Norwalk Restaurant Serving Special Thanksgiving Milkshake

NORWALK, CT — While most people ask for whipped cream and a cherry on their milkshake, RHK Seafood Boil and Bar in South Norwalk is topping their new shake with something unique: a full Thanksgiving leftover-themed sandwich.

The restaurant's "Plenty to Be Thankful For" shake is essentially a full meal (and not an actual turkey milkshake), with the sandwich essentially served as a creative garnish atop a creamy maple-flavored milkshake surrounded by marshmallow and walnuts. The shake is also available in vanilla and chocolate.

The accompanying sandwich is piled high with Thanksgiving favorites, including fresh roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, lettuce, cranberry sauce and crispy brussels sprouts, served on fresh multigrain bread.

Priced at $16, the unique meal is intended to inspire customers to get creative with their Thanksgiving leftovers next week.

"Whenever Thanksgiving comes, we always have a lot of leftover food," RHK's chef and owner Ockheyon Byeon said.

Byeon noted he also tends to have a lot of ice cream at his home around Thanksgiving, which inspired the milkshake combination. He likened crafting a good leftover sandwich to building with LEGO blocks and hoped the menu item will get people thinking creatively about their leftover food this holiday season.

Helping the Community

Customers can also enjoy this meal guilt-free, as a percentage of sales of each Thanksgiving shake will be donated to Food Rescue US in Fairfield County, an organization working to help end hunger and food waste in Connecticut.

"RHK has received such a warm welcome from the community since we opened a few months ago, that I wanted to pay it forward," Byeon said in an accompanying news release. "While this shake is a twist on our crazy milkshakes and very different from the seafood boils, burgers and chicken sandwiches we've become known for, I hope it inspires people to get creative with leftovers, rather than waste them, and to think about how they can have fun and support organizations like Food Rescue US to help to put an end to hunger and food waste."

According to Haley Schulman, Food Rescue is a software-supported food recovery network where volunteers pick up excess food from donors that would otherwise be thrown out and deliver it to receiving agencies, who then use the donations to help those facing some form of food insecurity.

The organization picks up food items from about 150 donors and serves about 125 agencies throughout Fairfield County. According to Schulman, the organization has saved over 3 million pounds of food from going to landfills this year thus far.

"The Food Rescue mission is two-fold," Schulman said. "It is both reducing food waste and providing food to the food insecure. The idea of this milkshake was kind of like a Thanksgiving leftover meal, so part of that is saving the leftovers you would have from Thanksgiving, which is all about reducing food waste, so it ties in there. It's also a really fun shake...everyone really deserves the right to have fun with their food and, right now, not everyone can all the time."

Schulman said Open Doors, a Norwalk-based housing and homeless service organization, is one of Food Rescue's top receiving agencies, which is how they got involved in this holiday initiative.

"This partnership came about because RHK already donates food once a week to Open Doors," Schulman said, "they came to us with this marketing opportunity and we jumped at it."

Erin McDonough, who serves as director of community relations and marketing for Open Doors, said the organization was excited to parter again with RHK and Food Rescue for what she described as "a fun way to do something good."

Open Doors runs both a grocery pantry and kitchen that provides meals to community members in need. Their kitchen is open every day of the year.

"It has been more important than ever to keep our community close and vibrant," McDonough said, "because we have not been able to welcome volunteers back to our kitchen, so getting donated food has been such a huge help to our pantry and to our kitchen to be able to get food back out to people who need it."

McDonough also noted the holiday season is often when the community sees an increase in need.

"It's the season of giving, but it's also a time when people really are more in need," McDonough said. "Your utility bills are going up in cold weather, you're trying to get something together for your kids for the holidays and it's just harder and harder to be able to make ends meet and be able to afford that food budget."

Both Schulman and McDonough encouraged those looking to get involved, volunteer or further help their organizations to learn more at their websites, foodrescue.us and opendoorsct.org.

But...How Does It Taste?

On Wednesday, RHK invited representatives from Open Doors and Food Rescue US to sample the limited time Thanksgiving milkshake, which was met with an enthusiastic response.

"It was delicious," McDonough said. "It was super fun to eat and I think it would be a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving."

McDonough opted to try the maple-flavored shake in order to get the full experience with the accompanying sandwich.

"They compliment each other really well," McDonough said, "and they also do rosemary french fries that add a little extra saltiness that's really good."

NaCyla Wiley, who serves as the community and donor relations coordinator for Open Doors, found herself in shock when the sandwich was initially presented to her.

"When I saw it come out, my jaw really went down...this thing is huge," Wiley said, "but it was actually amazing."

Wiley praised the shake for its combination of salty and sweet flavors and noted the sandwich was equally delightful, both of which together made for a great Thanksgiving holiday preview of sorts.

"That combination was wild," Wiley said. "I would've never put that series of things together, but it was so good. I should try to actually make this [sandwich]."

A "boozy" version of the shake spiked with RHK's barrel aged Redemption Rye Whiskey is also available for adults at an additional $11. The limited edition meal in a milkshake is available at RHK, located on North Water Street, from Nov. 20 to Dec. 1.

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Patch has partnered with Feeding America to help raise awareness on behalf of the millions of Americans facing hunger. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that in 2021, more than 42 million Americans won't have enough nutritious food to eat due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations.* Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.