BY GILLIAN DUFFY
TEXT BY ROBIN RAISFELD

Honestly? We're deeply into comfort food. But when it's time to celebrate, we want our retro fix with a little more sophistication, please. We're thinking coq au vin steeped in demi-glace and Zinfandel. Impossibly rich chateaubriand dressed to kill in portobello mushrooms and bacon. Crêpes Suzette sizzling in the pan. You're thinking: Who has the time? We do, because Washington Park wizard Jonathan Waxman showed us how to make Thanksgiving dinner -- with all the trimmings -- in two hours flat. A good thing, too, because there are several stunning champagne cocktails we're planning to raise in our annual toast to the holiday season, 2002.

 

Michael Sulllivan's meringue-topped baked Alaska. Photograph by William Meppem
Food styling by Alison Attenborough; prop styling by Philippa Brathwaite. Tablecloth from the Terence Conran Shop, cake stand from Dean & DeLuca.