CHECKING IN WITH ... A RESTAURANT:

Do you love all the home cooking for Thanksgiving, but don’t want to go through all of the hassle of cooking in a hot kitchen? Don’t worry, there are restaurants open on Turkey Day. So this week we thought we’d check in with Chef Vartan Abgaryan at A Restaurant at 3334 W. Coast Hwy. in Newport Beach.

We all know you’ve got to have turkey, cranberry sauce, sweet potato and some pumpkin pie, but what do you have on the menu that’s new this year? What are the some of the specials and what’s the price range?

Along with the classics, this year we will be serving beef Wellington and Dover sole (a flat fish dish). Prices range from $19 for turkey, $29 for the beef Wellington, and it goes all the way up to $36 for the Dover sole.

A lot of folks are cooking at home these days to save a little money. Give us your best pitch for going out this Thanksgiving.

We understand people want to be with their families, so if they want a Thanksgiving dinner, but want to go out to eat at A Restaurant, they can order what they want and how they want it.

How long have you been offering a Thanksgiving Dinner?

This is the first year we are offering a Thanksgiving dinner, and the format will always be the same for other holidays — we’ll always have special items, along with our regular menu items.

It must be tough cooking all day on Thanksgiving. Do you have someone cook your dinner there at the restaurant?

My plan is to cook for our staff, in addition to the customers, because they can’t be with their families. At the end of the night, I’ll be fine with leftovers.

How will you end up spending the day with loved ones?

We’ll close early (8 p.m.) on that day, but I’ll go and spend some time with my family after work.

OK, what’s the story behind the name of A Restaurant? Are you just trying to get the first listing in the phone book?

It was always called Arches before; when we could not have that name they wanted to keep the “A” for recognition, so people recognize it as the re-birth of Arches.

Got any regulars who always come in for the holiday? Tell us some stories about them.

We have customers who come in three or four times a week. Many of them were very supportive of the restaurant.

The most common thing is people come by expecting things how they were at Arches — like table-side Caesar salads, but we don’t offer that here.

You know how rabid those Cowboys fans can be, so can customers catch some of the football game during the meal or is that just plain rude?

People can come in and eat while they watch the game. We’ll have TVs on so they can eat turkey or even a burger and watch it.

A Restaurant Thanksgiving hours: noon to 8 p.m.

For more information, call (949) 650-6505.