Levy Restaurants of Chicago gears up to serve Thanksgiving feast for those in need, including migrants
Levy cooks Thanksgiving feast for those in need, migrants
If you think youre cooking for a lot of mouths this Thanksgiving, try feeding four-thousand people turkey with all the trimmings. Thats the tall order being tackled by Levy Restaurants of Chicago, which is using its industrial-sized kitchen at Guaranteed Rate Field to do the job.
CHICAGO - If you think you're cooking for a lot of mouths this Thanksgiving, try feeding four-thousand people turkey with all the trimmings. That's the tall order being tackled by Levy Restaurants of Chicago, which is using its industrial-sized kitchen at Guaranteed Rate Field to do the job.
Like a general addressing his troops, Levy Restaurants head chef Robin Rosenberg gives marching orders to a dozen or so volunteer cooks working in a massive kitchen deep inside Guaranteed Rate Field.
"It's so big and there's so much room here to spread out and do this right," Rosenberg said. "If you're in a smaller environment, it's so hard to produce this much food."
How much food? How about 1,600 pounds of turkey, 450 pounds of mashed potatoes, 400 pounds of green beans, 450 pounds of sweet potatoes, 600 pounds of cranberries, all topped with 70 gallons of gravy. This is the 27th year Levy has paid for and produced this massive Thanksgiving meal, which will be distributed by the Salvation Army to four-thousand people in need across the Chicago area.
And this year, for the first time, meals will be going to some of the migrants still camped at police stations and other areas throughout Chicago.
"They're gonna have a traditional—our traditional Thanksgiving," Rosenberg said. "I think they're going to remember it forever. How great the food is. They're going to crave turkey and dressing now after they eat it."
The volunteers are all Levy employees, including attorneys, finance directors, and others who don't normally work in the kitchen.
"It is fun. Great time," said Levy VP of Finance Mike Miller as he dumped a giant bag of frozen green beans into a bowl. "It's all about the food was our moniker years ago and it still is."
But cooking is just the start of this volunteer effort. They'll be back at Guaranteed Rate Field at 5 a.m. Thanksgiving morning to reheat all the food and then put it on trucks, which will be led by police escort to places in need all over the city.
"We work hard but we're so lucky," said Rosenberg. "And people who are less fortunate, we've really got to wrap our arms around that and really take care of them too. Make them feel welcome. Make them feel at home. And give them a great meal."