Thankful for Unique Meals

the tablehopper | 1:10 pm | November 19, 2008 | Foodie 411

Metro Kathmandu | credit Florian Charreard

Numerous restaurants are open for Thanksgiving, but here are a few interesting riffs on the traditional meal:

Metro Kathmandu, a Nepalese restaurant in the Lower Haight, is serving an affordable three-course meal with your choice of appetizer: white truffle oil-infused butternut squash and parsnip soup, or baby arugula and spinach salad with apple and bacon, or prawn pakoda with tomato sesame chutney, or crab cakes, or sautéed spinach with mango salsa; for your entrée, a choice of: pistachio-crusted rack of lamb with sweet potato puree and tamarind chutney, or turkey tikka masala with saffron basmati rice, or Alaskan halibut masala with saffron basmati rice, or nawaratan korma with safron basamati rice; and for dessert, either traditional pumpkin pie, pistachio kulfi ice cream, mango kulfi ice cream, or warm flourless carrot cardamom cake. And here’s the kicker: it’s only $35.

• 311 Divisadero St. at Oak, 415-552-0903

I thought this sounded epically delicious: Epic Roasthouse is serving a southern Thanksgiving. Co-owner and executive chef Jan Birnbaum will prepare a four-course, prix-fixe menu featuring chive buttermilk biscuits with house-made ham and Hook’s Wisconsin farmhouse cheddar; lobster cakes with radish-cucumber salad and lobster hollandaise; potato, leek and Champagne soup with caviar; wood oven-roasted Branigan turkey with cornbread dressing, parsnip, and potato puree, and black pepper cranberry sauce; and chanterelle mushroom risotto with butternut squash and black truffle vinaigrette. Desserts include milk chocolate pumpkin crème brûlée; pecan cranberry tartlet with Bulleit bourbon ice cream and caramel sauce; and apple tart with a hint of saffron and a Tahitian vanilla ice cream. $85 per person (12 and under: $40). Early seatings: 1:30pm, 2pm, 2:30pm. Late seatings: 4pm, 4:30pm, 5pm.

• 369 The Embarcadero at Folsom, 415-369-9955

Millennium is hosting a vegetarian Thanksgiving Supper. Yup, tofu turkey! It’s five-course prix-fixe dinner, $60/person, $30/child under 12 years old, 2:30pm–7:30pm.

• 580 Geary St. at Jones, 415-345-3900.

Marcia Gagliardi writes a popular weekly e-column about the SF dining scene, “the tablehopper.” Subscribe for free at www.tablehopper.com and get it in your inbox every Tuesday. Got news? Email Marcia at taste@sanfrancisco.travel.