At the last minute, my plans changed and I did not have time to cook Thanksgiving dinner as I had planned. I decided that this was my chance to try the fried Cajun turkey at Copeland's. I had heard good things about it from a friend.
I ordered a complete meal: turkey, dressing (as my mom calls it), mashed potatoes, green beans with ham, gravy, and biscuits. I also ordered some corn maque choux, which mixes the corn with red pepper and puts both in a rich sauce. The online reviews don't seem to think much of Copeland's food, and I haven't eaten a sit-down meal there, but this meal was excellent. Fried turkey is one of those devilishly good ideas. The grease doesn't penetrate very far, so the turkey is moist because it cooks so quickly. The drumstick is a special treat. The base of the drumstick is moist and meaty while the handle end becomes crunchy, giving a wonderful contrast in textures. The side dishes were also good. I'm glad that I tried the corn maque choux---it had just enough kick from the peppers to get my attention, which was nice addition to the traditional Thanksgiving flavors.
For dessert, I picked up a hazelnut cake from Maison Robert. It was exquisite. The cake was a moist sponge with hazelnut cream icing and a crushed hazelnut coating on top. The chocolate petals on top were a nice visual touch and gave just enough chocolate to offset the hazelnuts.
