For Peacock Gap, Thanksgiving Gets Decided the Week Before

Victoria Bakery & Café's pie page already has the message it will show later this month: "Online orders closed on Friday, November 20. Call us at (415) 461-3099 or stop by the bakery, and we'll do our best to help." The holiday is Thursday, November 26. The good options run on earlier clocks, and three of them run out within five days of each other.

The race entry, the pie order and the bread order each have a cutoff, and those cutoffs fall between November 18 and November 22. Anyone who knows those dates can treat the holiday as one short errand week. Anyone who misses them ends up using whatever is still open on the day.

The countdown, from today

Here is every dated option, in the order it closes.

Read from the top, the table runs from a $54 race fee in mid-November to a midday turkey at the clubhouse down the road, and each choice affects the next. A household running the 10K in Novato at 8:25 has a free afternoon for a 1:30 buffet seating. A household planning its own pies has to order them before deciding anything about dinner.

November 18 comes first, and it sets the price of the morning

The Bank of Marin Turkey Trot starts and finishes at 1800 Ignacio Blvd. in Novato on Thanksgiving morning. Race-day registration runs from 6:45 to 7:45 a.m., and the race page directs runners to the final parking lot by the soccer fields. The official site names School Fuel as the cause the race supports.

The fee depends on when you register. On Race Roster, the tier running through November 18 is $54.26 for the 5K and $65.21 for the 10K. The final tier, on November 25 and 26, is $62.48 and $73.43. Waiting adds $8.22 per adult entry. A household of four adults in the 10K would pay about $33 more for registering late. The Youth 1 Mile stays at $29.63 in both tiers, so young runners can sign up whenever you like.

The early date matters for a second reason. The 5K starts at 8:30, which puts runners home in Peacock Gap with the whole late morning ahead of them. That much free time only helps a household whose pies, rolls or reservation were settled days earlier.

Pies set the middle of the week

Two bakeries take preorders, two days apart.

Victoria Bakery & Café in Greenbrae sells 9-inch pumpkin, pecan, apple-crumble, apple-lattice, cherry, mixed-berry and blueberry pies at $39 each. Online orders opened Sunday, November 1, and close Friday, November 20. The bakery calls each customer to confirm the order. Pickup is Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of Thanksgiving week, and Wednesday pickup ends at 2 p.m. Key lime, lemon meringue and cream pies are a phone order at (415) 461-3099.

Creekside Bakery in Novato offers pies, cakes, breads, rolls and seasonal pastries. Its Thanksgiving preorder page, live for this season, lists an order deadline of November 22 at 11:55 p.m. and pickup on Wednesday, November 25, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 1719 Grant Ave. Its online menu lists pies from $40 to $45, a dozen dinner rolls at $16, a dozen Parker House rolls at $18, and focaccia at $28. The bread is the reason to look at Creekside even if the pies come from Greenbrae. Rolls are the part of the table that is hardest to make ahead.

The two pickup windows cover different parts of the week. Victoria offers three pickup days, but its online ordering closes two days before Creekside's. Creekside allows ordering through Sunday night, then offers a single eight-hour pickup window the day before Thanksgiving. A household that wants both has to finish ordering by November 20 and then make the Wednesday pickup at Creekside, which runs until 3 p.m.

The United Markets holiday catalog adds a third option and can cover most of the meal. It lists a Holiday Turkey Meal for 4 at $188.98 and for 10 to 12 at $288.98. It also sells sides on their own: 2 pounds of traditional bread stuffing for $22.98, 2 pounds of mashed potatoes for $16.98, and an 8-inch Harvest Dome pumpkin pie for $12.98. Call the store about order timing and pickup before you plan around it.

The table you don't have to set is inside the neighborhood

All the dates above assume the meal is cooked at home. The other choice is at the clubhouse on the neighborhood's own golf course. RangeCafe at Peacock Gap Golf Club is serving a Thanksgiving Buffet on November 26, with seatings from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Adults are $80 and children $40, plus service charge and tax, and reservations are made online.

The menu is a full traditional meal:

• Mains: oven-roasted turkey with giblet gravy, and baked pit ham
• Sides: a green salad with cranberries, walnuts, blue cheese and champagne vinaigrette; Caesar salad; savory herb stuffing; whipped Yukon potatoes; sweet potato casserole; mac and cheese; steamed broccolini and baby carrots; dinner rolls and butter
• Dessert: pumpkin, pecan or apple pie

The buffet price makes more sense when set against the other options. Two adults and two children come to $240 at RangeCafe before service charge and tax. United Markets' meal for 4 is $188.98, and it still needs a pickup trip, oven time and dishes afterward. The difference is about $51 before the buffet's added charges. That roughly buys someone else's kitchen, and it needs no reservation with a bakery at all.

The timing helps too. Seatings start three hours after the 5K begins in Novato and wrap up by midafternoon, so the rest of Thursday is free. The fireplace patio is part of RangeCafe's regular setup. Its posted November through February hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

A Thursday preview, three weeks early

The clubhouse kitchen runs a weekly Thursday dinner, so you can try it before booking the holiday. RangeCafe's prime rib night starts at 4:30 p.m. and goes until close. It comes with au jus, mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, and a choice of house salad or soup. Visit Marin's calendar lists it at $38 per person plus tax and gratuity, recommends reservations, and shows it on Thursday, November 5. The same dinner appears on the December calendar, including Thursday, December 3. The club's events page also lists ongoing live music by Marin singer-songwriter David McBride.

The November 5 prime rib night is more than two weeks before Victoria's order window closes. That leaves time to eat in the RangeCafe dining room first and then choose between the buffet and your own oven.

The course outside has its own seasonal schedule. Peacock Gap is open to the public seven days a week from dawn to dusk, and its reduced twilight rate starts at 1 p.m. in winter. Rental sets are $35 a round, and a pull cart is $6.

What still works on Thursday morning

Some plans don't need any reservation. The Thursday Marin Farmers Market in the Veterans Memorial parking lot at Marin Center is scheduled on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., according to Visit Marin. That makes it the place for last-minute herbs, greens and flowers on the holiday itself. The Turkey Trot also takes walk-up registration from 6:45 to 7:45 a.m. at the top price.

The bakery pies, the Creekside rolls and the lower race fee all belong to the stretch from November 18 to November 22. Victoria's order page will switch to its closing message on November 20 whether you've ordered or not.

Victoria Bakery is in Greenbrae, where Garrett is based, so its pie pickup days fall in his part of town. If you're working through a household calendar this month, including whether a future sale should open before or after the holidays, Garrett Burdick is glad to talk timing over coffee. Let's Connect.