This week, The Dish is on a mission to make sure local families have food for Thanksgiving. Because of the flailing economy and lost jobs, local food banks are experiencing severe shortages, and some of our neighbors might be without Thanksgiving dinner this year.

I'm a lover of things that can’t be put in a box and escape all attempts to define them. This has included people, art, literature, cities and a variety of spiritual and political movements, but it hasn’t included bars — at least not until I went to Gordo’s Pub & Grill. Smack in the middle of Norwood on Montgomery Road, Gordo’s looks like just another neighborhood bar with neon beer signs in the window.

I'm always up for trying a new Mediterranean joint, even if it is a bit of a drive. Taz Lebanese & Greek Cuisine in Mason is right smack in the middle of the Fields Ertle insanity in a building that used to house Fazoli's.

Every year my family and I eat Thanksgiving dinner at Paparazzi, an Italian restaurant in Boston. And every year I long for the antique drop leaf table that stretched across our old farmhouse dining room where we had Thanksgiving dinner during my first 30 years. Here are three great local options for eating out on Thanksgiving.

Life seems to be in short supply of pleasant surprises these days. I counted myself very lucky to be on the receiving end of one when I visited Mac's Pizza Pub. I had put off my visit until the last minute for a number of reasons, one being that I was afraid it would be filled with my students from UC and I would have to order a pop instead of a beer.

It was supposedly the Duchess of Bedford who first introduced the world to afternoon tea. One of Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting, the Duchess was afflicted - so many were back then - with a 'sinking feeling' everyday at 4 o'clock. So she asked her servants to begin sneaking a pot of tea and assorted breads to her room.