An Italian Friendsgiving for the Office, Steps from Grand Central

Search for Thanksgiving dishes Midtown restaurants are serving and you’ll mostly find lists of turkey dinners. We’d like to offer something a little different. Look closely at the autumn menu at Rosemary’s Midtown, at 825 Third Avenue at 50th Street, and you’ll notice it already reads like a Thanksgiving table translated into Italian: butternut squash soup with brown butter, squash-filled agnolotti, Brussels sprouts, poached pear, a roasted chicken for the center of the table and an olive oil cake to finish.

That makes it a natural fit for the gatherings that fill the weeks around the holiday. Think of the office Friendsgiving, the team lunch before everyone scatters, or the dinner with friends near Grand Central the night before you catch a train out of town. These meals want Thanksgiving comfort without the formality.

This guide maps the classic dishes to their Italian counterparts on our Midtown menu, shows you how to build a shared Friendsgiving spread, suggests what to pour, and explains how to book for a group of any size in Midtown East.

Key Takeaways

• Rosemary’s Midtown’s autumn menu has Italian counterparts to most Thanksgiving classics: butternut squash soup, Agnolotti di Zucca, Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Rosemary Potatoes and a Roasted Half Chicken.
• It’s built for Friendsgivings and Thanksgiving-week team meals in the days and weekends around the holiday, from a weekday lunch prix fixe to a family-style dinner.
• Groups of 1 to 7 book on Resy, 8 to 12 can request the communal table with a seasonal prix fixe, and 13 or more can ask about The Gallery or a full buyout.
• We’re a short walk from Grand Central, so a dinner here fits neatly before a train home for the holiday week.

Reserve a table!

What Are the Thanksgiving Dishes on an Italian Autumn Table?

An Italian autumn table and an American Thanksgiving table care about the same things. Both celebrate the harvest, both lean on squash, roots and greens, and both are meant to be shared. The difference is mostly in the seasoning: more olive oil and pecorino, less marshmallow.

At Rosemary’s, our kitchen cooks with the seasons, with produce from our West Village rooftop garden and local partner farms. In autumn, that means the menu fills up with the flavors people crave in November. If one plate says “harvest” louder than the rest, it’s the Agnolotti di Zucca: handmade pasta filled with butternut squash, finished with truffle crema and aged balsamic. Around it sit the soup, the sides, a roast and a proper dessert course.

Menus change with the season, so check the Midtown menu for what’s being served when you visit.

How Do Classic Thanksgiving Dishes Midtown Diners Love Translate to Italian?

Here’s the fun part. Take the dishes your family argues about every November and find their Italian cousins on our menu.

Classic Thanksgiving dish	Rosemary’s Midtown counterpart	Why it works
Butternut squash or pumpkin soup	Butternut Squash Soup (hazelnuts, brown butter)	Same velvety comfort, with toasted nuts for crunch
Pumpkin ravioli or squash casserole	Agnolotti di Zucca (butternut squash, truffle crema, aged balsamic)	The season’s squash folded into handmade pasta
The roast at the center of the table	Roasted Half Chicken (prosciutto & peppercorn spice, Swiss chard, chicken jus)	A golden roast with real pan juices
Roasted Brussels sprouts	Crispy Brussels Sprouts (cacio e pepe)	Peppery, cheesy and very hard to share fairly
Mashed or roasted potatoes	Rosemary Potatoes (rosemary salt)	Crisp edges, fragrant herbs
Green bean or greens side	Broccoli Rabe (pepperoncino, garlic, lemon)	A bright, slightly bitter green to cut the richness
Autumn salad	Tuscan Kale (butternut squash, crispy quinoa, Brussels, parmigiano)	Hearty enough to hold its own on a feast table
Cheese and fruit board	Prosciutto e Pera (red wine poached pear, gorgonzola)	Fruit, cheese and cured meat in one plate
Dinner rolls	Rosemary’s Focaccia (rosemary, sea salt)	Torn and passed, exactly like a bread basket
Pie	Olive Oil Cake, Tiramisu or Chocolate Torta	Three ways to end on something sweet

A note for the turkey loyalists: there’s no turkey on our dinner menu. At weekday lunch and weekend brunch, though, the Roasted Turkey panino with stracchino, apple and honey mustard on focaccia is a small nod to the season if you’re in for a midday bite.

How Do You Build a Shared Friendsgiving Menu for the Office?

A Midtown Friendsgiving usually means coworkers, which means a mix of appetites, dietary needs and schedules. Ordering family style solves most of that. Everyone tastes a bit of everything, and nobody has to commit to one big plate.

Here’s a course-by-course spread built from our current Midtown dinner menu, sized for a table of six to eight.

Course	What to order for the table	Tip
Bread	Rosemary’s Focaccia and Black Truffle Focaccia (whipped ricotta, honey)	Plan on one focaccia for every four or five guests
First course	Butternut Squash Soup, Prosciutto e Pera, Whipped Burrata	One warm, one sweet-savory, one creamy
Salad	Tuscan Kale	A green, autumnal break between the richer plates
Pizza course	Cacio e Pepe pizza or Margherita	Our sourdough pizzas slice neatly for a crowd
Pasta	Agnolotti di Zucca, Mushroom Cavatelli, Pappardelle ragù alla bolognese	Squash, earthy and hearty, so every guest finds a favorite
The roast	Roasted Half Chicken (two for a bigger table)	Carve it at the table and pass it down
Sides	Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Rosemary Potatoes, Broccoli Rabe, Roasted Beets	Order generously; sides are the soul of the meal
Dessert	Olive Oil Cake, Tiramisu, Chocolate Torta	Put all three in the middle with extra spoons

Make room for a pizza course. This is one advantage of our Midtown restaurant: pizza is on the dinner menu here. A Cacio e Pepe pizza, with mozzarella, taleggio, cream, parmigiano and black pepper, slots in beautifully between the salad and the pasta, and it’s the dish the less adventurous eaters at your office party will thank you for.

Plan for dietary needs. Gluten-free pasta and a gluten-free pizza crust are available, so guests who avoid gluten can still share in the pasta and pizza courses. The menu also lists pastas and vegetable sides without meat, such as the Mushroom Cavatelli, but ask your server to confirm ingredients for vegetarian guests. Tell your server about allergies when you sit down.

Keep it relaxed. Order a first wave of bread and starters, see how hungry the table is, then keep going.

Can You Do a Thanksgiving-Week Team Lunch Instead?

Yes, and for a lot of Midtown offices, lunch is the easier choice. Calendars get messy the week before the holiday, and a long lunch is often the one window when the whole team is actually in the building.

Our weekday lunch is built around a two-course prix fixe: a salad first, then your choice of pasta, pizza or panino, with the option to add a glass of house wine. For an autumn version, start with the Tuscan Kale salad and follow it with the Orecchiette with house-made sausage and broccoli rabe, or a Margherita pizza. The Butternut Squash Soup and Prosciutto e Pera are on the lunch menu too, if you want to add a shared starter for the table.

If a few colleagues want a sandwich, the Roasted Turkey panino is a cheerful lunchtime wink at the season.

What Should You Pour With Italian Thanksgiving Dishes?

Thanksgiving food is famously hard to pair, because the table holds everything from sweet squash to salty cheese to rich gravy. Italian wines happen to be very good at that kind of balancing act. Our list is all Italian, with plenty of wines by the glass.

Start with a spritz. The Rosemary’s Spritz (Cappelletti, frizzante, orange peel, rosemary) is our signature. The Hazelnut Old Fashioned suits a late-autumn night.

Bubbles for the toast. Rosemary’s Prosecco, Franciacorta and Lambrusco are poured by the glass.

A white for the squash. The Agnolotti di Zucca and Butternut Squash Soup like a white with some texture. Try the Soave, the Trebbiano d’Abruzzo or Rosemary’s Bianco, a Falanghina from Campania.

A red for the roast. For the Roasted Half Chicken and the Pappardelle, look to the Chianti, the Barbera d’Alba or a Nebbiolo from the Langhe. A chilled Frappato from Sicily is the classic Thanksgiving trick in Italian form: light, juicy and friendly with almost every dish on the table.

Something for everyone. Not every coworker drinks, and the zero-proof list is thoughtful: the Salento Spritz, Ghia Sour, Hugo Fizz and Non #1 Bollicine Rosato mean everyone can join the toast.

How Do You Book a Friendsgiving Group at Rosemary’s Midtown?

Rosemary’s Midtown handles group sizes a little differently from our other restaurants, so it’s worth knowing the options before you send the calendar invite.

Group size	How to book	What you get
1 to 7 guests	Resy	A regular table and the full à la carte menu
8 to 12 guests	Request the communal table	One long shared table with a seasonal prix fixe
13 or more	Inquire about The Gallery or a full buyout	The Gallery is fully private (30 seated or 35 standing); the Wine Bar is another option for groups

Small teams and friend groups. Up to seven guests can book directly on the Midtown Resy page and order family style from the menu above.

The communal table. For 8 to 12, the communal table is the closest thing we have to a long Thanksgiving table. It comes with a seasonal prix fixe, which takes the guesswork out of ordering for a crowd. Ask about the current menu when you request it.

The whole department. For 13 or more, The Gallery gives your team a fully private room, and a full buyout gives you the entire restaurant. Start on our Midtown private events page or the large parties page.

Book early. The weeks around Thanksgiving are busy across Midtown. Lock in your date as soon as the team agrees on one.

Why Is Midtown East So Handy for a Dinner Before the Holiday Trip?

Because Grand Central is right there. Rosemary’s Midtown sits at Third Avenue and 50th Street, a short walk from Grand Central Terminal, where Metro-North trains head up the Hudson Valley and into Connecticut. For anyone leaving the city for the holiday week, a dinner here can be the last stop before the train.

The walk is a pleasure in late November, ending under the main concourse’s celestial ceiling. If you’re meeting friends who are coming in from the suburbs for the evening, Grand Central is the obvious meeting point before you walk up to dinner together.

For the pre-train dinner, book a table that leaves breathing room before your departure and tell your server you have a train to catch. Holiday weeks can bring schedule changes, so confirm times on the Rosemary’s Midtown location page before you book.

Conclusion: Thanksgiving Flavor, Italian Hospitality, Midtown Convenience

The best Thanksgiving dishes Midtown has to offer don’t have to come from a turkey platter. At Rosemary’s Midtown, the autumn menu already speaks the language of the holiday: squash in soup and in handmade agnolotti, crispy Brussels sprouts, rosemary potatoes, a roast chicken with its jus, and a dessert course worth saving room for. Add a pizza course, a spritz and a long table of coworkers or friends, and you have a Friendsgiving that feels generous without any of the stress.

Browse the Midtown menu, book a table on Resy, or reach out through our private events page for a bigger gathering. For more ideas on what to order, read our guide to the best pasta in Midtown. We’d love to host your table at 825 Third Avenue this season.

Frequently Asked Questions