Michael Mina and Ayesha Curry's International Smoke House serves Thanksgiving dinner with a twist, including chilled shellfish and steak with an assortment of side dishes. | Source: Courtesy International Smoke House
For many American households, cooking a turkey on Thanksgiving is the main event—aside from, say, watching the 49ers play the Seattle Seahawks. But not every host dreams of spending hours tending to a bird in the oven.
Fortunately, a number of San Francisco’s world-class restaurants are open on Thanksgiving Day. So if you’re looking to take a break from hosting or simply want to celebrate with a few friends and loved ones without the hassle of washing dishes, here are 11 San Francisco Bay Area restaurants that offer roasted turkey, gourmet stuffings and loaded mashed potatoes.
Michael Mina's Tiburon outpost, The Bungalow Kitchen, offers a classic turkey dinner for Thanksgiving 2023. | Source: Courtesy The Bungalow Kitchen
Inside the Hyatt Regency Downtown SOMA, La Société offers modern French cuisine in a homier setting than its more spectacular sister, Bar Sprezzatura. At this serene retreat, the four-course Thanksgiving feast includes an autumn salad with root vegetables, chestnut velouté, roasted turkey with all the sides and an apple tart.
Shuttered for two years, Asian-inspired French bistro Lord Stanley, helmed by owners Rupert and Carrie Bleaset, will be open for dine-in service for Thanksgiving 2023. | Source: Jason Henry for The Standard
You can celebrate both Thanksgiving and a beloved restaurant’s return at Lord Stanley, which recently reopened after a two-year closure. The Asian-inspired French bistro has a $155 four-course set menu that includes aged duck on its crown and an autumn clafoutis with pear and pecan.
Michael Mina’s Greek-themed restaurant is a gorgeous haven any time of the year, but Thanksgiving will be particularly special. Taking its inspiration from the blue Aegean rather than chilly Massachusetts Bay, the $125 menu includes grilled octopus with Santorini capers, avgolemono soup with chicken confit and Cretan-style potatoes. Not to worry: There will be turkey, complete with champagne cranberry compote and sweet potato.
With its warm wooden paneling and festive crowds, Harris’ exudes a timeless charm—and its piano lounge makes for the perfect Thanksgiving setting. The classic San Francisco steakhouse offers a $90, three-course meal—which will, of course, include its dry-aged slabs of meat. Not in the mood for crowds? Harris’ also offers a takeout option, with to-go boxes that come with either filet cuts or rib-eye (and plentiful sides). And while you may not want to leave things to chance—hangry relatives are not a good look on a day about gratitude—there’s a limited number of walk-ins available on Thanksgiving Day.
Orafo's sophisticated dining room provides a dark and cozy backdrop for Thanksgiving feasting. | Source: Courtesy Orafo
The Four Seasons Embarcadero’s California-Italian restaurant offers a $98 prix fixe packed with pumpkin. A roasted pumpkin soup with heirloom pumpkin, crème fraîche and mint kicks things off, followed by a Diestel Turkey dinner with sage stuffing and sides of mashed potatoes and green beans. A chantilly crème and vanilla crumble pumpkin cheesecake offers a sweet finish.
Mina’s collab with cookbook author Ayesha Curry offers a Thanksgiving twist on International Smoke’s standard menu of grilled and smoked meats. In addition to roasted turkey, diners can load up on a chilled shellfish smorgasbord of Pacific oysters, Gulf shrimp and snow crab, or else savor St. Louis-style pork ribs. Sides include bacon, scallion and cheddar mashed potatoes, Curry’s jalapeño cornbread and herb-and-sausage sourdough stuffing. Dinner is $120 per adult and $49 for kids under 12.
If turkey isn’t your thing, One Market offers two meaty alternatives on its four-course Thanksgiving menu. Choose from a spit-roasted Berkshire pork loin with Swiss chard, potato purée, fuji apples and golden raisins—or go big with a pan-seared king salmon with spaghetti squash and shiitake mushrooms in a red pepper-kaffir lime emulsion. Start your meal with a butternut squash soup, caramelized pear and arugula salad or a baby beet salad for the first course, and finish things off with your choice of an apple hand pie, a chocolate bread pudding or a pumpkin tart. Dinner is $95 per adult and $49 per child under the age of 10.
The Financial District's One Market will offer a classic turkey dinner with Brussels sprouts for Thanksgiving 2023. | Source: Courtesy One Market
The hotel restaurant just off the Embarcadero serves a $115 prix fixe starring a turkey breast roulade filled with black garlic, apple and cornbread stuffing complemented by a truffled potato rosti whipped up with cauliflower puree and Swiss chard and a kabocha squash tartlet made with wine-poached pear and toasted pistachios for dessert. There are also vegan and gluten-free options as well as an optional wine pairing for $40.
Embarcadero-side restaurant Terrene at 1 Hotel SF will be open for Thanksgiving 2023. | Source: Courtesy 1 Hotel SF
Take your Thanksgiving experience to the next level inside the eye-catching Villon inside the Proper Hotel. The four-course, $135 Thanksgiving menu at Villon includes pumpkin agnolotti, traditional turkey with all the fixings and pumpkin pie custard—available with both regular and reserve wine pairings. For those looking for a more private experience, the Gilda Room can be reserved for up to 12 people.
The Proper Hotel's Villon restaurant offers an elegant backdrop for Thanksgiving dinner. | Source: Manolo Yllera/Courtesy Proper Hotel
The DoubleTree by Hilton’s waterfront Berkeley Boathouse offers a scenic backdrop for giving thanks along the East Bay city’s marina. Enjoy a classic entree of maple-brined turkey breast, mashed potatoes and green beans or change things up with a herb-crusted Angus beef prime rib with Boursin cheese creamed spinach, British-style Yorkshire pudding popovers and twice-baked potato au jus. Pick classic pumpkin pie or chocolate pecan bread pudding for dessert.
Michael Mina’s Tiburon outpost offers a decadent, multicourse Thanksgiving meal with a kid-friendly turkeyoption. The $105 prix fixe opens with appetizers for the table, such as sweet potato pancakes with salmon gravlax and apple compote or ahi tuna tartare with mint, garlic, Asian pear and habanero-sesame oil.
As part of its prix fixe Thanksgiving 2023 menu, The Bungalow Kitchen in Tiburon offers a French-inspired pumpkin mille-feuille pastry with pecan crumble. | Source: Courtesy The Bungalow Kitchen
A smoked sweet potato soup with coconut, turmeric and toasted peanuts follows as the second course, with plenty of options for the main, including a classic heritage turkey dinner, a steak of cauliflower or Mina’s signature lobster pot pie made with whole Maine lobster. Dessert is your choice of a crêpe cake with fresh raspberries and crème fraîche or another French-inspired pumpkin mille-feuille pastry with pecan crumble.
