Thanksgiving Takeout Showdown: Comparing Three Local Dinner Options

I am so thankful to live in YYC! This year for Thanksgiving, 3 local favourites (Hearts Choices, Vegan Street and Nan’s Noodle House) were offering very similar take-out meals for very similar prices. So I got one of each to contrast and compare! Read on to see how they stacked up against each other.

Each meal was judged in the following categories: ordering and pickup, “turkey”, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables, cranberry sauce, and an extra points section for things that other meals didn’t include, or that one meal did particularly well. Ratings were 1-5, 5 being a WOWZA!, and 35 total points were available.

Hearts Choices


Black pepper turkee roast, mushroom & sage stuffing, rosemary gravy, mashed potatoes, tamari almond green beans, cranberry sauce. $30.47

Ordering and Pickup Process: Ordered through Eventbrite, options were clear and process was smooth. Pickup was simple; my ticket was confirmed and my hot meal was ready immediately. 5/5

“Turkey”: soy pepper roll, 4 slices. Texture similar to white meat. Slight fake meat aftertaste. 3/5

Stuffing: cooked through, but texture was a little gluey. Couldn’t taste the mushrooms or sage, very bland. 2/5

Mashed Potatoes: fluffy and well seasoned. 4/5

Gravy: strong rosemary flavour; a little thin 3/5

Vegetables: crisp green beans; not mushy. almond slices are a nice touch. I only got about 8 total beans; an extra scoopful would have been nice. 4/5

Cranberry Sauce: strong cranberry flavour; tart 4/5

Extra Points: Hearts Choices has been offering their takeout ThanksLiving Dinners for several years, and deserve a few additional points for being the OGs in YYC. 3 additional points.

Personal Notes: An adjustment of the portion sizes would be nice; some additional veg would have rounded out the plate.

Total (out of 35): 28/35

Vegan Street


2 turkie drumsticks with parsnip bone & rice paper skin, apple thyme stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, pumpkin seed parmesan brussel sprouts, cinnamon cranberry sauce. 28.88

Ordering and Pickup Process: Ordered through their website; options were clear. My meal was available within 10 minutes of my arrival, and was hot upon pickup. 4/5

“Turkey”: 2 drumsticks made in-house; texture v. similar to dark meat. Meat flavor was a touch bland and had a strong seitan aftertaste. Parsnip bone and rice paper skin were a great touch. 3/5

Stuffing: was soggy, which was unfortunate because it was well seasoned. 3/5

Mashed Potatoes: fluffy garlic mashed potatoes. 4/5

Gravy: perfectly thick with lots of flavour. 4/5

Vegetables: well-seasoned roasted brussel sprouts that were perfectly juicey, and the “parmesan” flavour was noticeable and delicious. 5/5

Cranberry Sauce: the added cinnamon gave it warmth, and it reminded me a little of pie filling. 5/5

Extra Points: RICE PAPER SKIN?! Creative and provided a contrasting crispy texture. 2 additional points.
All of the packaging including gravy and cranberry containers were paper and compostable – no containers to rinse!
2 additional points.

Personal Notes: The presentation was nice. I was super bummed about the stuffing being wet, and although the gravy was tasty, it was a brown beef style gravy and a lighter, turkey-style gravy would have paired a bit better with the meal.

Total (out of 35): 32

Nan’s Noodle House


Pepper turkee soy roll, candied diamond carrots kissed with brown sugar, teriyaki brussels, confit garlic mashed potatos, miso gravy, 5 spice stuffing. $27.94

Ordering and Pickup Process: Ordered through Eventbrite; options were clear and easy to select. Pickup was straightforward and my meal was available immediately upon arrival. Meal comes cold and needs to be reheated at home. 4/5

“Turkey”: 6 slices of soy pepper roll; I am 99% sure this is the same as the Hearts Choices roll. 3/5

Stuffing: Cooked well, soft and a little crispy. the 5 spice was a little strong and not to my personal taste. 4/5

Mashed Potatoes: OMG! The garlic confit really made these potatoes stand out. Nicely seasoned and fluffy 5/5.

Gravy: Deep umami flavour, not too salty. Perfect texture. 4/5

Vegetables: Teri-lime brussel sprouts were well cooked, and juicy. Seasoning was flavourful.
Carrots were thoroughly cooked but retained plenty of crunch. Lightly sweetened. 5/5

Cranberry Sauce: a nice balance of sweet and tart. 4/5

Extra Points: Dessert was included; a refreshing chaporado! (Filipino Chocolate Rice pudding) 3 additional points
Additional serving of tasty vegetables. 3 additional point.

Personal Notes: Presentation was easily the best out of the 3 – care had obviously been taken in regards to garnishes and packaging. Portions were a great size, having more vegetables was great, and the dessert was an excellent inclusion. Swap out the stuffing and this was easily my favourite of the 3.

Total (out of 35): 34

Chaporado – Filipino Chocolate Rice Pudding

A Few More Thoughts…

I would like to see more vegetable dishes included with these takeout dinners. Mixed roasted vegetables, even a small green salad. More focus on recreating nostaligic vegan sides like green bean casserole or sweet potato pie, perhaps even skipping the meat analogues all together. I don’t know about you guys, but turkey was never my favourite part of the meal anyways!


How do you celebrate Thanksgiving as a vegan? Who makes your favourite vegan turkey? (Do you even bother with vegan turkey?)

Did you order a Thanksgiving Meal this year? Do you agree/disagree with my ratings? I’d love to read about your experience in the comments below!

Happy Thanksgiving YYC!


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