How to Celebrate Thanksgiving in San Francisco in 2022

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and if you haven’t quite started thinking through your plans, Eater SF is here to help. For diners who would rather take cooking out of the equation — and especially those who don’t want to bother with cleanup — there are plenty of restaurants willing to take care of it all, from turkey to pie. The Bay Area now occupies the unceded traditional homelands of the Ohlone peoples, but there is an opportunity to start some new traditions this year acknowledging the holiday’s origins while gathering together for a meal. Here’s a list of traditional and nontraditional takes on the Thanksgiving meal, whether you’re in the mood for a sit-down dinner at a restaurant or if you’d rather kick up your heels at home.

Reservations

One Market is serving up a three-course prix-fixe sit-down meal with some traditional (and not-so-traditional) Thanksgiving Day items on the menu. Start with an amuse bouche, then choose between different items at each course, from a butternut squash soup, caramelized pear and arugula salad, or baby beet salad; roasted turkey with cornbread-sausage stuffing, spit-roasted Berkshire pork loin with Swiss chard and potato puree, pan-seared king salmon, or a vegetarian option by request; hazelnut ice cream, tarte tatin, or pumpkin tart for dessert. Prices for the sit-down meal are $89 for adults, $49 for children aged 10 and under. The restaurant is also offering a pared-down version of the Thanksgiving menu for takeout, priced at $79 per person.

Lily, meanwhile, is also offering the option of a sit-down meal or takeout: Billed as “Lily’s New Tradition Thanksgiving,” the Vietnamese restaurant is offering a three-course set menu takeout for one person, with an amuse bouche of crispy chicken skin or king crab and mango goi cuon; Vietnamese curry pumpkin soup or honshu pear and mizuna salad; salt-baked turkey breast, confit turkey sweet potato hash, or shrimp and lap xuong fried rice, plus sides and dessert, for $88. The in-house menu is much of the same, but with a few bonuses, like a chilled Beausoleil oyster option for the amuse bouche and vanilla ice cream with the pumpkin pie dessert (just be sure to make reservations).

La Société, one of the newer restaurants in the city, is taking on the Thanksgiving Day meal with a sit-down dinner featuring a French-inflected menu. The four-course prix fixe menu includes a Brussels sprouts salad, chestnut veloute, turkey breast or turkey paupiette made of thigh meat and savory cabbage, with sides like sauteed haricots verts and pomme puree, as well as a tarte tatin to end dinner for $88 per person.

If a Thanksgiving Day buffet is more of what you want, Ayesha Curry’s International Smoke is more than willing to oblige: carving stations will be ready to serve cedar-smoked salmon, turkey breast, or wagyu prime rib for the occasion. Start off with a red curry butternut squash soup or a truffle Caesar salad, or some chilled snowshell crab claws and gulf shrimp. There are sides and desserts, too, of course, with roasted broccolini and cornbread stuffing, with pumpkin pie, apple cobbler, or bread pudding to end the night. Prepare to make your reservation and shell out $105 per person or $49 for kids (not including tax and tip).

If you’re looking for a unique — and, quite possibly, an unrepeatable dinner — Turntable at Lord Stanley is hosting New York-based chef Susan Kim. There aren’t any details yet on what the dinner entails, but Kim is currently only doing pop-ups, meaning this is one of the few times to catch her for this special meal on the West Coast. The tasting menu begins at $150 per person with reservations available via Tock.

Cassava

Takeout

If the website is to be believed, you’re already out of luck if you were considering Tommy’s Joynt for Thanksgiving Day takeout: everything already appears to be sold out; still, the city’s favorite hofbrau will be open for dine-in on the holiday, ready to carve up ham or turkey for the crowds. If you’ve never been to Tommy’s for the holiday, they have a handy-dandy FAQ sheet for first-timers with helpful information, including the suggestion to arrive an hour before you want to eat. But if you have your heart set on bringing food home for your holiday, these places are willing to oblige:

Cassava is back with a new spot in North Beach and Thanksgiving meals ready to go. For $295, Cassava’s Thanksgiving Day menu will serve four adults, with a 6- to 8-pound roasted turkey as centerpiece. Sides are also a sight to be seen, with buttery mashed potatoes; sourdough and rosemary stuffing; “truffled” mac and cheese; caramelized root vegetables; chicken liver mousse; quince-cranberry sauce; and pumpkin cheesecake. If you want just sides — or just the turkey — you can order those, as well.

Thanksgiving can be a tough holiday for the vegetarians, so forward-thinking Che Fico has both a meaty menu or a vegetarian menu available for four people, with pre-order via Tock. The $325 turkey option comes with bone-in heritage turkey breast and gravy; confit turkey casserole; radicchio salad; potato gratin; and more. Meanwhile, the $300 vegetarian meal will feature a butternut squash lasagna as the main, while sharing many of the same vegetable sides as the other dinner. If you’re looking for other vegetarian options, Greens is offering a la carte vegetarian dishes for pre-order from chef Katie Reicher, such as Tassajara wild mushroom terrine or roasted Brussels sprouts with wild leek miso soubise, via this takeout form.

If you’d rather throw turkey tradition out the window and go for the gold, Alexander’s Steakhouse is offering a take-and-bake prime rib dinner for six to eight guests for $475. With that comes a seasoned and par-cooked 7-pound prime rib with au jus and creamed horseradish, as well as mashed potatoes and haricot vert.

Last, if you really want to DIY your Thanksgiving dinner, but prefer not to go grocery shopping yourself, Harris’ Restaurant is offering to-go boxes of dry-aged meat and groceries as a one-stop fix for your dinner. Choose from a $150 “Filet Box” with two 8-ounce filet mignons, plus Russett potatoes, asparagus, brownies, and a bottle of Cabernet; there’s also a $200 ribeye box with the same sides ingredients and two bone-in ribeyes; or just pick up a prime rib roast for $25 a pound. Orders can be placed in-person at Harris’ Butcher Shop, or via email at info@harrisrestaurant.com. The boxes all come with cooking instructions, which lets the chef in the family cook without (too much) pre-planning.