Paoli's Thanksgiving Table Gets Ordered in Stages This Year
October 29, 2026
October 29, 2026
Ordering Thanksgiving in Paoli this year means deciding dessert first. The earliest 2026 deadline on Lancaster Avenue and Paoli Plaza is for pie, on Monday, November 16. The latest is for Main Line Tavern's catering trays, on Saturday, November 21. That puts ten days between the first order and the holiday, and the order in which those deadlines fall matters more than any one menu.
There's also a new name in the mix. The Bakery House has opened a second shop on West Lancaster Avenue, and a provisions shop on East Lancaster is still getting ready to open. So the table a Paoli host puts together this year comes from more storefronts and runs on more separate deadlines than it did a year ago.
Here are the dates that set the order, earliest first:
Read top to bottom, the list puts a host's least urgent question, what's for dessert, ahead of the biggest one, who is cooking the main course. Each section below picks up one of those dates.
HomeCooked is at 1 Paoli Plaza, across North Valley Road from the Paoli train station. Its Thanksgiving Simplified 2026 menu is the most complete package in town, and it also sets the earliest deadline.
The full packages come in two sizes:
The pie in each Works package is where the early deadline comes from. The default is a Pumpkin with Gingersnap Streusel that you bake at home, and it follows the regular November 18 deadline. Switching to the Bourbon Pecan or the Apple & Cranberry Crumb, which arrive fully baked, costs $12 more, and orders for those two close on November 16. A host who wants the pie already baked has to decide two days before everything else on the form. The menu also says HomeCooked can't offer further customization and that prices may change.
Pickup in Paoli is either Tuesday, November 24, from 1 to 5 p.m., or Wednesday, November 25, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. HomeCooked delivers to Paoli addresses on the Tuesday. Berwyn, Devon, Malvern and Wayne get their deliveries Wednesday morning.
The pie question has a new answer in Paoli this year, and it runs on its own rules.
The Bakery House opened in Bryn Mawr in 1989 and has been at 604 West Lancaster Avenue there for decades. In July, Patch reported that it planned a second shop at 35 W. Lancaster Ave. in Paoli. A sponsored partner feature in Main Line Today now says the Paoli location opened in October 2026.
That feature also describes how the bakery handles the holiday. In Main Line Today's account, customers order weeks ahead, some drive more than 50 miles for their Thanksgiving pies, and the kitchen runs at full capacity. It names the Apple Pecan Caramel Pie as the one with a following.
The online shop explains why "weeks ahead" matters. It has a Thanksgiving section with 54 items, including fruit tarts, apple crisp, quiche, key lime pie and the chicken salad, and most say "Pre-order (min 24 hour)." But many items are also marked "Unavailable Nov 24, Nov 25." On an ordinary week, a day's notice is enough. In the two days before Thanksgiving, the 24-hour rule doesn't help, because those days are closed off.
Paoli now has two bakeries' worth of pies on separate clocks. HomeCooked's baked pies have a hard cutoff on November 16. The Bakery House's Thanksgiving items run on a 24-hour minimum, with November 24 and 25 blocked for many of them.
Main Line Tavern sits at the other end of the calendar. Its Thanksgiving catering covers appetizers, entrées, sides and pies, sold as trays that each serve about 10 to 12 people. You order by phone at 484-320-8198, and the deadline is Saturday, November 21, at noon.
Three details set it apart from HomeCooked's setup:
So a host who is still unsure of the guest count on November 18, after HomeCooked has closed, still has three days to decide. The tradeoff is a midday pickup on the holiday itself, timed against whatever else is happening in the kitchen.
The part of the table with the most open questions is the part guests reach first.
Main Line Market & Co. is a charcuterie and provisions shop going into 72 E. Lancaster Ave., where Main Line Seafood Market used to be. Sisters-in-law Michelle and Allison Merrill are behind it. WhatNow Philadelphia reported that Allison's husband, Jeff, bought the empty building around the time Michelle was planning a move up from Alexandria, and that she "always had a dream of doing a charcuterie shop."
In that same WhatNow interview, Michelle described the shop as built around hosting. "If you plan to entertain, you can come into our store," she said. "We have charcuterie—different sized boards that are curated and great for any size occasion. You can also come and make your own." WhatNow says the plans include a custom display case modeled on a jewelry case, holding truffle and fennel salami, caviar and French butter, plus pantry items from Portugal, Italy, France and Spain.
The opening date is what's still undecided. In September, Vista Today reported the shop was in its final round of permitting and aiming to open before the end of that month. A week later, Patch wrote that no opening date had been announced. As of late October, the shop's own site still said the Paoli market was "not open just yet."
The shop is already taking orders, though. The site says advance orders for charcuterie boards are open by email at [email protected]. Once the market opens, it plans three ready-to-order boards for pickup or delivery, plus build-your-own in the store. It also takes inquiries at [email protected] for grazing tables styled on-site and for a charcuterie cart.
Cafe POM is a family-owned Mediterranean market and café at 19 Paoli Plaza, inspired by Armenian and Middle Eastern cooking, and its menu includes mezze platters. Its catering page covers holiday parties and asks for three days' notice, the shortest lead time on this list.
Once the orders are in, the deadlines turn into a pickup schedule, and the pickups cluster:
The Bakery House has blocked many of its items for that same Tuesday and Wednesday, so any pie coming from 35 W. Lancaster Ave. has to be picked up on a different day. HomeCooked and Cafe POM are both in Paoli Plaza, and Main Line Market & Co. is at 72 E. Lancaster Ave. once it opens.
If the guest list keeps growing and the table has started to feel short, Brent Lyle Erickson is glad to talk through how Paoli homes handle a holiday crowd, from dining rooms that seat twelve to kitchens with room for a second cook. Let's Connect.
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