After two years of providing to-go and drive-up meals solely, Chuck’s Fish will return to in-house service for its always-free Thanksgiving Day feast, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Nov. 24.
For 2020 and 2021, the upscale seafood, sushi, pizza, and extra restaurant supplied combos of, turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, inexperienced beans, cranberry sauce, and a roll packaged in Styrofoam to go, moderately than plated and served for seated diners on the 508 Greensboro Ave. location. Although the restaurant has been serving in-house for normal enterprise days, pandemic precautions appeared advisable even final yr.
Transitioning again requires extra volunteers, since a few of Chuck’s employees members take the time off, whereas volunteers assist plate, serve and clear up. The individual delivering your feast is perhaps a lawyer, a linebacker, or a retired College of Alabama administrator since many volunteers return yr after yr.
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“Going again to dine-in requires extra volunteer help,” mentioned Erin Barfield, supervisor of Chuck’s, the second in a line of eating places opened by Charles Morgan III, after the success of his Harbor Docks in Destin, Florida. Morgan has since rolled out Chuck’s Fish areas in Birmingham, Montgomery, Cell, Athens, Georgia, and Tallahassee, Florida.
![Glen Akins places sliced turkey onto a plate while volunteering during the annual Thanksgiving feast hosted at Chuck's Fish on Greensboro Avenue in downtown Tuscaloosa on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015. [Staff file photo]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/11/17/NTTN/31499e80-7831-4e4f-8461-8193c77141e7-Thanksgiving_Feast.JPG?width=660&height=446&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
He additionally owns 5 Bar, with an upscale pub-food menu, across the nook from Chuck’s at 2324 Sixth St.; 5 additionally has areas in Birmingham, Cell, and Athens. Morgan additionally created an upscale Mexican-food idea, El Papi, on Dauphin Avenue in Cell.
“With the drive-through service, we solely used about 50. With dine-in, we want about 150,” Barfield mentioned.
At press time, slots have been nonetheless open on Wednesday afternoon prep, and on the precise Thanksgiving Day, to plate, roll silverware, bus tables, work the pie station, and assist out on the American Lunch meals truck (which shall be getting ready meals for many who nonetheless need to-go service), run plates out, wash dishes, and serve, particularly later within the afternoon. Volunteers wishing to hitch in ought to go right here: www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f48adaf2aa7fac16-chucks1.
Although Chuck’s, 5, and American Lunch staff are given the vacation off, many volunteers to work anyway, to assist hold the feasts rolling on.
“They select to; I strive to not strain them,” Barfield mentioned.
“It helps that with the Iron Bowl at dwelling (this weekend), they know they can not go wherever,” she mentioned, laughing.
![Dozens of guests seated at tables enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal at the annual Thanksgiving feast held at Chuck's Fish in downtown Tuscaloosa on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. [Staff file photo]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/11/17/NTTN/304a5eac-7747-46e8-83bd-260708b64434-AL_TUS_ChucksThanksEN02.JPG?width=660&height=423&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
It is not simply that followers and college students shall be hanging round Tuscaloosa over the vacation weekend for the two:30 p.m. Nov. 26 conflict between the Crimson Tide and the Auburn Tigers, however Chuck’s should gear as much as feed a crew from CBS on Thursday night, anticipated to be 100 or extra.
“I am questioning how everybody goes to reply,” Barfield mentioned “The to-go was a little bit bit simpler on folks,” however the overriding feeling now could be that diners need to return to one thing like normalcy, after years of shut-downs and restricted operations because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We began the occasion with the hope that folks of all walks of life would are available, so the expertise is a vital a part of it,” Barfield mentioned. Thanksgiving Day meals are at all times free, for anybody, so a household that ordinarily may discover it financially troublesome to dine out could possibly be sitting subsequent to a gaggle of scholars from abroad who cannot get dwelling over the lengthy weekend, subsequent to rich regulars, or some domestically well-known faces. There’s by no means a cost, however donation buckets are positioned round for many who want to contribute; all funds go to Habitat for Humanity Tuscaloosa.
Chuck’s served about 1,800 in 2019, then within the to-go years went even greater, serving about 3,000 for 2021.
“This yr we’re capturing for about 2,000, as a result of dine-in can also be a slower service,” Barfield mentioned. Traces begin forming early, with service working from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
![Plates with pieces of ham and turkey are passed down the line during the annual Thanksgiving feast held at Chuck's Fish in downtown Tuscaloosa on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. [Staff file photo]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/11/17/NTTN/5f5b0a17-b80e-4631-a999-77cfdd289274-AL_TUS_ChucksThanksEN09.JPG?width=660&height=386&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Even with volunteer slots open, Barfield is aware of they’ll do it once more; it is concerning the thirteenth or 14th yr for such feasts, she mentioned, from a restaurant that opened in 2006. The idea originated greater than a quarter-century again, with one among Morgan’s long-time staff at Harbor Docks, which opened on its Gulf-front location in 1979. He is named the seafood eating places after his father, a heralded civil rights lawyer who argued 9 instances earlier than the Supreme Courtroom. These feasts usually are not group service, Morgan says, as a result of his eating places and staff are a part of the group.
“We’re lucky to make profession at promoting meals,” mentioned Morgan in a 2019 interview with The Tuscaloosa Information. “Giving meals away sooner or later a yr shouldn’t be that large a deal.” When given the prospect, “a lotta folks need to do the best factor.”
Different Thanksgiving Day choices
For these not wishing to attend out traces at Chuck’s, and with the cash to spend, there are a variety of different vacation selections round Tuscaloosa. As they are going to in something in need of an impending hurricane, Waffle Home areas shall be open, as nicely many resort in-house services, as a result of most chains require their areas to proceed to serve company. Waffle Home has a number of areas in Tuscaloosa and Northport; for extra, test right here: https://locations.wafflehouse.com.
On the Embassy Suites Hilton, its upscale Facet by Facet Kitchen and Cocktails will supply a Thanksgiving Day buffet, served from 12-3 p.m., and 4-8 p.m., priced at $54, or $20 for youngsters 10 and below. Reservations are really useful. Included are salad and soup selections, with citrus brined entire turkey, smoked nation ham, and sluggish roasted prime rib. Facet dishes embrace cornbread dressing, braised collard greens and extra, with a number of desserts together with pumpkin cheesecake, apple cobbler and pecan pie.
![At the Embassy Suites Hilton, its upscale Side by Side Kitchen and Cocktails, shown in this 2015 file photo, will offer a Thanksgiving Day buffet, served from 12-3 p.m., and 4-8 p.m. [Staff file photo]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/11/17/NTTN/c10d4542-78fe-4b55-bf0f-d44b0a10f3b2-1223RestaurantsXmas.JPG?width=660&height=503&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Facet by Facet can also be providing a to-go package deal, serving 4, for $200, with a lot the identical menu. For extra, see sidebysidekitchen.com, or name 205-561-5097. Orders for to-go have to be positioned by midday Monday, Nov. 21. Pickup shall be 10 a.m. to midday Thanksgiving Day.
Sitar of India, previously Sitar Indian Delicacies, shall be open common hours Thanksgiving Day, in its new location at 220 fifteenth St. E., throughout from Forest Lake.
With its expanded patio and menu additions, Sitar is holding extra particular occasions resembling its Thanksgiving Day buffet, that includes all-you-can-eat tandouri turkey, sides, salad bar, breads, dessert and chai tea. That shall be served from 11 a.m.-3 p.m., at $17.95 per individual.
Along with the turkey, the buffet will embrace shrimp goani, goat curry, butter hen, paneer hen masala, assorted pakora, naan/bathura and extra. These with bigger teams are inspired to name forward for reservations, at 205-345-1419.
![Charlene Bregar of Pittsburg, Mississippi, sets plates of pumpkin pie on the counter as orders come in at the annual Thanksgiving feast held at Chuck's Fish in downtown Tuscaloosa on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. [Staff file photo]](https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/11/17/NTTN/21c06d42-060f-4002-8955-411e9d51ea6c-AL_TUS_ChucksThanksEN01.JPG?width=660&height=347&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Dillard’s Chophouse, 2330 Fourth St., on the nook of Greensboro Ave. and Fourth, shall be serving a Thanksgiving menu, with seating from 11:45 a.m. to eight p.m. Reservations usually are not required, however “extremely really useful.” Events of greater than 10 ought to name 205-614-8782 to order tables.
A menu of non-Thanksgiving gadgets may also be obtainable, for anybody all turkey-ed out. See www.dillardschophouse.com/thanksgiving for extra particulars.
At Metro Diner in Midtown Village, on the southwestern crossroads of McFarland Boulevard and fifteenth Avenue, the restaurant will open at its common 8 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, however shut at 2:30 p.m. For extra, see www.metrodiner.com/locations/alabama/tuscaloosa.
And for these not wishing to cook dinner, however nonetheless preferring to eat at dwelling, Cracker Barrel sells heat-and-serve meals that may be made able to eat in two hours, or ready-to-eat packages, served sizzling. They have totally different sizes in response to the variety of of us trying to be fed.
For these wishing to remain out of the kitchen solely, Cracker Barrel will open its common enterprise hours Thursday, 7 a.m.-9 p.m., at 4800 Doris Pate Drive, with conventional Thanksgiving meals served starting at 11 a.m. Whichever choice you select, it is best to name or check-in forward, by way of www.crackerbarrel.com/explore/thanksgiving.
