In the News ... "GIVING BACK: Curbside ready for eighth annual Thanksgiving event"

OA Photo by Royal McGregor

• ”It truly is for a community by a community”

By Royal McGregor, Reporter
• Odessa American

ODESSA, TEXAS - For the eighth year, Curb Side Bistro is hosting its annual free Thanksgiving Day event.

The event is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Thursday and plates loaded with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and stuffing will be served along with a drink and dessert. The plates are free.

Curb Side Bistro will operate as drive-thru only again as Chef Alejandro Barrientos, who is co-owner of Curb Side Bistro with his wife Stephanie, said that seems to be the most efficient way to serve as many people as possible.

“We found with that model that we are able to feed a lot more people,” Barrientos said. “More and more people like that because they can go home and have their tradition. They can be with their families and their kiddos.”

A year ago, Curb Side Bistro served 1,100 plates. Barrientos said he’s hoping to surpass that mark and reach 1,500 plates. He said the first free Thanksgiving Day event served 300 plates and it has steadily grown each year.

Barrientos explained that as long as he’s legally allowed to serve food this free Thanksgiving Day event will continue. The ability to host a free Thanksgiving Day event is due in large part to donations and volunteers. He said there will be between 30 to 40 volunteers at one time.

”It truly is for a community by a community,” he said. “We couldn’t do this without everybody’s help. Everybody is just as much apart of it as we are.”

A couple of large donations came from Sam’s Club, which supplied desserts and drinks. Barrientos also explained that he had trouble finding turkeys since the beginning of October, however, that changed when the newly-established eatery Pickles donated 100 turkeys.

Despite rising inflation and searching for turkeys for more than a month, Barrientos said the thought of not having the free Thanksgiving Day event never crossed his mind. He said whether he received turkeys or not the event would still go on as he would simply substitute chicken for turkey.

“Whenever we were dealing with the turkey shortage, I was going to do fried chicken or smoked chicken,” Chef Alejandro said ...

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