Photos by Chris Meyer Setting a fine table at the ever-so-English Tudor Room is part of the day’s task for employee Kelly Bilton (above), an IU freshman. The Indiana Memorial Union was dedicated to the “sons and daughters of Indiana University who had served in the wars of the Republic” at commencement exercises in 1932. Judy Drew, manager of the Tudor Room, discusses Thanksgiving menu preparation. Tom Berianati, banquet chef at the IMU, tends to the stovetop on a typical serving day at the Tudor Room. Victor Sturm, second cook, IMU Catering, prepares beef fillets.

And that’s just the main course.

That’s because Houze is head chef at the venerable Tudor Room in the Indiana Memorial Union in Bloomington. Since 1959, the November holiday has served as backdrop to the Tudor Room’s busiest day of the year.

Houze, who takes several October days in organizing the menu, said the Tudor Room charm offers great inspiration. “I love this room. To me, when I come in at Thanksgiving, I think of Old World tradition…that’s what I try to do with the menu.”

Houze, a native of Vevay and graduate of the National Center for Hospitality Studies in Louisville, has loaded this year’s menu with root vegetables, corn puddings and succulent meats (up to 10 other Tudor Room chefs will help Houze in the hectic days leading up to the holiday buffet). Head pastry chef Cindy Brown will lead dessert preparation, infusing the buffet with holiday stand-bys and sophisticated delicacies (at least five chefs are preparing desserts exclusively).

Tudor Room manager Judy Drew, who has worked at the Tudor Room five years, shares Houze’s philosophy that Thanksgiving guests come for the ambiance—and quality of food.

At $19.95, Drew is fond of saying patrons get “five-star dining on a Wendy’s budget.”

Houze and Drew agree that the Tudor Room is typically sold out for Thanksgiving. By late October, half of the guests have already booked their tables, and most of the reservations are by guests that patronize the Tudor Room every Thanksgiving.

One of the Tudor Room’s regulars, Jim Fitzpatrick, said he looks forward to the annual feast. “We consider it a family tradition, and it’s very multi-generational. The oldest person in our group is in her upper 90s,” said Fitzpatrick, a retired high school teacher, who has been coming to the Tudor Room with his extended family for longer than he can remember. “We just love the Tudor Room. First of all, the food is excellent, and then there is the wonderful atmosphere.”

According to Drew, Thanksgiving Day guests are an assortment of people from Bloomington (local residents, faculty and some students), but the feast also draws people from Michigan, Illinois, Ohio—many are IU alumni bringing friends and family to share in the experience.

Aside from the buffet and ambiance, Drew insists dining at the Tudor Room brings good fortune into guests’ lives. She points to last year as proof: IU men’s soccer coach Jerry Yeagley, just before his retirement, brought the entire team and staff to celebrate Thanksgiving—just weeks before Yeagley led the team to a NCAA championship title.

“I think we are a good luck charm,” said Drew. “I told them the reason they won is because they had lunch in the Tudor Room.” She quickly adds the team and coaching staff are slated to dine in the Tudor Room again this year—just in time for another winning finale.

Tudor Room’s Thanksgiving grocery list:
8 (25 lb.) turkeys
8 (20 lb.) boneless turkeys
5 hams (22 lbs.)
50 lbs. cod
50 lbs. beef round
36 pumpkin pies v10 chocolate sheet cakes
6 cranberry cheesecakes
8 white chocolate cheesecakes
10 pumpkin cheesecakes
18 carrot cakes
8 caramel apple cakes
9 pecan pies
4 cases petit fours
8 dozen Thanksgiving cookies
10 Tiramisu sheet cakes
Source: Chef Sherry Houze, based on the 2003 Thanksgiving buffet; serves 500 guests.

Menu for the The Tudor Room’s "Thanksgiving Celebration"