Pittsburgh has no dearth of options when it comes to ordering out for Thanksgiving, from meal kit pre-orders to full-on sit-down holiday feasts. But the region’s love for Thanksgiving food seems to extend beyond the day itself, spawning themed foods that return each November. Maybe it’s the first cold snap or some sort of holiday spirit taking hold, but something inspires Pittsburghers to pile Turkey Day staples onto every entree — calories or higher-end dining be damned. These over-the-top dishes manage to incorporate ice cream, hot dogs, and the O.G., a burrito, alongside the traditional turkey, gravy, and cranberry. Pittsburgh City Paper compiled the region’s most unique, beloved, and borderline unholy Thanksgiving foods.
GetGo Pilgrim Sub
getgocafe.com
Every November, GetGo’s Pilgrim sub returns to its cafes with fanfare. The “specialty food creation” is far from puritanical, claiming in a press release to “combine all the delicious flavors of Thanksgiving dinner on one sub.” Though not as large as it appears on billboards, the stacked sandwich drips with gravy and features sliced turkey breast and white cheddar cheese piled on a “secret-recipe” stuffing bread (“the stuffing of legends,” jokes GetGo’s website). Customers can order it with cranberry sauce or add tater tots for a “Pilgrim Fully-Loaded experience.”
GetGo touts the Pilgrim as its “most popular and exclusive seasonal item.” We’re inclined to believe them, with Pittsburghers swearing they’ll change their lunch hour or plan their own pilgrimage to get their hands on it.
Gobblerito at Mad Mex
madmex.com
The Thanksgiving-themed food craze arguably originated with the Gobblerito, Mad Mex’s Thanksgiving burrito. The decadent burrito — said to have a cult following — attempts to serve an entire Thanksgiving dinner in a tortilla, wrapping up house-roasted turkey, black bean mashed potatoes, stuffing, and corn, then dousing them with gravy and adding a side of cranberry sauce. TribLive reported that this year’s Gobblerito clocks in at about 1,500 calories, and if that’s not enough, you can also order a six-pack of them for take-and-bake.
Matt Glick, regional manager for the big Burrito Restaurant Group chain, invented the Gobblerito 18 years ago, and it comes to the region by way of Philly. After a night out drinking in 2006, Glick and friends stopped in a diner and he ordered a turkey dinner.
“As I was sitting there,” he recounted in 2018, “I said, ‘This would make a great burrito.’” The Gobblerito debuted at Mad Mex’s now-closed Oakland restaurant, and the chain sells about 50,000 of them each year.
The dish’s maximalism is by design, Glick explained, and part of the beauty of it being a burrito is that “when you fold it up, you get a little bit of everything in each bite.”
Burgatory Thanksgiving Burger and Pumpkin Pie Shake
burgatorybar.com
The traditional Thanksgiving menu was reportedly built around foods easily found in the Americas, like domesticated turkeys. But Burgatory asks, what better food to bring the holiday to its final form than a hamburger? The burger bar has been offering an “epic” Thanksgiving Burger since it opened its first location in the Waterworks Mall in 2011. The creation stacks a turkey burger, farmhouse cheddar, mashed potatoes, corn gravy, stuffing bread pudding (made with heavy cream and eggs), and cranberry jam on a brioche bun. Guests can simulate an entire Thanksgiving meal by adding the specialty burger’s longtime companion, a pumpkin pie milkshake, which blends vanilla ice cream, pumpkin pie, and graham crackers, then slathers on whipped cream and caramel sauce. (This year, $1 from each shake sold supports the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.)
Burgatory tells City Paper that the restaurant prides itself on “every component of the Thanksgiving Burger [being] scratch made,” meaning “there just happen to be hundreds of steps to make this specific special.” In 14 years, the burger’s recipe has only been modified once, adding green beans and cornbread stuffing, but the chain “heard [its] fans loud and clear” when they demanded the original back.
“After all, Thanksgiving is all about tradition!” Burgatory says.
D’s Franksgiving Dog
ds6pax.com
A Thanksgiving burger necessitates a Thanksgiving hot dog, and D’s Six Pax & Dogz answered the call. The restaurant — recently awarded Best Hot Dog in CP’s Best of PGH Readers’ Poll — brought back the fan-favorite “Franksgiving Dog” as its special dog of the month. The Franksgiving Dog heaps mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, and gravy on a turkey hot dog along with an obligatory side of cranberry sauce (it can also be ordered as a veggie dog).
D’s executive chef Corey Flesse told Local Pittsburgh that the restaurant aimed to create “a seasonal dog that encompassed all the feelings of what it’s like to be at grandma’s house on Thanksgiving.”
Apparently, the nostalgic approach worked, and the Franksgiving Dog inspired more special dogs of the month and became a number-one seller.
When asked how many calories are in the dog, Fleese replied, “about, a lot,” advising “not to plan on keeping true to your diet” when stopping by D’s. “This is heart attack food at its finest.”
Still, he said, the turkey-based Franksgiving Dog has less fat than D’s usual beef dog, and you shouldn’t feel guilty pairing it with a pumpkin beer or a brown ale to get the best of the season.
Baskin-Robbins Turkey Cake and Brie Ice Cream
baskinrobbins.com
CP has previously declared our love and unease at one of the weirdest Thanksgiving food creations, the Baskin-Robbins Turkey Cake. For the uninitiated, the Thanksgiving-themed ice cream cake is not a cutesy cartoon turkey, but closer to an AI-generated image of a roasted bird. The uncanny confection is made by covering an ice cream flavor of your choice with a caramel praline glaze, then sticking in sugar cones for turkey legs.
This year, Baskin-Robbins takes things to a new level by unveiling a “cheeseboard-inspired” flavor of the month, Brie My Guest.
“Ice cream lovers won’t brie-lieve that so much deliciousness could fit into each pink spoonful!” a company press release reads.
Did you know that you needed a brie-and-burrata-flavored ice cream topped with almonds and pistachio pieces to approximate a holiday charcuterie board? Baskin-Robbins did, and they’ve even added apricot swirls to give “a pop of tangy sweetness.” With the addition of a brie ice cream appetizer, those who are dessert-inclined can now create a holiday dinner table made almost entirely of ice cream, transcending even the most hybrid Thanksgiving foods.
This article appears in Nov 20-26, 2024.
