OGDEN — The turkey was fresh and moist, the mashed potatoes were perfectly cooked, the apple pie was hot and delicious — and for a handful of Top of Utah residents, the thing they were most thankful for was not having to cook any of those things.
More than 300 people took advantage of a classic Thanksgiving feast offered Thursday by Rickenbacker’s Steakhouse at the Ogden Airport.
The restaurant was open Thanksgiving Day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and had more than 300 reservations during that time, Rickenbacker’s manager Rik Hermann said.
The meal featured all the traditional Thanksgiving dinner items: roasted turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, vegetables, an assortment of pies and even prime rib.
“We have a totally different menu today from what our customers are used to,” said Hermann. “We figure if people are coming in on Thanksgiving, they’ll want the traditional Thanksgiving meal.”
Hermann said most of the people he spoke with who dined on Thursday were local Weber County residents.
“We haven’t had a lot of out-of-towners, which you kind of think is who would be eating out on Thanksgiving,” he said. “But most of the people who have come in today have been from the Ogden area. People who just didn’t want to cook.”
Bill McRoberts said he and his family have been eating out for several years now.
“We started going to Chuck-A-Rama, but that got to be too busy,” he said. “Last year we went to Snowbasin and that was phenomenal. It’s just a lot less work and less stress when you do it this way. No cooking, no cleaning up. It’s nice.”
Dianna Harrington said this was her first Thanksgiving eating out, but her rationale was the same as McRoberts’.
“All of my kids are living out of state, and I just didn’t feel like cooking anything,” she said. “I think you should relax on Thanksgiving, and preparing a big meal isn’t very relaxing for me.”
Hermann said the restaurant’s four-hour serving window allowed for people to come and have dinner, but also meant that Rickenbacker employees could spend a large chunk of their day at home with family.
“We figured this way we can serve the community, and our employees can still probably make it home to have dinner with their families,” he said. “It’s the best of both worlds for us.”
Comments