Happy (almost) Thanksgiving! Though plenty of people have left the D.C. area for Thanksgiving, there are plenty more spending the holiday right here. Those of us still in the Capitol Hill area will get a longer and quieter weekend than normal. IN what is perhaps a gift to those who stick around for the holiday weekend, Metro has no track work planned this weekend.
Temperatures on Thanksgiving Day are expected to be in the high 50s with partly cloudy skies. The weather will be a little warmer on Friday, but a cold front on Saturday will bring cloudy skies, rain showers and highs in the 50s for the weekend.
We’ll be off until Monday or when the leftovers run out, whichever comes first. In the meantime, here’s everything you need to know to make the most of the next four days on Capitol Hill:
Thanksgiving Thursday
- Trash usually collected on Thursday will be collected Friday and Friday collection will be pushed to Saturday
- Recreation Centers and other Department of Parks and Recreation facilities will be closed Thursday and Friday
- Parking meters will not be enforced
- Parking restrictions along the H Street NE streetcar will still be enforced
- Metro trains will operate on Sunday schedules Thursday and resume normal service Friday
Black Friday
- Maketto on H Street NE will hold a black Friday sale with everything 50% off from 6-9 a.m.
- DC Harvest on H Street NE will open for brunch on black Friday at 11 a.m.
Small Business Saturday
- Locally owned stores from H Street NE to Barracks Row will open for customers looking to support small businesses on Small Business Saturday
The Metropolitan Police Department’s First District, which covers most of Ward 6, is collecting food for Thanksgiving today and tomorrow.
Donors can drop off non-perishable food items at the police station at 101 M St. SW or the substation at 500 E St. SE. The food is collected at the stations and distributed to families in need on Thanksgiving, according to an email from First District Community Outreach Coordinator Carolyn L. Smith.
The police are specifically seeking the following non-perishable items, according to Smith:
- Canned vegetables (yams, carrots, green beans, corn)
- Cranberry sauce
- Apple sauce
- Canned fruits
- Soups (box and can)
- Dry goods (stuffing, rice, macaroni & cheese, mashed potatoes)
Photo via Flickr/inafrenzy
Thanksgiving is a time to share and make memories with friends and family. But for many, Thanksgiving is also a time to put their culinary skills to test for some of their harshest critics.
Impress your family and spare yourself some time in the kitchen by upgrading your Thanksgiving spread with selections from Capitol Hill area restaurants. Here is a round up of Thanksgiving offerings from local eateries:
Osteria Morini
301 Water St. SE
Order By: Friday 9 p.m.
Pick Up: 3-5 p.m. Nov. 24 or 25
Homemade pies are available for $33 each. Varieties include caramel apple pie with crisp oat streusel, honey pecan pie with chocolate crust and lemon tart with toasted meringue. Each pie will serve 8-10 people. Pies can be ordered online.
Whisked! Bakery at Ice Cream Jubilee
301 Water St. SE
Order By: Thursday
Pick Up: Nov. 24 or 25
Navy Yard’s Ice Cream Jubilee has partnered with Whisked! Bakery to provide Thanksgiving pies. Small 6 in. pies at $9 and large 9 in. pies are $22. Add a pint of ice cream for $7. Pie flavors include salted caramel apple, bourbon pecan, classic pumpkin, pumpkin chocolate and sea salt chocolate chess. Orders can be emailed to [email protected].
Bayou Bakery
901 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
Order By: Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 10 a.m.
Pick Up: Before 1 p.m. Nov. 25
The Capitol Hill restaurant has a full menu of side dishes and sweets for Thanksgiving. The menu includes Southern favorites like collared greens, buttermilk biscuits and mac-n-cheese in addition to six pies, including a bacon and cayenne pecan pie and a bourbon chocolate chip pie. Those who order by this Thursday will receive 10% off their final order. Place your order by calling the restaurant at 202-664-5307.
Dangerously Delicious Pies
1339 H St. NE
Order By: Saturday
Pick Up: Nov. 25 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
H Street’s Dangerously Delicious Pies has all their pie varieties available to order online in time for Thanksgiving. Sweet varieties include their best-selling Baltimore Bomb with Berger Cookies, sweet potato pie and blueberry pancake batter pie. Quiche and savory pies are also available to order online.
Medium Rare
515 8th St. SE
Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 25)
For the second year in a row, Medium Rare will fry turkeys brought to their restaurant on Thanksgiving Day on a first-come-first-served basis. Bring a thawed turkey to the Barracks Row eatery between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to get it fried.
Photo via Twitter/ Dangerously Delicious Pies
Barracks Row eatery Medium Rare will fire up eight deep-fryers on Thanksgiving to fry neighbors’ turkeys for free.
The steakhouse at 515 8th St. SE will open its kitchen on Thanksgiving Day so neighbors can bring their turkeys to be fried. It will be the second year that the event has been held at the Barracsks Row location, but the eighth year that Medium Rare owner Mark Bucher has spent his Thanksgiving frying other people’s turkeys.
Bucher initially came up with the bring-your-own-turkey event as a way to help locals avoid the safety risks of frying their own turkeys. However, in his first year, he discovered another important reason to continue the Thanksgiving tradition.
“The first year we did it, I went out to my car and there was a thank you note from a homeless family who said there are a lot of places to get free turkeys but they had nowhere to cook it,” he said. “So how could we stop now.”
Bucher and the restaurant managers fried about 300 turkeys last year, he said. Their kitchen, which will be equipped with eight fryers this year, will allow them to cook about 30 turkeys per hour, he said.
Bucher’s kids staff the front of the restaurant where turkey-toting patrons can wait for their bird’s turn in the fryer.
“During the day people hang out in the restaurant,” Bucher said. “We have coffee and hot cider and sometimes people will bring donuts or baked goods. You meet complete strangers and it’s just a magical environment.”
The restaurant will start frying at 11 a.m., and Bucher recommends that patrons get their early to make sure their turkey makes it into one of the fryers.
He also has some recommendations to make sure that the cooking process goes smoothly. Patrons should bring turkeys that are between 8 and 12 pounds, thawed and not marinated or brined. Bucher says that they can’t fry frozen turkeys and marinated turkeys take almost twice as long to cook.
As for Bucher’s turkey, he says he usually gets home between 7:30 and 8 on Thanksgiving, but that his family and coworkers all look forward to the full day of frying.
“It makes for a very hard-fought day, but it’s worth it,” he said. “It’s one of those magical days where everyone kind of slows down in life. It’s become a tradition we look forward to every year.”
Photo via Facebook/ Medium Rare at Barracks Row
A nonprofit organization on Capitol Hill is looking for food donations once again to help ensure area families get the supplies they need to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Capitol Hill Group Ministry is seeking locals who can provide baskets with about $50 of food for families with four members as part of its annual “Thanks-GIVING Food Basket Program.”
The organization already has received requests for the baskets and expects to have a list of several hundred families seeking food for Thanksgiving, the group said in an email this week.
Locals interested in helping can email CHGM program manager Shelah Wilcox for more information. Basket registration runs through mid-November.
“Our dedicated and generous community has always come through to support our families in through our annual Thanks-GIVING Food Basket Program, and we are confident that this year will be no different,” the group said.
Photo via Capitol Hill Group Ministry
Hill Now is closed to observe the holiday. We hope you’ll enjoy your time at the table and with your loved ones.
All D.C. government offices are closed today. Parking meters are not in effect, and residential parking rules will not be enforced. Trash and recycling collection will be pushed to the following day. Recreation centers will close at 6 p.m.
Metro trains and buses will run on a Sunday schedule, with off-peak fares all day and free parking in Metro-operated facilities.
Photo via Flickr/inafrenzy
Not up to cooking for Thanksgiving? You have several alternatives along the southeast and southwest waterfront — including dining aboard a boat.
An annual Thanksgiving lunch cruise will depart from 6th and Water streets SW at 12 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday). A buffet menu of roasted turkey, brown sugar-roasted pork tenderloin and butternut squash will be served by Spirit Cruises
“We try to recreate a typical Thanksgiving meal,” representative Ryan Meadors said.
The cruise that ends about 2 p.m. is currently at three-quarters capacity, Meadors said. Tickets cost $54.90 for adults and $32.95 for children.
For those who prefer to stay on land, the 1101 4th St. SW restaurant Station 4 will host a prix-fixe Thanksgiving meal from 2 to 11 p.m. The menu includes turkey and pumpkin pie, plus atlantic salmon and turkey meatballs. The meal costs $38 per person.
For a more casual — and more football-oriented experience — Willie’s Brew & Que is one of the few local restaurants that will be open for normal hours. Co-owner and chef Rahman “Rock” Harper said the restaurant’s 14 TV screens will be tuned to football.
“This will be a great option for people who want to escape the Thanksgiving madness,” he said. Located at 300 Tingey St. SE, Willie’s will be open from 11 to 2 a.m.
Photo via Spirit Cruises
CrossFit DC wants you to do burpees, squats and pushups before you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner.
The high-intensity gym will offer special members-only Thanksgiving workouts at 9:30 a.m. Thursday at its 1365 H St. NE and 1722 14th St. NW locations.
The sessions are designed to let participants do more than work out, CrossFit DC co-owner Tom Brose said.
“People work hard to earn their pumpkin pie, but it’s more about getting together as a group and trying to be thankful for our community,” he said.
One Thanksgiving, CrossFit DC honored a gym member who was serving in Afghanistan with a “hero” workout of a mile-long run followed by 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 squats and another mile-long run. Last year, participants did a workout called Grace that combined 30 reps of lifting 135 lbs with the weight-lifting move “clean and jerk.”
This year’s Thanksgiving workout will be secret until it begins, but Brose said it will combine a normal session and a “hero” routine.
“This is going to be a pretty tough workout,” he said.
All of the routines can be adjusted to accommodate different ability levels, he added.
Photo via Facebook/CrossFit DC
