Thanksgiving Dinner

If you're not dining out on Thanksgiving, yet you still haven't planned your own menu, I recommend taking home a wonderfully complete holiday feast from City Bakery. Start the meal with a mesclun salad, then move on to an organic turkey with your choice of mushroom or cornbread stuffing. Gingered sweet potatoes, butternut squash, creamed spinach and buttermilk horseradish mashed potatoes will provide a lovely accompaniment for your bird. Round out the meal with Indian apple pie, dark chocolate cheesecake, and, of course, City Bakery's legendary pumpkin pie. Have a terrific holiday!

City Bakery: 3 W. 18th St., (212) 366-1414.

The Blossoming of Brooklyn's 5th Avenue: Belleville and Red Cafe

It's no wonder that so many people are moving to Park Slope, with new restaurants like Belleville and Red Cafe opening almost daily. This weekend, I had the delightful opportunity to visit both hotspots.

Red Cafe, a hospitable father-son operation, offers a dynamite assortment of sandwiches as well as a small menu of entrees. I thoroughly enjoyed the spice-crusted salmon sandwich with fried and sauteed leeks, lemony black olive tapenade, and hard-boiled eggs. My friends devoured their cheeseburgers with Stilton, and we all split the irresistible buttery-crusted three-berry pie, which was slightly warmed and topped with two scoops of vanilla-bean ice cream.

If you can't secure a table at the tiny Red Cafe, walk over to Belleville, an inviting bistro at 5th Street and 5th Avenue. Park Slopers waited for months for this place to materialize; many among us wondered if the endless renovations would result in an actual restaurant. What a wonderful addition it is to the neighborhood! Last night Belleville celebrated the arrival of the new Beaujolais with a light and fruity version. I drank a toast to the Parisian salad of shredded carrots, haricots verts, hard-boiled eggs, white beans, cauliflower and aioli, the tuna nicoise, the classic Gruyere fondue, scrumptious French onion soup, and the warm chocolate torte and tart with thinly-sliced apples. Whew!

Red Cafe: 78 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn, (718) 789-1100. Belleville: 330 Fifth St., Brooklyn, (718) 832-9777.

30,000 Square Feet Of Chocolate

Is this a dream? No, it's sweet reality... today through Sunday, the NYC Chocolate Show will take place at the Metropolitan Pavilion (125 W. 18th Street at 6th Ave.). See you there!

A Chocolate A Day...

Ki Won Lee, a South Korean researcher, has shown that hot cocoa contains more heart-healthy antioxidants than green tea or even red wine. I hope Lee's findings will convince my physician to write me a prescription for the hot chocolate souffle at Eleven Madison Park. This giant edible cauldron of bubbling chocolate is served with a plate of small chocolate cherry cakes and numerous scoops of chocolate, vanilla and hazelnut ice cream. (If you want to conserve your appetite in order to enjoy this dessert, you will have to moderate your consumption of the addictive cheese puffs at the beginning of the meal. I did not.)

Eleven Madison Park: 11 Madison Ave., (212) 889-0905.