A Thanksgiving Day of rest for the city chef? Not so fast.

Donatella Arpaia and Michael Psilakis | Anthos and Mia Dona

What are you thankful for this year?
Arpaia: I had a lot of personal and professional tribulations this past year, but also many successes with my partner Michael. I'm thankful that I made it through another year and am still opening restaurants.

Psilakis: This Thanksgiving will be the first year that my son, Gabriel, who is 3, will cook with me. Every year in my family we roast a whole lamb on a spit and this year will be his first year helping me with that, the same way I helped my father, and he helped his father.

Where will you be and what will you be doing this Thanksgiving?
Arpaia: I will be with my family at my parents' house in Atlantic Beach, Long Island. I will be surrounded by a lot of babies this year. My brother and his wife just had a baby girl, plus my four other nieces and nephews. I think having children around during the holidays really brightens them. There is something so gratifying about seeing children happy. It brings you back to when you were little.

Psilakis: This is a big year for me. My wife and I are moving the family Thanksgiving feast to our house on Long Island, where it will take place now every year. We are at about 35 to 40 people, so I will wake up at 5 a.m. to start cooking.

Your go-to Thanksgiving side dish?
Arpaia: Wild rice with shiitake mushrooms and crumbled Italian sausage. The sausage gives it a delicious, spicy flavor.

Psilakis: Besides the lamb? My mother's famous artichoke fricassee. It's whole artichokes, fennel and onions braised in white wine and water. The fennel and onion is pureed, then reduced further, and served with lamb or over some rice pilaf. It's one of the best things my mother taught me to make.