An Italian Friendsgiving Table on Greenwich Avenue

Every November, the same question goes around the group chat: when are we doing Friendsgiving, and where? If you’re looking for Thanksgiving dishes West Village friends can gather around without anyone spending two days in a tiny kitchen, our autumn menu at Rosemary’s might be the answer. It just happens to speak Italian.

Look closely at what’s cooking right now at 18 Greenwich Avenue and it reads like Thanksgiving, translated. Butternut squash soup with brown butter. Agnolotti filled with squash. Crisp Brussels sprouts in cacio e pepe. A roasted half chicken with chicken jus, warm focaccia for the bread basket, and olive oil cake and tiramisu for the pie course.

This guide is for the dinners in the days and weekends around the holiday: the Friendsgiving with your Village crew, the reunion with old friends in town, the “before everyone scatters” supper. Here’s what to order, what to pour, how to book a long table, and where to walk first.

Key Takeaways

• Rosemary’s current West Village menu has an Italian answer to almost every Thanksgiving classic, from squash and sprouts to a roast for the center of the table and a proper dessert course.
• It’s made for a Friendsgiving or Thanksgiving-week group dinner on the days around the holiday, ordered family style and passed down the table.
• Parties of 1 to 7 book on Resy, groups of 8 to 16 can request the Communal Table with its seasonal prix fixe, and 17 or more can ask about the Wine Bar Tables or a full buyout.
• Our rooftop garden looks out toward the Jefferson Market clock tower, and Jefferson Market Garden is just around the corner for an autumn stroll before dinner.

Reserve a table!

What Are the Thanksgiving Dishes on an Italian Autumn Table?

An American Thanksgiving table is really a harvest table: squash, roots, greens, something roasted, good bread and something sweet at the end. Italian autumn cooking works from the same pantry, just with a lighter hand and a lot more olive oil.

Our kitchen cooks with the season, using produce from our rooftop garden and local partner farms, and right now that means squash, brassicas, pears and beets.

These are the plates that carry the Thanksgiving spirit on the current West Village menu:

• Butternut Squash Soup with hazelnuts and brown butter, the warm first spoonful every holiday table needs.
• Agnolotti di Zucca, handmade pasta filled with butternut squash, with truffle crema and aged balsamic. The most autumnal plate we make.
• Crispy Brussels Sprouts with cacio e pepe, the sprouts that convert sprout skeptics.
• Prosciutto e Pera, red wine poached pear with gorgonzola. Sweet, salty and a little festive.
• Roasted Half Chicken with prosciutto and peppercorn spice, swiss chard and chicken jus. This is your roast.
• Rosemary Potatoes, Broccoli Rabe, Roasted Beets and the Tuscan Kale salad with butternut squash. Your sides, sorted.

Menus change with the season, so check the current West Village menu before you plan your spread.

Which Rosemary’s Dish Stands In for Each Thanksgiving Classic?

Think of this as a translation guide. Drop it in the group chat and let everyone claim a favorite.

Classic Thanksgiving dish	Rosemary’s Italian counterpart	Why it works
Squash or pumpkin soup	Butternut Squash Soup (hazelnuts, brown butter)	The same cozy start, with a nutty finish
Sweet potato or squash casserole	Agnolotti di Zucca (butternut squash, truffle crema, aged balsamic)	Sweet squash, tucked into handmade pasta
The roast	Roasted Half Chicken (swiss chard, chicken jus)	A golden roast with its own jus, no carving required
Roasted Brussels sprouts	Crispy Brussels Sprouts (cacio e pepe)	Crisp edges, pecorino and black pepper
Mashed potatoes	Rosemary Potatoes (rosemary salt)	Crisp, herby and made for sharing
Green beans	Broccoli Rabe (peperoncino, garlic, lemon)	A bright green to cut the richness
Cranberry sauce and cheese	Prosciutto e Pera (red wine poached pear, gorgonzola)	Sweet fruit and sharp cheese on one plate
Dinner rolls	Rosemary’s Focaccia (rosemary, sea salt)	Tear, pass, repeat
Pumpkin and apple pie	Olive Oil Cake, Tiramisu, Chocolate Torta	A dessert course everyone can share

A note for turkey loyalists: there’s no turkey dish on our dinner menu. If you need your fix, the Roast Turkey panino (stracchino, apple, honey mustard) appears at weekday lunch and weekend brunch.

Why Do Thanksgiving Dishes West Village Style Start on the Roof?

Rosemary’s opened on Greenwich Avenue in 2012 as our flagship. Our founder, Carlos Suarez, named it for his mother, Rosemary, and took his inspiration from his parents’ home in Lucca and its orto, the vegetable garden that fed their family table.

That idea still lives upstairs. Above the dining room is our rooftop garden, with views of the Jefferson Market clock tower and Jefferson Market Garden, and what grows there finds its way onto the menu. You can taste it in small ways, like the rooftop honey on the Whipped Burrata.

To us, that’s the heart of Thanksgiving: a meal about what the land gave at the end of the season, shared with people you love. An Italian family table runs on the same instinct. Cook what’s good right now, put it in the middle, and keep passing plates.

So when we talk about Thanksgiving dishes West Village neighbors can share, we don’t mean a novelty menu. We mean the food we already cook every autumn, served the way a family table in Lucca would serve it.

How Do You Build a Shared Friendsgiving Menu?

The joy of Friendsgiving is that nobody has to follow the rules. At Rosemary’s, the easiest approach is to order in courses and share everything. Here’s a simple plan for six to eight friends.

Course	What to order for the table	How much
Bread basket	Rosemary’s Focaccia and Black Truffle focaccia (whipped ricotta, honey)	One for every three or four guests
First course	Butternut Squash Soup, Whipped Burrata, Prosciutto e Pera	Two or three plates to pass
Salad and sides	Tuscan Kale, Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Roasted Beets	A salad and two vegetables
Pasta	Agnolotti di Zucca, Mushroom Cavatelli, Pappardelle	Two or three pastas, one of them squash
The roast	Roasted Half Chicken with Rosemary Potatoes and Broccoli Rabe	One chicken per three or four guests
Dessert	Olive Oil Cake, Tiramisu, Chocolate Torta	Two or three, with spoons for all

Start with the bread basket. Focaccia is our dinner roll, and the Black Truffle version with whipped ricotta and honey is the one people fight over.

Make the pasta the star. In Italy, pasta is its own course. The Agnolotti di Zucca is the obvious Thanksgiving pick, Mushroom Cavatelli (wild mushrooms, porcini crema, cavolo nero) brings an earthy, stuffing-like depth, and Pappardelle with ragù alla bolognese is pure comfort.

Then the roast. The Roasted Half Chicken comes with swiss chard and chicken jus, which does the job of gravy beautifully. Spoon it over the Rosemary Potatoes and you’ll see.

Plan for everyone. Gluten-free pasta is available, and vegetarian friends can look at the Mushroom Cavatelli, the beets and the sprouts. Ask your server to confirm ingredients, and mention any allergies when you sit down.

Save room for the pie course. The Olive Oil Cake comes with blueberry compote and whipped cream, and the Tiramisu is finished with olive oil and maldon salt. Add a round of espresso and nobody will miss the pie.

For more of what’s on the autumn table, read A Taste of Fall at Rosemary’s.

What Should You Pour With a Thanksgiving-Week Dinner?

Thanksgiving food is a pairing puzzle: sweet, savory, rich and bright on one plate. Our all-Italian list, with plenty of wines by the glass, makes it easier than it sounds.

Bubbles to begin. Rosemary’s Prosecco and Franciacorta are poured by the glass, and Lambrusco, a gently fizzy red from Emilia-Romagna, flatters prosciutto, squash and roast chicken alike. Or start with a Rosemary’s Spritz (Cappelletti, frizzante, orange peel and rosemary).

A red for the roast. A Barbera d’Alba or a Langhe Nebbiolo has the brightness to keep up without overwhelming the food, and Chianti is a classic with the Pappardelle. A chilled Frappato from Sicily pleases a table that can’t agree.

A white for the squash. The agnolotti and soup love a white with some body, like an Alto Adige Chardonnay or Rosemary’s Bianco, a Falanghina from Campania.

Something sweet at the end. Moscato d’Asti or Vin Santo del Chianti with the Olive Oil Cake is a very Tuscan finish. For the walk home, the Hazelnut Old Fashioned tastes like November.

Zero-proof for everyone. The Salento Spritz, Ghia Sour, Hugo Fizz and Non #1 Bollicine Rosato let every friend raise a glass for the toast.

How Do You Book the Long Table for a Thanksgiving-Week Group?

Here’s how group bookings work at Rosemary’s West Village.

Group size	How to book	What to expect
1 to 7 guests	Resy	A regular table and the à la carte menu
8 to 16 guests	Communal Table request form	One long shared table with a seasonal prix fixe
17 or more	Wine Bar Tables or full buyout, by inquiry	Tables by the bar overlooking the dining room and terrace, or the whole restaurant

Up to seven: book on Resy. For a small Friendsgiving, the West Village Resy page is the quickest way to a table. Then order family style using the plan above.

Eight to sixteen: the Communal Table. This is the one we’d choose. It’s a single long table, the Village’s answer to the long Thanksgiving table at home, with a seasonal prix fixe set by the kitchen. It keeps everyone together and takes the guesswork out of ordering. Ask what’s on the prix fixe when you send your request.

Seventeen or more: Wine Bar Tables or a buyout. The Wine Bar Tables sit next to the bar, overlooking the dining room and terrace, and a full buyout gives you the restaurant. Start on our West Village private events page or the large parties page.

Book early, and check hours. Group tables are limited, so send your request as soon as the group chat agrees on a date. Hours can shift around the holidays, so check the Rosemary’s West Village location page before you finalize plans. Weekend brunch before everyone leaves town can be just as warm as dinner.

Where Should You Walk Before Dinner on Greenwich Avenue?

Part of the pleasure of a West Village Friendsgiving is the neighborhood. In late autumn the streets around Greenwich Avenue are at their prettiest: low light, leaves on the stoops, windows glowing by late afternoon.

Jefferson Market Garden. Just around the corner, this community garden sits beside the Jefferson Market clock tower, the same tower you can see from our rooftop. In autumn its plantings turn to golds and rusts. Opening hours vary with the season, so check the Jefferson Market Garden website before you go.

The Village side streets. From Greenwich Avenue, wander west into the crooked side streets. The West Village grid was never really a grid, which is exactly why it’s fun to get a little lost with friends before dinner.

Conclusion: An Italian Thanksgiving Table, Steps From Jefferson Market

Thanksgiving dishes West Village friends can share don’t have to come out of a cramped apartment oven. Our autumn menu already has what a harvest table needs: squash soup and squash agnolotti, crisp sprouts and rosemary potatoes, a roasted chicken with its own jus, focaccia for the bread basket, and olive oil cake and tiramisu for the pie course. Add Italian wine, a long communal table and a rooftop garden overhead, and you have a Friendsgiving that feels like coming home.

Browse the West Village menu, pick a date in the days around the holiday, and reserve on Resy. For eight or more, request the Communal Table or reach out through our private events page, and we’ll set the table.

Frequently Asked Questions