Famous Dave's runs one of the more serious holiday programs in chain barbecue: a pre-ordered Thanksgiving feast built around smoked turkey, collected in the days before the holiday and reheated at home. It is a real program, not a marketing gesture — and it sells out. Here is how it works, when to book, and how to avoid wasting a good bird at the last step.
Famous Dave's prices at a glance
The prices referenced on this page, collected up front. They vary by location and change without notice.
| Component | Menu price | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Meats by the pound | $16.69/lb | Brisket or chopped pork instead of turkey |
| St. Louis Big Slab (12 bones) | $36.69 | Best per-bone price on the menu at $3.06 |
| Pint sides | $6.69 | Garlic red-skin mashed potatoes, Wilbur Beans, cheesy mac |
| Corn bread muffins (order) | $7.79 | $1.99 each individually |
| Dave's Award-Winning Bread Pudding | $9.99 | Serves several |
| All-American BBQ Feast | $99.89 | The blunt instrument — feeds 6–8 outright |
The short version
- Most restaurants close on Thanksgiving Day itself. The feast is collected beforehand, typically the Tuesday or Wednesday.
- Pre-orders open in late October or early November and close when the smoker capacity is spoken for — often a week or more before the holiday.
- The package is centered on smoked turkey with sides, corn bread muffins and a dessert, and is sized to feed a table of six to eight.
- Exact contents, price and dates are set at the location level. Call your restaurant; do not rely on a national page.
What is in the holiday feast
The structure follows the year-round Famous Feasts: one centerpiece protein, sides in bulk containers, corn bread muffins and something sweet. In recent years the Thanksgiving package has been built around smoked turkey or turkey breast with garlic red-skin mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry and a dessert, with add-on meats offered for tables that want barbecue alongside the bird. Treat the specifics as location-level; what does not vary is the shape of the deal.
Why the turkey is the right thing to outsource
Turkey breast is lean, which makes it the easiest large cut in American cooking to ruin and the hardest to keep moist. It also occupies your oven for five hours on the exact morning you need it for everything else. A smoked bird arrives cooked, needs 30 minutes of gentle reheating, and hands the oven back to the sides. It is also the item that reveals whether a barbecue kitchen can cook — and Famous Dave's built its name on competition barbecue, which is the same skill applied to a different bird.
How much to order
| Guests | Turkey needed | Add-on meat worth buying |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 lb sliced | Nothing — the bird is enough |
| 6 | 3 lb | 1 lb Georgia chopped pork |
| 8 | 4 lb | 1–2 lb Texas beef brisket |
| 12 | 6 lb | 2 lb brisket plus a slab of ribs |
| 20 | 10 lb | 3–4 lb mixed, or move to catering |
The rule is half a pound of sliced turkey per adult when it is the centerpiece — more generous than the third of a pound used for a mixed barbecue spread, because at Thanksgiving people take seconds and everyone expects leftovers.
Building your own if the feast has sold out
The pre-order window closes early and people miss it every year. The fallback is to assemble the same table from the standard menu, which is available whenever the restaurant is open in the days before the holiday.
For eight people, four pounds of mixed meat, four pint sides, two orders of muffins and a bread pudding lands near $115. The All-American Feast at $99.89 does much the same job for less, which is why it is the standing recommendation on the main menu page. For anything above twelve people, go through Famous Dave's catering instead — the lead times are longer but the per-head cost drops.
The timeline that works
- Late October: call your restaurant and ask when holiday pre-orders open and what is in the package this year.
- Two to three weeks out: place the order and get the pickup day and time confirmed in writing.
- Pickup day, usually Tuesday or Wednesday: collect and refrigerate immediately. Ask for the turkey unsliced if that is an option.
- Thanksgiving morning: reheat, carve, rest.
Holiday closures and shortened hours around the rest of the season are set out in the Famous Dave's hours guide.
Reheating without ruining it
- Unsliced beats sliced, every time. A whole piece holds moisture dramatically better and takes two minutes to carve.
- Wrap in foil with a splash of stock. 275°F for 25 to 30 minutes for a 3 lb piece; check at the thickest point rather than by the clock.
- Never microwave sliced turkey. It goes rubbery and grey, and there is no recovering it.
- Rest ten minutes before carving. Not optional.
- Sides: covered dish, 300°F, 20 minutes. Cheesy mac gets three minutes uncovered to re-crisp.
Put the five sauces on the table alongside the gravy. Georgia Mustard next to smoked turkey is better than it has any right to be — the sauce guide explains why.