Going first class on Thanksgiving Day
Just think—no dishes to wash
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
Not everyone loves to cook. Especially on Thanksgiving, with a gaggle
of friends and family running around, constantly ducking into the kitchen, poking their
sticky fingers into everything while there’s so much basting, straining, chopping and
mixing to be done.
Not to worry, there are alternatives for those of us who would rather
eat than toil in the kitchen. A handful of local restaurants have a long history of
serving Thanksgiving dinner.
The Warms Springs Ranch Restaurant has been a Thanksgiving favorite for
as long a chef Michael Oversby can remember. He has worked at the Ketchum landmark for 25
years.
The Western-style restaurant, formerly a potato farm and horse and
cattle ranch, is bordered by a well-stocked trout pond, and has a picturesque view of Warm
Springs Creek.
Manager Bob Dunn, who has worked at the restaurant for 18 years, said
Warm Springs Ranch is the traditional restaurant for Thanksgiving in Ketchum,
serving on average 450 people that day.
Doors open at 3 p.m. Thanksgiving Day to a three-course dinner. Patrons
can choose prime rib, salmon, leg of lamb or, of course, the traditional roast turkey.
Prices are $9.95 for children and $18.95 for adults. Reservations are
required.
For those with an athletic bent, historic Galena Lodge, located 23
miles north of town, offers Nordic skiing and snowshoeing before and after its four-course
dinner on Thanksgiving. Work up an appetite before the meal or burn off some calories
after.
Better still, rent a yurt and savor your tryptophan bliss all night in
the snowy woods.
The traditional turkey dinner is served family-style with 10 people per
table. Seatings are at 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and the price is $25 per person. Reservations
are required.
In Trail Creek Village, the warm and cozy Chandler’s restaurant,
which recently won the Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine, will be
serving from both its regular menu and from a special four-course Thanksgiving prefix menu
that includes turkey, lamb, salmon or a stuffed pork chop.
The Thanksgiving menu costs $19.99, and again, reservations are
required.
Reservation books full everywhere you call? The elegant Sun Valley
Lodge Dining Room with its 175 seats might be the only nearby restaurant taking walk-in
guests this Thanksgiving.
The menu offers a choice of five entrees. As of Tuesday, prices were
not available.
Dinner will be served from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m.
For more information on:
· Warm Springs Ranch Restaurant, call
208-726-2609.
· Galena Lodge, call 208-726-4010.
· Chandler’s, call 208-726-1776.
· Sun Valley Lodge Dining Room, call 208-
622-2150.
