course menus with locally sourced produce forged on the property’s sprawling 75-acres. A formal 7-course meal is served between Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Guest rooms are nestled in log cabins on the serene short of Upper Saranac Lake where the simplicity of the wilderness merges with luxury art and antiques. After dinner, guests can enjoy lake-front campfires and, when the weather gets colder, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

3. The Inn at Willow Grove, Orange, Virginia 

The backdrop of the charming colonial Inn at Willow Grove, with its Manor House dating back to 1778, is the stunning Blue Ridge Mountain range in Virginia’s wine country.

Guests are served fresh-made beignets in the morning in cottages that feature a private porch and fireplace. The on-property restaurant, Vintage Restaurant & Pub, features fall-forward dishes like roasted butternut soup with apple vinegar and brown butter; spice-rubbed bone-in pork with grits and grilled apples served in a honey mustard sage sauce and mains like filet mignon with bacon-chili jam.

Wine lovers may be inclined to check out the Barboursville Vineyards for a sip of Barbera Reserve with a history lesson on the side. The historic Landmark Ruins, on the property of the mansion Thomas Jefferson built for Virginia Governor James Barbour, are just a stroll away. 

4. White Barn Inn, Kennebunk, Maine

Seafood is the main event at the quaint White Barn Inn, located in the coastal Maine town of Kennebunk.

Chefs cook up dishes with ingredients from local Maine fisheries and nearby farms. The White Barn Inn Restaurant has an entire menu devoted to lobster: chilled sweet corn lobster soup; lobster tagliatelle pasta with Calabrian chili, mushrooms and crunchy chicken skin; and rack of lamb served with a lobster-based French bordelaise sauce.

Travelers looking to stay the night can choose from the Inn’s selection of private rooms, cottages or suites with views of the Kennebunk River. 

5. Coeur d’Alene Resort, Idaho

Of course, you can always go West for autumn and Thanksgiving joys this year. The lakeside resort in Northwest Idaho gets its name from the Coeur d’Alene lake, featuring attractions like camping and golf for warmer months and ten restaurants in the town. 

Dine on the water at The Cedars, the resort’s floating restaurant at the junction of Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River. The eatery is buoyed by 600,000 pounds of concrete-encased styrofoam.

Eaters can take in breathtaking views of Lake Coeur d’Alene while savoring specialties like Biergarten Filet and Cedar Plank salmon. Try not to gawk too hard at the boats pulling straight up to the dock.  

6. Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort & Spa, Paradise Valley, Arizona

Savor desert views with your Turkey Day feast at this Paradise Valley oasis. Thanksgiving Day dinner will be served at Elements, the resort’s new American restaurant with an Asian flare by Food Network star chef Beau MacMillian.

Diners will choose from a four-course, prix-fixe menu comprised of a traditional turkey spread with festive fixings like chestnut stuffing and cranberry apple relish. And entrees like a roasted vegetable wellington with gruyere cheese and sage chimichurri. Or a pecan-crusted swordfish with pickled jalapeno, chipotle sweet potato puree and maple cream.

Save room for pumpkin spice crème brulée for dessert. And fittingly for a time of reflection and gratitude, overnight guests are in for a zen awakening in this arid ambiance: the resort features a spa, meditation garden and reflection pond.

7. Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Westchester County, New York

Chef Dan Barber’s farm-to-table dining destination Blue Hill at Stone Barns is just 30 miles north of New York City, near Tarrytown in Westchester County. It’s one of the best kitchens on the East Coast, and known for its innovative approach to plant-forward cuisine and farm-to-table dining.

According to its website, the eatery and farm complex is offering outdoor private events on-site for between 20 and 50 guests at Stone Barns. Off-site catering is available through its program Blue Hill on the Road.  

Those who want to experience the farm have something to look forward to. The restaurant is opening up its kitchen to four chefs as part of a seasonal residency program next year. The aim is to allow for more cultural diversity in the kitchen while providing employment opportunities for chefs who may be out of work as a result of the pandemic. 

Best Foodie Destinations for fall and Thanksgiving This Year

Those are our top picks for the best places to travel for a gourmet meal this fall or on Thanksgiving Day. Where are you headed?

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Jeanette Septtembre is a New York City features writer and editor specializing in lifestyle, food, and travel. Her work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, WSJ Magazine and Architectural Digest, among many other publications. Jeanette started her career in journalism as a features reporter for the New York Daily News, where she edited Entertainment and wrote the Sunday food column “Eats Beat.”

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