Benu - even though I love the New York pics, any one that comes out of The French Laundry is pretty f-ing fantastic!
My favorites in Champaign:
1. Papa Del's - hands down my favorite pizza in Champaign (and Illinois). They also used to sell slices at a discount in the afternoons...sausage is the way to go.
2. Monical's - their French dressing/dipping sauce is awesome. Absolutely awesome. If there weren't a 3 ounce rule for flying/baggage check fee, I'd bring it back to New York
3. Za's - order personalized pizzas - my favorite combo: pesto sauce, jalapeños, pineapple, tomatoes, and pepperoni
4. Jupiter's - they have a cracker-thin crust specialty pizza that's worth a special trip - it comes with spinach, olive oil, artichoke hearts, and onions. Sprinkle a generous amount of Parmesan cheese...yum.
A bagel from Murray's with LOTS of cream cheese
@latenac - thanks for the clarification on spatchcocking vs. butterflying! Here's my buttermilk brine recipe (I saw it in the Williams-Sonoma Thanksgiving planner last year and modified it to make it a lot simpler). For a 15 pound turkey, use 4 quarts of buttermilk, Whole peppercorns (a handful is enough), Fresh Sage, Lemon wedges, Fresh Rosemary, Fresh Thyme, a little salt (if the turkey is already brined). Mix all ingredients together and prepare your turkey by cleaning it with cold water, placing it in a brining bag, and pouring the buttermilk brine over the turkey. Remove air from brining bag and set in fridge overnight.
The post from last year: http://tinyurl.com/bttrmlkbrine and Williams-Sonoma's original recipe: http://tinyurl.com/WSbrine
Good luck with this year's turkey - I'm so obsessed with spatchcocking that I've already spatchcocked 2 chickens this week!
Gracenotes NYC hasn't written a post yet.
Spatchcocking is the key to perfectly moist, flavorful turkey and takes about half the time of the traditional roasting method. All you have to do is butterfly the bird, removing its backbone and breaking the breastbone. Yeah, the breaking part isn't our favorite either but it's the price you pay for a delicious bird. More
Their milkshakes are amazing - fresh fruit with ice cream in a shake - SO GOOD!