Arts & Entertainment
Stuck in D.C.?
Those who can’t make it home for Thanksgiving have several local dining options
D.C. has lots of dining options for those staying in town next week. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Looking to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast without the hassle of spending hours in the kitchen cooking and cleaning up? Then, a number of D.C.’s finest and most popular restaurants will be the most welcome Thanksgiving day sight since the Pilgrims first spotted Plymouth Rock.
On Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 22) dozens of area restaurants will be serving up menus ranging from traditional to innovative holiday meals.
Here’s a list of what some will be offering:
Ardeo Bardeo Restaurant
3311 Connecticut Ave. NW
202-244-6750
Celebrate a traditional Thanksgiving meal or enjoy one of Chef Nate Garyantes’ dinner specials at Ardeo Bardeo from 5-11 p.m., which features everything from butternut squash soup to wild mushroom risotto to ricotta agnolotti. Turkey of course will be served but other dining choices include grilled swordfish, seven hour-braised Shenandoah lamb shoulder or grilled beef strip loin.
Art and Soul
415 New Jersey Ave., NW
202-393-7777
Executive Chef Wes Morton will pull out all the southern-inspired stops with his Thanksgiving buffet menu, featuring house-made maple ham, a roast of local heritage turkey and all the best holiday favorites. Seatings are available from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Adults are $55 per person and children ages 6 to 12 are $25. All customers will receive a “leftover” roast turkey sandwich complete with cranberry sauce and gravy to take home.
Beacon Bar and Grill
1615 Rhode Island Ave. NW
202-872-1126
Chef Steven Hunter will welcome all to Beacon Bar and Grill’s Thanksgiving Day dining celebration with traditional holiday fare and great seasonal alternatives. The three-course dinner is available from noon to 7 p.m. Adults $34.95, children $15.95.
Bistro Francais
3124 M St. NW
202-338-3830
This Georgetown French eatery will be offering a traditional three-course Thanksgiving meal, as well as an a la carte option from 11 a.m. to midnight. Lunch begins at $29.95 for adults, $19.95 for children, with dinner fetching $10 more.
Brasserie Beck
1101 K St. NW
202-408-1717
Chef Brian McBride will prepare Brasserie Beck’s first Thanksgiving Day feast with seatings from noon to 9 p.m. This contemporary Belgian brasserie will also offer special holiday desserts.
Café Berlin
322 Massachusetts Ave. NE
202-543-7656
This German-themed restaurant will be offering menu choices from its regular and special Thanksgiving Day menu from 1 to 8 p.m. The holiday meal begins with pumpkin soup and is followed by roasted turkey with all the trimmings and choice of dessert. Cost is $27 per person.
Darlington House
1610 20th St. NW
202-332-3722
Owners Fabio and Patricia Beggiato invite Thanksgiving revelers to head to their Italian eatery for a special holiday meal, that starts with a glass of prosecco. Traditional offerings will be available from 2 to 11 p.m. Adults cost $49, children $25.
Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant
555 S. 23rd St., Arlington, VA
703-685-0555
The restaurant will be offering its annual Thanksgiving all-you-can-eat buffet from noon to 7 p.m., featuring a traditional menu of turkey, stuffing, yams plus pumpkin pie and other dessert favorites. Cost is $19.99 per person.
Palm Restaurant
1225 19th St. NW
202-293-9091
Looking to give thanks in style? This Dupont Circle steakhouse is offering a three-course Thanksgiving prix fixe menu featuring slow-roasted hand carved turkey with all the trimmings. Dinner is served from 2 to 8 p.m. at $45 for adults and $19 for children under 12.
Rasika West End
1190 New Hampshire Ave. NW
202-466-2500
This contemporary Indian restaurant will be serving turkey in addition to its regular menu from noon to 11 p.m.
Roberts Restaurant at the Omni Shoreham
2500 Calvert St. NW
202-756-5300
Executive Chef Dan Murray and his culinary team will be offering a Thanksgiving brunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., featuring all the traditional favorites mixed in with his signature style. Brunch is $64 for adults, $27 per child.
Taberna del Alabardero
1776 I St. NW
202-429-2200
Celebrate the holiday at this Spanish restaurant with a prefixed menu and live entertainment. Enjoy a lavish Turkey meal and finish the night with a special dessert of cherry sponge cake, corn cream, blueberry mousse and pumpkin marmalade. Price is $64 a person. Dinner will be served beginning at 5 p.m.
Trio
1537 17th St. NW
202-232-6305
From noon to midnight Trio will be offering a special four-course Thanksgiving meal for $17.95. On tap for the menu is cream of turkey soup, choice of salad, an entrée of roast turkey with giblet gravy, roast duckling aux oranges or baked sugar-cured ham with raisin sauce, plus all the fixings. Dessert will offer pumpkin pie, homemade bread pudding and rice pudding.
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(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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In some fowl fiction foreshadowing, a gay-owned chicken joint has come home to roost on U Street, taking a page from the chicken window subplot on the HBO show “Looking.”
Last Friday, Lucky Pollo – much more than just a takeout window – stretched its wings atop the busy nightlife corner of 14th and U Streets NW.
Behind the poultry production place is Zach Renovátes, a D.C.-based nightlife operator and managing partner of LGBTQ venues Bunker and District Eagle, as well as the LGBTQ event production company KINETIC Presents.
Renovátes opened Bunker in February 2023 and District Eagle in January of this year. Lucky Pollo is the third in his growing gay empire, though this time there are noshes.
“Lucky Pollo was meant to be fun and a little provocative,” Renovátes said.
Based around its Peruvian-style rotisserie chicken, Lucky Pollo is a quick-service restaurant boasting a small menu of poultry and sides. Renovátes says that the dishes are deeply rooted in Peruvian culinary tradition, “a playful experience alongside seriously good food.”
Lucky Pollo’s signature chicken is steeped in a dozen-plus-spice marinade for 24 hours. The meat is then slow-roasted, rotisserie-style, over oak-wood charcoal. Chicken options include quarter, half, and whole.
Helming the kitchen at Lucky Pollo is Chef Luis Herrera, who brings Peruvian recipes passed down through three generations, including his grandmother Laura’s original creations.
Beyond the full bird, the menu features Peruvian-inspired sides like yuca fries (“I personally love these,” says Renovátes) and fried plantains, as well as comfort classics such as mac and cheese and mashed potatoes, and bowls, wraps, and salads. Herrera oversees development of the multiple sauces (including staff favorite, the “secret green sauce”), crafted in-house using traditional Peruvian ingredients.
Lucky Pollo, in its streetside perch, is an independent concept from District Eagle, open to the public and staying open late (3 a.m. on weekends) to serve both nightlife guests and the wider U Street crowd hungry for late-night bites. However, just beyond the kitchen, tucked in the back lies a vintage 1950s candy machine—labeled “Out of Order,” which serves as the door leading to subterranean District Eagle.
Renovátes notes that when District Eagle is open, security staff will maintain a strict two-line policy, ensuring that those seeking meat to eat will not get entwined with those looking to gain access to District Eagle.
Lucky Pollo unites the need for sustenance with the idea of a bit of fortune, given its motto, “Get Lucky” and the whimsical brand mascot: a leather-booted chicken perched on a horseshoe. Renovátes and his District Eagle business partner had always been interested in opening a restaurant, and the Lucky Pollo space was indeed lucky: It already came with a functional kitchen. Plus, he says, the nearby fast-casual places around 14th and U streets “don’t offer a lot of quality options,” so opening the chicken spot “was a no-brainer.”
The space, designed by NYC creative Jasin Cadic, blends theatrical street-art-style vibes with Keith Haring-inspired wall prints, neon signs, and ceiling-hung chicken figurines —”some edgy, some sweet,” says Renovátes —creating an immersive, playful atmosphere. Lucky Pollo and District Eagle maintain separate amenities for their respective customers.
Lucky Pollo opened last week with a competition to devour a whole rotisserie chicken in the fastest time, with the winner earning $1,000 and a framed spot on the restaurant’s “Wall of Fame.” The opening also featured other games and prizes, and a full crowd spilling out the door.
“We want it to be a great place to eat, but also serve as a playful front for something completely unexpected.” Renovátes says.
On weekends especially, he jokes, the motto will be, ‘Come for the chicken, stay for the cock.’”
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