What to do on Thanksgiving on the Upper East Side

Thanksgiving in New York City is pretty magical. The weather is cool and crisp, but not yet miserably cold. It’s the time of year that ushers in the holiday season and feels extra festive. We like to spend our Thanksgiving at our apartment on the Upper East Side and, over the past decade-plus, have found our recipe for a great Thanksgiving Day in the neighborhood.

We usually start planning our menu a month or so in advance, and buy most of our ingredients ahead of time, when possible. I tend to get most of the ingredients for sides at Whole Foods and sidewalk fruit+veggie stands. Nate likes the turkey from Ottomanelli’s, which he orders in advance.

On Thanksgiving morning, we’ll pack a small cooler of mimosas and bagels and walk across the park to see the floats lined up for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. After, we come home and put some football on the TV and cook and eat and cook and eat.

If cooking is not your thing, Time Out has a great list of neighborhood restaurants open on Thanksgiving Day.