By Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Thanksgiving gatherings are fabulous. Not so fabulous? The stress of cooking a big ’ole turkey – or a ham – along with five or more side dishes.
Luckily, Gingham Café is one of Clarksville’s independent businesses that offer a phone-in alternative through their catering menu. Owner Niesha Wolfe, with her staff, creates homespun dishes that are all made from scratch using ingredients from local purveyors. They can easily relieve the heavy lifting for hosts and hostesses.
According to Heather Jeffers, assistant manager, the café is a great option for entertaining, “Because everything we make is homemade – without all the work for people and having to go to all that trouble.”
Located at 1955-C Madison Street, Gingham Café features a catering menu that offers a variety of appetizers, including a Kentucky cheeseball, mini quiches, hot pecan spread, homemade waffle tray and a shrimp spread.
Its entrée items – which, like the appetizers, serve eight to 10 people – are old-fashioned favorites. Among them are cornbread stuffing (with or without cubed turkey or grilled chicken), ham, sweet potato casserole, sweet potato risotto, gouda mashed potatoes, corn pudding, green bean bake, spicy cranberry relish, orange-ginger cranberry sauce, turkey tetrazzini and an almond chicken and wild rice casserole. The menu also includes desserts.
At Gingham Café the traditional Thanksgiving dishes are made from scratch./Karen Parr-Moody
Jeffers says people can still order for Thanksgiving until Tuesday by 8 p.m. or early Wednesday beginning at 10 a.m.
Customers can order by calling 931-919-4986. More information at www.ginghamcafe.com.
The Gingham Café menu covers all the culinary bases for any meal, but of course Clarksville has many small businesses that are also primed for the holidays.
There’s Gallardo’s Bakery at 215 Dover Road, which offers cupcakes topped with miniature turkeys made of frosting. For more information call 931-919-5030 or check out the store’s Facebook page.
Another fan favorite is Nerdy Bird Cookie Company, located at 1725 Wilma Rudolph Boulevard, Suite D. Its distinction is that it offers gluten-free baked goods, from cookies to cupcakes. The phone number is 931-919-2473 and the website is www.nerdybirdycookies.com.
So if you seek crowd-pleasing dishes for a stress-free Thanksgiving, there’s no doubt that Clarksville’s cafés and bakeries have you covered.
Photos by Karen Parr-Moody
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.