PHOTOS: Top: Ringside Steakhouse offers a traditional Thanksgiving meal kit that serves four. Below, Allen Levin dishes up spiced butternut squash & argula salad. The salad will come with all kosher Thanksgiving meals ordered from    Century Catering. 

BY KERRY POLITZER

Thanksgiving is definitely different this year. Most of us will not be cooking a giant turkey for our extended family, while some might not even feel like preparing anything at all. Fortunately, Portland’s great restaurants are cooking up nourishing dinners to fill us with gratitude.
For a kosher Thanksgiving, order a Thanksgiving meal to go from Century Catering. Order by Monday, Nov. 23. Thanksgiving dinner can be picked up at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center (6651 SW Capitol Hwy.) on Wednesday, Nov. 25, between 3 and 5 pm. Choose from Roasted Rosemary Turkey, Prime Rib or Butternut Squash stuffed with quinoa, kale, mushrooms, cranberries and herbs. All three main dishes include salad, stuffing, gravy and roasted root vegetables; pareve pumpkin cheesecake comes with the turkey or beef. For ordering information, contact Allen Levin at 503-849-2605 or centurycatering84@gmail.com.
For a meal devoid of meat and dairy, order a Thanksgiving meal kit from Farm Spirit (1403 SE Belmont St.). This popular vegan restaurant is accepting preorders until Nov. 21. The main course is a tempeh roast with cornbread stuffing and wild mushroom gravy. Side dishes include a vegan potato gratin and roasted fall veggies. (At $35 a person, this meal is a bargain.) If you’re inclined toward sweets, add a pumpkin trifle or apple crumble pie. To order, email thanksgiving@farmspiritpdx.com. 
Kachka (960 SE 11th Ave.) is celebrating Thanksgiving with a Russian touch. You can pre-order the meal with either meat or vegetarian options (from $70). The turkey ballotine is a masterpiece of skin-on, deboned turkey breasts inlaid with housemade turkey sausage and poached in apple kvass. Accompaniments include roasted heirloom pumpkins filled with hazelnut stuffing, braised chanterelle mushrooms with Yukon Gold potatoes, sweet potato babka casserole and Ukrainian pull-apart rolls. For an alternative to pumpkin pie, try the apple sharlotka cake or pumpkin zapekanka. kachkapdx.com/meals-grocery/thanksgiving-dinner-meal-kit
Traditionalists will want to check out the offerings from Ringside Steakhouse (2165 W. Burnside St.). The classic Portland eatery is offering a great Thanksgiving meal kit, which includes a roasted bone-in turkey breast with gravy and cranberry sauce, artisan sage-and-onion bread stuffing and green beans with herbs. The kits, which serve four people, are available for preorder at ringsidesteakhouse.com/holiday-kit-orders. The included Willamette Valley Pie Co. pumpkin pie contains dairy, so if you require a dessert without any milk products, we recommend the vegan cranberry juniper sorbet from Salt & Straw (various locations). Made with kettle-simmered organic cranberries, this dessert is sure to delight.
If you plan on a dairy or pareve Thanksgiving, you can pick up some fresh fish at Flying Fish Company (3004 E. Burnside St). Incidentally, the seafood-focused store is also selling pasture-raised Thanksgiving turkeys that can be pre-ordered at oregonfreshfish@gmail.com.
If you have all the side dishes covered and just need the meat, Nicky USA (223 SE 3rd Ave.) is offering a great selection of sustainably raised meats. The premium free-range turkeys ($2.34/lb.), which are never frozen, are about 10-12 pounds – perfect for smaller gatherings. A natural, bone-in turkey breast is another option. If turkey’s not your thing, try the Cornish hens or leg of lamb. Preorder at nickyusa.com/online-ordering-form or 503-234-4263. 

Trader Joe's and Safeway also have kosher turkeys available locally.

Kerry Politzer is a writer, foodie and pianist who moved to Portland in 2011.