If you’re staying in the District for Thanksgiving, you don’t have to revert to the Whole Foods hot bar to satisfy your cravings for a home-cooked meal. Read up on these restaurants to find a Thanksgiving meal that will make you feel at home.
Family-style feast: Carmines
Carmines is a family-style Italian restaurant that offers a Thanksgiving spread featuring an 18-pound turkey.
Critics say this feast has “all the trimmings,” including staples like sausage and sage stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with giblet gravy and sweet potatoes with marshmallows. It also includes sides of Brussels sprouts with caramelized onions and bacon, green beans with red peppers and hazelnuts and dill carrots. You can add an apple or pumpkin pie for $20 if you believe no Thanksgiving is complete without dessert.
Feeds six to eight people, 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., $249 per family-style feast, 425 7th St. NW.
Southern classics: Georgia Brown’s
If Southern comfort food is your idea of a Thanksgiving meal, make a reservation to enjoy a four-course meal at Georgia Brown’s.
Guests can customize their Thanksgiving menu by choosing their different options of appetizer, entree and dessert. The chef starts the meal with a course called “amuse bouche,” or small, bite-sized hors d’oeuvres. For appetizers, guests can try dishes like fried green tomatoes with herbed goat cheese and lemon aioli or a fall harvest salad with dried cherries, goat cheese and curried sweet potatoes. The entree list includes classics like fried or roasted turkey and glazed country ham and unconventional options like a vegan “Beyond Meatloaf.” Dessert options include peach cobbler, sweet potato cheesecake, southern bread pudding, sorbet and peppermint chocolate cake.
$65 per person, a la carte prices vary, noon to 6:30 p.m., 950 15th St. NW.
Thanksgiving with Indian dishes: Rasika
On Thanksgiving, Rasika is adding a turkey-centric meal to its regular a la carte menu.
The meal will include a turkey pot pie, mashed sweet potatoes, green bean korma, onion sage pulao and makki cranberry roti ($24). Whether you want to ditch Thanksgiving food altogether and indulge in its many authentic Indian options or enjoy your favorite aspects of Thanksgiving dishes in re-inspired Indian dishes, Rasika offers a twist on Thanksgiving.
$24 per Thanksgiving-inspired meal, noon to 2:15 p.m., Penn Quarter location only, 633 D St. NW.
A Potomac riverboat holiday meal: Spirit of Washington
The Spirit of Washington riverboat cruise will offer a buffet-style Thanksgiving meal, DJ entertainment, interactive games and views of the monuments.
Its Thanksgiving buffet has dishes like an arugula salad with candied pecans and goat cheese, roasted turkey with orange cranberry sauce and gravy, herb stuffing with rosemary and sage, hickory-smoked ham with a maple mustard glaze, a mashed potato bar, green bean casserole and assorted desserts. If you’re looking for a scenic experience to enhance your Thanksgiving meal, this lunchtime cruise is your best bet.
$89 per person, cruise boards at 12:15 p.m. and lasts from 1 to 3 p.m., 580 Water St. SW, pier 4.
Simple menu with Asian flare: Brothers and Sisters
Inside the Line Hotel DC, the restaurant Brothers and Sisters will offer a simple Thanksgiving menu with three entree options.
Customers can choose from a Peking duck breast with cranberries, braised short-rib with turnips and shiitake mushrooms or a vegetarian butternut squash curry. Each entree is accompanied by ginger sweet potatoes, milk-bread stuffing, stir-fried Brussels sprout leaves, braised collard greens, a Waldorf salad, cornbread and a dessert of pumpkin pie. For a refined Thanksgiving meal at a reasonable price, reserve your spot at Brothers and Sisters.
$45 per person, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. 1770 Euclid St. NW.
A gourmet Thanksgiving: American Son
The Eaton Hotel restaurant American Son, known for its gourmet, eclectic menu, is serving a Thanksgiving-inspired menu this year.
Guests can select one dish for each of the three courses. Some dishes are traditional, like the second-course heritage turkey dinner with a milk poached turkey breast, turkey sausage stuffing, sweet potato fondue, Brussels sprouts and giblet gravy. Customers can also choose more unconventional dishes like the barbecued heirloom carrots, sweet potato panna cotta or pastrami smoked salmon. Potluck style Thanksgiving meals can get boring, so try American Son for a satisfying gourmet meal with autumnal ingredients and Thanksgiving flavors.
$45 per person, 5:30 to 10 p.m. 1201 K St. NW.
