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The NoMad Hotel in New York, photographed by Francesco Tonelli
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The Cavalier in San Francisco, photographed by Eric Wolfinger
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The Mansion in Dallas, photograph courtesy of Rosewood Hotels
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Plume in Washington DC, photographed by Eric Wolfinger
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The Violet Hourin Chicago, photographed by Joni Kat Anderson
Not home for Thanksgiving? Here are some restaurants where you can spend the holiday well-fed and in style — without having to worry about the clean-up after.
The NoMad Hotel
In the dramatic Jacques-Garcia designed dining room of the Manhattan hotel, expect a Thanksgiving meal as opulent as your surroundings. Start with foie gras and cremini mushrooms or take your fungus game to the next level with white truffle tagliatelle before tucking into roasted turkey with parsnip écrasé and chestnuts. As they say, go big or go home — and with 168 Parisian-style rooms just an elevator ride away, there’s no reason to do the latter.
SAN FRANCISCO
The Cavalier
If you can’t spend the holidays in London, with its Christmas markets and sparkling storefronts, the next best thing is San Francisco’s The Cavalier, like a scene out of an Anglophile dreamscape (think equine murals, stately taxidermy and low-lit tufted leather banquettes). The Thanksgiving-day offerings are enough to salivate over, too. Lobster bisque topped with a fried oyster and caviar, pork in an apple and vadouvan curry, pumpkin steamed pudding with crème anglaise and caramel? Sign us up, old chap.
DALLAS
Mansion Restarant
Built as a residence in the 1920s in an homage to 16th century Italian Renaissance style, Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek feels like just that — a private home, if a very lush one. The restaurant serves some of the best food in the city, and Thanksgiving day is no exception: Past menu stars have included pheasant confit, brown butter-doused yams, and cranberry macarons.
Plume
Situated inside the Beaux Arts-style Jefferson Hotel (a mere four blocks from the White House), Plume is one of the district’s finest dining establishments — with a Michelin star to prove it. Enter the dramatic dining room through a skylit, highly ornate atrium, and look for Thanksgiving options like Gougères with roasted chestnut, foie gras with huckleberry compote and rib-eye with yellow corn soufflé. Past desserts have included lemon vanilla custard and salted caramel bonbons — a sweet ending to an undoubtedly perfect meal.
CHICAGO
The Violet Hour
Okay, this bar does not serve Thanksgiving dinner — and it may not be open on Thanksgiving day — but what it lacks in holiday service it makes up for in cocktails strong enough to help you forget the forced family fun from the night before. Walk through the layers of heavy French blue curtains to nestle by the crackling fire with a Wild Turkey Old Fashioned in hand. Better yet, try the “Fall Be Kind,” autumnal and spicy thanks to Amaretto, honey, and plum, or “If You Have to Ask,” with bourbon, ginger, and lemon.
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