The holidays are a time for family, friends, and feigning interest in countless conversations with aunts and uncles. Most importantly however, it’s about the food. At the end of the day, the dinner table becomes the focal point of any holiday gathering and a well rounded smorgasbord can make or break an entire evening. For many of us either hosting or contributing the hefty holiday spread, preparing the right dish can be a daunting task, fortunately I’m going to make it easy for everyone involved and give you all the pieces you’ll need for building that ultimate dinner. The catch? EVERYTHING can be found within the city of Detroit. In fact, the motor city might actually be the ideal place to get everything you need for this years holiday dinner, provided you know the right places to look. So without further ado, consider this your “cheat sheet”:

Appetizers- Eastern Market

We’ll start with potentially an obvious choice here but there really isn’t a better option for finding the fresh greens and veggies you’ll need for an amazing salad. Also when it comes to your chips and salsa needs, Aunt Nees in Shed 5 has you covered. Need the ultimate cheese spread? hop over to Devries & Co. on Market Street and discover more variety of cheeses than you can shake a smoked sausage at (and they have those too).

Turkey- The Turkey Grill (8290 Woodward Ave)

Okay, maybe this is a bit on the nose but have you been to this place?! There simply is nobody who does a better bird than “Bugg Lyles” and his crew. Get the whole thing rotisserie smoked or fried and forget having to worry about taking up any of your precious time or oven space preparing a sub standard turkey.

Vegetables- Randazzo’s (5240 Outer Dr E)

There’s several locations of this place but the Detroit location might be the best. Here you’ll find all the fresh and unique fruits and vegetables you’ll need for homemade cranberry sauce, casserole, and any other fruit or vegetable dish you and the family prefer. Bonus pickup: Grab a great floral arrangement from their amazing assortment of fresh cut flowers.

Sides- Motor City Soul Food (12700 W Seven Mile Rd)

Whatever combination of mac & cheese, candied yams, cornbread dressing, or mashed potatoes you desire, pick some the best up at this spot. This no frills counter service place may be hard to find but grab a assortment of savory sides here and be glad you made the trip.

Desert- Sister Pie (8066 Kercheval), Sweet Potato Sensations (17337 Lahser)

We’re pulling double duty here because neither of these already legendary places could be left out. Grab an apple cheddar rye or brandy pecan pie from the West Village establishment Sister Pie but get there early, on most days by 8:00am (yes AM) the sisters will be fresh out of the fresh baked. At Sweet Potato sensations you simply can’t go wrong; grab some sweet potato cookies, cornbread, ice cream, cobbler or one of the variety of miraculous sweet potato incorporated pie creations.

Drinks- That leaves us with everyone’s favorite aperitif, booze. Lots of great options here but for their Bloodline Whiskey or Railroad Gin I picked Detroit City Distillery. When it comes to beer, you can never go wrong with Atwater Brewing and their holiday assortment of Vanilla Java Porter, Dirty Blonde, Decadent Dark Chocolate Ale, Winter Bock among others. Finally for a nice after desert drink, try a bottle of Absinthe du Nain Rouge from Two James Distillery. This mysterious herbal concoction made in house will have your family and friends hearkening back to the days of Oscar Wilde and Ernest Hemingway (both of whom were avid drinkers of the stuff).

There you have it, a Detroit holiday feast that will both delight the crowd and dazzle the senses. It has to be noted that this is only a small collection of the countless amazing places in Detroit to stock up on food for the holidays, but unless I wanted to write a novel, I’d never be able to include them all. So go forth and conquer your holiday feast this year, just remember Detroit got everything you need to do it.

Cheers