the davidsonienne •

Every Thanksgiving I have come home, the problem has usually already presented itself.  I offer to make food about a week before Turkey Day festivities, hoping that if the usual family plan were to fall through that I could present (magically) some kind of reasonable, home-cooked alternative.  Since I tend to get home anywhere from 5 to 11 pm at night on the Wednesday before the holiday, this notion is kind of silly.  However, every year I never fail to have at least a moment of alarm that this Thanksgiving, my family will be traipsing to Luby’s.  Apparently, Luby’s is a Texas phenomenon.  I am sorry, rest of the world, that you will never be able to experience a Luby’s.  I have fond memories of visiting Luby’s as a young child with grandmother in tow.  My usual selection was “fried fish on the Luann” - the website describes this as “baked white fish.”  Bottom-feeder, no doubt.  I remember fried okra, lima beans, macaroni and cheese, carrot raisin salad… mmm… one time I think I ordered mashed potatoes, yams, and new potatoes all together.  Ah, childhood and its freedoms.  The dessert spread is also vividly emblazoned in my memory.  Mostly just that lemon meringue pie (the egg whites were baffling).  

Perhaps the most hilarious thing about Luby’s is the “community table” - a large ten top round table where extroverted individuals are encouraged to sit and make chatter or get to know the other guests at the table… kind of like camp?  For the lonely? 

Luby’s, of course, is available to make your entire Thanksgiving dinner, which I am sure is very convenient and tasty to some people, but somehow makes me think the host of such a gathering should be handing out plastic trays and pepto bismol (the fried food is a strength of theirs.)

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope yours is local…