Thanksgiving Dinner Help From Local Shops - Chicago

For those without the time to stand slavishly over the Thanksgiving stove, we bear good news: Some local favorites are conspiring to make the holiday easier than ever.

Bang Bang Pie's biscuits are steamy, airy wonders, fully deserving of the cult following they've developed. For Thanksgiving, the Logan Square pie shop is offering prebaked trays of a half-dozen oversize biscuits, complete with pots of cranberry jam and herb butter ($15).

There's holiday pie, too: pumpkin, apple ($26 each), and bourbon-pecan, made with booze from Few Distillery in Evanston and Burton's maple syrup ($30).

Reserve Bang Bang's pies and biscuits by Sunday, November 18, for pickup at the shop or at Publican Quality Meats, which is also taking orders of uncooked turkeys ($3.75 per pound for non-organic, $9 per pound for heritage organic).

The Fulton Market butcher shop brought in another limited-time-only perk: spicy fennel sausage from Local, the year-old New Buffalo, Michigan, butcher shop we visit on every trip to Harbor Country. Local's sausage hit the PQM case yesterday; we'll be using some in our Thanksgiving stuffing. 

Last but not least, to drink: We suggest keeping Letherbee's nutmeg- and clove-spiced Autumnal gin ($31) or North Shore Distillery's new small-batch Silver Lining–a botanical-packed German-style liqueur ($35)–on hand for liquid relief (find both at Whole Foods in Lincoln Park).