We taste-tested all of Wawa’s Thanksgiving offerings — even the wine

As someone who’s carved out a roll for herself as a noted Wawa fan, I was recently given a mission filled with the stuffing dream assignments are made of — to create a Thanksgiving meal from Wawa.

For the first time this year, Wawa began offering Thanksgiving dinner platters in addition to its Gobbler — the hoagie filled with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce that’s been a staple of Wawa’s fall menu since 2008. So I decided to do a side-by-side taste test to determine the optimal consumption method for Wawa’s Thanksgiving offerings.

To make this as close to a real Thanksgiving as possible, I needed wine, so I went to the Wawa near the old Granite Run Mall in Media, which has a liquor license. The internet told me a pinot noir would be optimal to pair with a Thanksgiving meal and Wawa made my decision easy by offering exactly one pinot noir, a 2021 from Mark West of California for $13.99.

Next, it was on to hors d’oeuvres. I grabbed two cheese plates from the prepared food cooler. One was store brand with cinnamon raisin bread, cheddar cheese cubes, apple slices, and grapes. The other was from Columbus Craft Meats and had genoa salami, fontina cheese, and rosemary crackers. I also bought small packages of Cracker Barrel aged reserve and extra sharp cheddar, along with a small pack of BelGioioso fresh mozzarella balls.

At the touch screen, I ordered a classic Gobbler sandwich (no cheese) and a Thanksgiving dinner platter, which comes with two sides and cranberry sauce. I chose stuffing and mashed potatoes, then ordered additional sides of mac and cheese and garlic knots.

After placing my order, I sheepishly approached the staffer behind the counter and asked if I could get the gravy on the side. The truth is I don’t like gravy (yes, of any kind).

She said she could give me a side of gravy, but couldn’t leave the turkey dry because it’s prepared in gravy, which is probably the only thing keeping it moist.

“It’s all gravy,” I said.

Finally, I picked up four desserts: a Tastykake pumpkin pie, a Tastykake pumpkin cheesecake pie, a Tastykake apple pie, and a Wawa-brand “limited time only” caramel apple pie.

I returned home with a cornucopia of convenience store food in hand. “I made us dinner!” I said to my husband.

We began our gastronomical journey as we’d begin a real Thanksgiving by putting on Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant” and drinking a bottle of wine we had around the house to lubricate ourselves in the event of any drama or unforeseen circumstances.

I then plated the cheese packages together.

“Oh my gourd! That looks pretty good,” I said.

The food didn’t taste bad either. The cinnamon raisin bread from Wawa was especially delightful, and the cheeses weren’t fowl.

Next, it was time for the side-by-side Gobbler vs. platter taste test. The Gobbler looked good, but the platter appeared less than appetizing in its box.

I hate my food items touching each other — and all the food was touching each other, like some culinary bacchanal. So I separated and plated the items and was surprised at how much more attractive the meal looked. I also put the mac and cheese into a ramekin and placed it all in the oven.

We opened the bottle of wine from Wawa and were punched in the mouth by the aggressive pinot noir, which was sweet and bold with heavy notes of black licorice.

“Oh, this is going to give us a headache,” I said. But by our second glass, we were declaring the wine was “not so bad!” and “maybe even good?” My handwriting became more illegible as the evening wore on, but it appears we settled on “wretched” in the end.

The dinner platter, on the other hand, was pretty decent, even with the gravy. The turkey was juicy, the potatoes were smooth, and the cranberry sauce had real cranberries. The stuffing, which was mushy, was the weakest link. While I’m not a fan of Wawa’s soupy mac and cheese, once I baked it in the oven, it was pretty tasty, and the garlic knots were solid.

But in the end, the Gobbler won out as the superior method of Wawa Thanksgiving food consumption. The items are fine on their own, but there’s a special ingredient that’s added when they’re all nestled together in a hoagie roll — nostalgia.

Even if you’ve never been to a Wawa, you’ve probably made a similar sandwich from Thanksgiving leftovers. There’s an unmistakable comfort in the Gobbler that feels like tradition. Maybe that’s why they sell about one million chain wide every year.

“The Gobbler is so pure, and Wawa picked up on that,” my husband said.

When it came to the pie-off, I thought the Tastykake pumpkin cheesecake and Wawa’s limited edition apple caramel pie were the clear winners.

A Wawa Thanksgiving — whether plated or on a hoagie roll — could never compare to a home-cooked meal, but as someone who’s worked on holidays, I know not everybody gets to be home on Thanksgiving. Wawa is one of the few places that reliably will be open on Thanksgiving in our area, and while it can never compare to a homemade dinner, if we’re talking turkey, it’ll do in a pinch.