Not Home for the Holidays: Thanksgiving in D.C.

NOBODY'S JUDGING YOU. Maybe you just didn't want to travel. Maybe you can't stand your extended family. Maybe your demonic boss is making you work the day after Thanksgiving.

For whatever reason, you're stuck in D.C. by yourself on Thanksgiving, but roasting a turkey for one is out of the question. They don't even make turkeys that small. You'd have to roast a quail or a sparrow or something. But tradition is important, even if you can't be with your family on Thanksgiving.

Never fear. D.C.'s restaurants, perhaps taking advantage of the massive number of people here who are married to their jobs, are serving up Thanksgiving meals at all price points. Here are a few of your options — but make reservations, or you could be waiting till December for your food.

The Tabard Inn, one of Dupont Circle's coziest and best restaurants, believes in variety. For $60 ($27 for kids younger than 10) you'll get a starter, an appetizer, an entree and a dessert. There's a turkey roulade, of course, but also beef, pork, fish and vegetarian options. Chef Paul Pelt gets creative, bringing spring rolls into the Thanksgiving spirit with a plum-cranberry dipping sauce. Other standouts include Maine oysters and Pumpkin gingersnap pie.

Want something more adventurous? Indebleu, at Gallery Place, has a $45, four-course meal. Peanut curry, fried turkey breast, pumpkin-ginger ravioli and caramel cheesecake are all on the menu at this French-Indian fusion restaurant.

But you want real tradition, right? It's Thanksgiving, after all. Roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy — go to Ardeo to get it all. There are other options on the $40 prix fixe menu, of course, including roast pig and beef tenderloin. Just make sure to follow it up with the pumpkin mascarpone cheesecake or you might never forgive yourself.

If all this is giving your starved-by-the-recession wallet the sweats, take heart. CommonWealth knows your pain and is offering a three-course, $25 spread. This meal will be strictly traditional: turkey, cranberries, squash, pie. Sure, CommonWealth is a gastropub, but the British seem to have forgiven the U.S. for the revolution, at least on this day of Thanksgiving.

» Tabard Inn, 1739 N St. NW; 202-331-8528. (Dupont Circle)
» Indebleu, 707 G St. NW; 202-333-2538. (Gallery Place)
» Ardeo, 3311 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202-244-6750. (Cleveland Park)
» CommonWealth, 1400 Irving St. NW; 202-265-1400. (Columbia Heights)