Thanksgiving, somehow, is right around the corner.

Perhaps your family enjoyed that low-key, small family gathering last year. Maybe you decided spending your money at an independent restaurant is a worthy cause, versus dropping a large sum at the grocery store. Some of you hate cooking, others hate shopping.

Whatever your ongoing pandemic predilections, I hope they center on supporting local businesses. It’s a great reason to go out of your way for that little extra-special something: a sourdough loaf, a decadent cake or a Puyallup Valley celery root.

Here are TNT’s picks for some of the coolest treats and full-on meal deals from area bakeries and restaurants, as well as where to find local produce and one wonderful way to use one of the season’s strangest looking veggies.

BUT FIRST, DESSERT

Last year, my partner and I decided to make a nontraditional feast — for just the two of us — and feast we did. Normally baking is my favorite part of holiday dinner prep, but it felt right to leave it to the pros.

Spilled Butter Desserts

▪ 3856 Center St., Tacoma, 253-355-7434 (pickup only)

▪ Details: pre-order online or by calling 253-355-7434 by Nov. 19 at noon, spilledbutterdesserts.com/thanksgiving

Brianne Day’s pop-up and wholesale bakery Spilled Butter Desserts has pie flavors like chai pumpkin, cranberry pear crumble, maple pecan and dutch apple ($27). For my fellow nontraditionalists out there, her key lime pie makes for a tangy finish to an otherwise rich meal. Whole cakes (7-inch $40, 9-inch $55) include a spice cake with layers of orange pastry cream, cinnamon buttercream and a caramel drizzle, or a pumpkin cake with layers of cream cheese frosting, chocolate ganache, espresso buttercream and a ginger spice cookie crumble.

Jack + Adeline Hearth

▪ Waterfront Market at Point Ruston, 5101 Ruston Way, Ruston, 253-561-7711, jackandadeline.com

▪ Details: order online or by email, leanne@jackandadeline.com, by Nov. 17 for pickup Nov. 23-24

Soon, Jack + Adeline Hearth + Home will open their dual bakery-woodworking studio in downtown Tacoma, but for now, Leanne Franetovich continues to sell her sourdough breads, rich croissants and cinnamon rolls online for pickup at The Waterfront Market at Point Ruston. The perk of ordering your pies ($22) here — vanilla bourbon pumpkin and Grammy’s Apple — is that you can add a loaf or two for the dinner table, in styles such as whole grain spelt, Kalamata olive and roasted garlic ($11-$13). Add some chocolate croissants ($22 half-dozen) for breakfast because why not?

The Cat & Rabbitt Cake Shop

▪ 2811 6th Ave., Tacoma, thecatandrabbitt.com

▪ Details: limited availability; pre-order online for pickup Nov. 24, noon to 2 p.m.

For more non-pie desserts, head to The Cat & Rabbit Cake Shop on Tacoma’s Sixth Avenue, where Julia Brown and Terryn Abbitt create some of the region’s finest multilayered, buttercream specimens. After my first slice, I began questioning what cake was, convinced that every cake that came before was not cake at all but some sad, crumbly wad of sugar and flour. This is the opposite: rich but nuanced, moist but rightly so, unique but not for the sake of it. Pre-order a whole, 9-inch chocolate cream cake, with or without pumpkin ($100).

Cookie Dough Bliss Tacoma

▪ 634 N. 1st St., Tacoma, 253-267-0276, cookiedobliss.com/tacoma

▪ Details: limited availability;order in-person or by phone, daily noon to 9 p.m.

New this summer, Cookie Dough Bliss opened in Tacoma’s Stadium District as the region’s first brick-and-mortar destination for this trendy safe-to-eat treat. The locally owned shop always offers custom pies, but for Thanksgiving, try the pumpkin cookie dough pie ($25), spread atop vanilla ice cream and a graham cracker crust, all topped with whipped cream dusted with familiar warming spices.

LET THERE BE CELERY ROOT & SOURDOUGH

Carve time to stop by the Proctor Farmers Market, which sets up every Saturday from April through December. (The market takes a break after Dec. 18 and returns once a month January through March.), or the Olympia Farmers Market, which runs every Saturday and Sunday through Dec. 19, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Here you can procure cheese, meat and produce for a locally sourced, home-cooked meal.

Proctor Farmers Market

▪ 27th Street at Proctor Street, Tacoma, proctorfarmersmarket.com

▪ Details: market every Saturday through Dec. 18, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.

Build your own charcuterie board with Salt Blade salumi and goat cheese from Mountain Lodge Farm or Stella Maris. Add salad with greens from Zestful Gardens or Alvarez Organic Farms, and maybe some hazelnuts from Filbert Acres. Look for the last of the fall harvest and the start of winter’s bounty in the form of turnips, squash and celeriac — that knobby bulb that acts like a potato with a celery-leaf aftertaste, perfect for a simple first-course velouté.

Balloon Roof Baking Co.

▪ Details: wholesale-only sourdough bread

▪ Where to buy: Delightful Neighborhood Market, 4818 N. 45th St., Tacoma, 253-327-1144, delightfulmkt.com; Harbor Greens, 2520 Bridgeport Way W., University Place, 253-460-2901 and 5225 Olympic Dr., Gig Harbor, 253-851-7911, harborgreensmarket.com

To complete the meal, snag a loaf of what has quietly become the best sourdough in town from Balloon Roof Baking Co. This new wholesale bakery operates out of a commercial space in Fife and sells only to a handful of accounts. Find one of these loaves ($8-$10), made with a quarter wholewheat flour, at Delightful Neighborhood Market in the North End and Harbor Greens in University Place and Gig Harbor. Arrive by 10 a.m. for best selection.

ORDER TAKEOUT, HOW ‘BOUT SMOKED?

As the pandemic changed the way we celebrated holidays last year, restaurants also adjusted to the times with multi-course meals packaged to-go, ready for easy reheating at home with delicious results.

There’s something about smoked turkey that just sounds right, so we recommend two barbecue joints and their Thanksgiving specials.

Brimstone PNW

▪ 7707 Pioneer Way, Gig Harbor, 253-858-2709, bbqbrimstone.com/thanksgiving-to-go

▪ Details: $95 dinner for 2ish, order online and pickup Nov. 25, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

In Gig Harbor, Brimstone PNW’s 2020 to-go special went over so well they brought it back. Portioned for two with leftovers, according to the restaurant, the menu features a trio of meats — herb-roasted turkey breast, smoked pork, coffee-rubbed brisket — plus four sides, including celery root mashed potatoes, creamed kale gratin and cheesy, garlicky cornbread. For dessert, slices of sweet potato pie and scoops of cranberry cheesecake ice cream.

Jack’s BBQ Algona

▪ 35731 West Valley Highway, Algona, 253-249-7728, jacksbbq.com/thanksgiving

▪ Details: limited quantity available; order online and pickup Nov. 25 at assigned time, 7 a.m.-noon

For the mainland side of the Narrows, Jack’s BBQ in Algona, about 20 minutes from downtown Tacoma, offers whole turkeys ($11 per pound, 12-16 pound birds), sides and dessert. The Central Texas barbecue experts here brine the bird and smoke it overnight with mesquite and fruit woods. A benefit to this menu is customization: Pick and choose your family-style sides ($15-$25), including cranberry sauce, beef and bacon Brussels sprouts, Macrina Bakery dinner rolls and vegetarian apple-sage stuffing. Don’t forget the turkey gravy and either a pecan or chocolate buttermilk pie ($30).

ORDER TAKEOUT, BUT MAKE IT VEGAN

Opposite meat, we have not one but two vegan options. Two Tacoma restaurants — one longstanding and one a few years old — have created a Thanksgiving feast that will help the lone carnivore in your group feel right at home.

Quickie Too Tacoma

▪ 1324 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Tacoma, 253-572-4549, quickietoo.com/collections/thanksgiving-dinner-a-la-carte

▪ Details: $70 prix-fixe for two, $14 à la carte dishes; order by Nov. 22 at 8 p.m. and pick up 1-8 p.m. Nov. 24 or 10 a.m.- noon Nov. 25

From Quickie Too, serving vegan comfort food on Hilltop for nearly 30 years, the set menu for two people (served cold with reheating instructions) includes a choice of either smoked or fried seitan, a whole pumpkin or pecan pie (yes, vegan!), and “all the fixins”: green bean casserole, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberry sauce, candied yams and a bread bag. If feeding a bigger crowd, you can create your own meal or add on to the prix-fixe with family-style à la carte dishes, including gourmet greens, mac and “yease” and cheesy potatoes by the pound, a dozen hushpuppies, and whole pies in either apple caramel or sweet potato.

VIVA TACOMA

▪ 2620 N. Proctor St., Tacoma, 253-503-6498, viva4life.com/take-out-menu

▪ Details: $40 for a single meal or $75 for double serving, order by phone for pickup Nov. 24

Viva Tacoma’s Thanksgiving feast includes six dishes: squash stuffed with housemade walnut-based sausage, garlic and herb mashed potatoes with brown onion gravy, green bean casserole, mac and cheese made with quinoa or corn-based noodles. Bookend the meal with “cheesy” dinner rolls baked with garlic butter and vegan apple pie or pumpkin dulce de leche cheesecake, a signature item.

For more ideas, our 2020 Thanksgiving guide featured local butchers for your bird, including Owens Meats at Point Ruston, Dave’s Meat & Produce in Tacoma’s North End, and Blue Max Meats in Buckley and Puyallup.

This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.