The Brief

For many people, Thanksgiving may be synonymous with turkey, but for some of us, dry turkey breast doesn’t seem the right choice for a celebration. After all, it’s very likely that there was no turkey at all at the first Thanksgiving.

If you like to stick to turkey and stuffing, we figure you already know what to make or where to order it. Instead, we're focusing on restaurants beyond classic roasted turkey and offering something different.

Thanksgiving dine-in

Baekjeong 

Grilling meat together on a tabletop is always a great way to bond and celebrate, so why not for Thanksgiving, too? Korean BBQ favorite Baekjeong will be open during their normal hours on Thanksgiving Day, serving up their regular menu. With multiple locations around Southern California, it’s easy to enjoy some marinated galbi or pork jowl instead of turkey.

Crossroads Kitchen

Tal Ronnen’s plant-based Crossroads Kitchen will offer a four-course prix fixe menu for Thanksgiving supper. Instead of turkey, there will be breaded scallopini or pulled lion’s mane mushroom served with herbed gravy alongside sweet potato biscuits with maple “butter.” The menu costs $75 per person and will be available from 12-6 p.m.

Dog Haus

For those who do want to get turkey and all the trimmings in a different form, Dog Haus will be offering one in the form of Wurst Thanksgiving sausage, which is made with turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberries, stuffing, sage, thyme, rosemary, and maple. Select locations of Dog Haus will be open on Thanksgiving Day, so we suggest calling your nearest location to confirm.

Espelette

For those celebrating in style, Waldorf Astoria’s Espelette will be open from 1-8 p.m. and serving a three-course dinner along with live entertainment. The main course options include whole roasted lobster, wagyu beef tenderloin, and for the plant-based: ricotta ravioli with black truffles. A slew of starters, including langoustine papillote, will be served family-style. The prix fixe menu costs $175 per person ($75 for kids 12 years and younger).

Sugar Palm

The restaurant at Viceroy Santa Monica, Sugar Palm, will be open and offering a three-course menu for $125 per person ($50 per child). The entree options do include roasted turkey, but also leg of lamb in mole sauce and a blackened king salmon. Sugar Palm will be open on Thanksgiving Day from 2-10 p.m. A similar menu is also being served family-style for Friendsgiving on Nov. 15-22.

Il Moro

Il Moro will be open 4 - 8:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving and will be serving their regular menu, which means tagliatelle bolognese, grilled lamb chops, and pizzas instead of turkey. Il Moro also promises special dishes infused with Thanksgiving flavors throughout the night.

Fogo de Chao

Feasting with your stretchy pants on is a must. Brazilian churrascaria chain Fogo de Chao will be open for dine-in and takeout on Thanksgiving, serving their full all-you-can-eat (for dine-in) churrasco menu as well as holiday specials including roasted turkey, sweet potato casserole and a Brazilian sausage with apple dressing. For the holidays, they're also offering wagyu and other more luxurious cuts that can be added a la carte.

Lunasia

Dim sum is always great for group holiday lunching. Head to the San Gabriel Valley and you'll find quite a few Chinese restaurants open on Thanksgiving. One of the top spots in SGV, Lunasia, will be open all day and serving their regular menu. For those celebrating with a big group, Lunasia takes phone reservations for parties of eight or more.

The Peninsula Beverly Hills

The Peninsula will be hosting a three-course dinner (or lunch) at The Belvedere for Thanksgiving. The entree options do include roasted turkey, but there’s also a dry aged New York strip, seared diver scallops, and branzino. The Belvedere will be open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and the three-course meal costs $180 per person.

Saddle Peak Lodge

Dinner at this mountain spot feels like a mini getaway, so why not make the trip for Thanksgiving? Saddle Peak Lodge will be offering a four-course menu ($120/adult; $65/children 12 and under). Yes, there will be turkey as one of the main course options but you can opt for seared elk tenderloin or salmon instead.

Leña

The Argentine-inspired Leña inside Sendero is offering a four-course feast with panoramic views of downtown. The $90 dinner will start with celery root blini and caviar followed by squash and crab bisque. There is a turkey ballotine as one of the main course options, but they’re also offering dry aged salmon en croute or Australian wagyu rib. The restaurant will open from 3-9 p.m.

Fig

FIG at the Fairmont Miramar is offering a prix-fixe menu for $89 per person. Start with half a dozen oysters or chicken liver parfait with poached persimmons before moving on to the main course with options ranging from roasted sea scallops to braised short rib to butternut squash tortellini.

Thanksgiving take-out

Angelini Osteria

Angelini Osteria is offering large trays of their Italian favorites for the holidays. Look for lasagna verde, eggplant alla parmigiana and a whole leg of pork porchetta. Order must be picked up on Wednesday, Nov. 22. Note that some items (including porchetta and beef tenderloin roast) must be pre-ordered at least five days in advance. Check the website for the full catering menu and ordering instructions.

Kuya Lord

Kuya Lord has gained a brick-and-mortar space since the last time we did this guide, but they’ll still be offering their Pamilya Tray for Thanksgiving takeout. The tray feeds 4-6 and includes lucenachon (slow roasted, rolled pork belly), wood-grilled Hiramasa collar, pancit chami, and more. Order must be placed by Nov 17 and can be picked up on Thanksgiving Day.

Holy Basil

DTLA Thai street food pickup spot Holy Basil is offering a Thanksgiving package they’re calling the Holy Tray. The tray costs $150 and feeds 4-6 people with a seafood curry that includes live local rock crab, half slab of moo krob (crispy pork belly), half of a fried Jidori chicken, and a whole tamarind rockfish. Each item is also available to order a la carte. Orders must be picked up on Thursday, Nov. 23 between 10 and 2 p.m.

Chimmelier

The Korean fried chicken specialist Chimmelier is offering a special Thanksgiving package with tongdak (a deep fried whole chicken), collard green kimchi, potato egg salad, and K-ole slaw. The feast costs $75 and will feed three to four people. Pre-order on Tock

Bar Ama

Bar Ama is offering a turkey dinner but with a Tex-Mex twist. Expect a Tex-Mex turkey roulade with gravy, stuffing with hoja santa, cornbread Johnny cakes and brussels sprouts with chicken chorizo and cotija cheese. The feast costs $300 for four people minimum and can be picked up on Nov. 22. Pie, cocktails and select items are also available à la carte. Pre-order on Tock.

Ms. Chi Cafe

Chef Shirley Chung's Culver City Chinese spot, Ms. Chi Cafe, is offering a couple of different Thanksgiving takeout feasts and we're having a hard time choosing between them. One features a whole tea-smoked duck while the other showcases Peking turkey breast served with chili sauce. Both come with salads and sides including duck fat sticky rice stuffing and sweet potato mochi cobbler. Order on Tock and pick up on Wednesday, Nov. 22.

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Augie’s on Main

Josiah Citrin’s Augie’s on Main will be offering two different takeout packages for Thanksgiving. The first features Augie’s dirty chicken with the classic Thanksgiving sides including stuffing, pecan yams, and cranberry sauce plus other sides like Szechuan Brussels sprouts and chopped salad. There’s also a prime rib version of the same pack and each package serves two people. Pre-order on Tock.

Vinh Loi Tofu

Long-time vegan Vietnamese spot Vinh Loi Tofu is offering vegan turkey made from faux meat, and it’s even shaped like a turkey and has a hole for stuffing. The faux turkey costs $60. Customers must pre-order by texting the owner and his phone number can be found on Instagram - hurry, though, there is a limited amount available.

Sampa

Sampa is a Filipino-American pop-up taking a residency at KAVIAR in downtown LA through the holidays and they’ll be offering their favorite dishes in half or full trays for Thanksgiving. Dishes like spicy calamansi-glazed chicken wings, lechon fried rice, crispy duck pancit or ube cheesecake can be ordered a la carte. Pick up on Thanksgiving Day at KAVIAR. Pre-order on Tock.

Osteria Mamma

Neighborhood classic Osteria Mamma is offering a takeout feast throughout the holiday season, and while they’re closed on Thanksgiving Day, the dinner-for-two package can be picked up on November 22 and the restaurant will provide heating instructions. The feast costs $69 for two or $120 for four and includes classics like tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce, frittura mista and each order includes a bottle of wine.

Nithya Raman turned the tide in the L.A. mayoral race by winning over large swathes of the city that voted for Karen Bass in 2022, according to an LAist analysis of election data.

Bass was a favorite in many areas that voted for Rick Caruso when she faced him in 2022. She held onto a majority of voters across South L.A., but lost much of her previous support.

The switchup came after Bass — a veteran in progressive politics — took a relatively-conservative approach on issues like policing and high-density housing developments compared to Raman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority told its employees Friday to stop work, shut down their computers and stay off agency systems while it looked into “a potential security issue affecting our systems,” its chief executive confirmed to LAist.

That shutdown order was still in place Monday evening, according to a LAHSA official not authorized to speak on the record.

Gita O'Neill, the agency’s interim CEO, told LAist on Friday evening that the agency did not “yet have enough information to say definitively whether any sensitive or confidential personal information was accessed.”

She has not answered questions about whether or not services for unhoused people are disrupted.

Gita O’Neill, interim CEO of LAHSA, speaks ahead of the annual homeless count on Jan. 20, 2026.

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Jordan Rynning

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LAist

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LAHSA holds highly sensitive information collected from people experiencing homelessness in the region. The agency oversees the Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS, which includes unhoused people’s names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and disabilities, as well as self-reported mental health and substance abuse history, income sources and domestic violence history.

In a statement Monday, LAHSA said it had taken its internal computer systems offline “as a precaution” and “engaged outside cybersecurity specialists to investigate the nature and scope of the incident.” The statement, sent on O'Neill's behalf by outside public relations strategist Trevor Daley, continued to call it “a potential cybersecurity incident.”

The agency is “taking steps to maintain essential operations,” the statement added, saying LAHSA “remains open” while the investigation continues. It said the agency is working with its technical and legal teams.

What staff were told

Friday’s email to "Team LAHSA" carried the subject line "URGENT: Log Off and Shut Down for the Week." LAist obtained a copy, and O'Neill confirmed by text message that she had sent it.

“As a precaution while we look into a potential security issue affecting our systems, we're asking all staff to stop work and take their machines offline for the remainder of today and through the weekend,” the email said.

It told employees to “Log off and shut down your LAHSA computer” and not to log back in or connect to LAHSA systems, including email, “until you receive an all-clear from us.”

The email also told staff to report anything “unusual” before shutting down, such as “files renaming on their own, unexpected pop-ups or messages.”

What LAHSA leadership has said

In a texted response to LAist on Friday evening, O'Neill said she asked staff to take their computers offline “out of an abundance of caution” while the agency’s IT team assessed the situation.

“Our IT team is actively reviewing the situation now and working to understand exactly what occurred and whether any information was affected,” she wrote. “Protecting people’s personal and confidential information is a top priority in that review.”

Leaders of three LAHSA-funded service providers told LAist on Monday afternoon that they had not received any communications from LAHSA about the potential cybersecurity issue. All three use the HMIS system that holds unhoused people’s personal details.

Previous attacks against another LA housing agency

Another L.A. housing agency was previously hit by cyberattacks. The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles — a separate agency known as HACLA — has said hackers got inside its network in 2022 and may have accessed people’s names, Social Security numbers, financial accounts numbers and medical information.

Two years later, HACLA was breached again, according to an official notice, with hackers potentially accessing names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and phone numbers.

LAist reporter Aaron Schrank contributed reporting to this story.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath announced Monday that she is running to be the county’s first elected chief executive. Horvath is the only candidate so far to enter the race, which is set for 2028.

The new executive post will take the place of the county’s appointed CEO and implement key priorities of the county Board of Supervisors. The executive will oversee the county budget, which is currently roughly $50 billion, and labor relations with more than 100,000 employees.

Horvath was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2022 and was re-elected in June to another four-year term. She represents the county’s 3rd District, which covers the San Fernando Valley and parts of the Westside and Central Los Angeles. She is a former mayor of West Hollywood.

The supervisor made her announcement Monday via social media and her campaign website. She called the race a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.”

The backstory

Voters created the position in 2024 when they approved Measure G, which was proposed by Supervisors Horvath and Janice Hahn.

Among other changes, the measure allowed the Board of Supervisors to expand from five to nine members by 2030 and established an independent Ethics Commission, which held its first meeting last month.

The pushback

On Monday, Supervisor Kathryn Barger issued a statement saying she believed it was “premature” to campaign for the new county executive position when it remained unclear whether “the office itself is constitutional.”

Barger pointed to questions raised by former federal judge Stephen Larson about whether California’s Constitution allows an elected county executive to veto board decisions, control county contracts and take on powers state law currently gives the Board of Supervisors.

“Moving forward with an office that would fundamentally change how Los Angeles County is governed, without first resolving these questions, is putting the cart before the horse,” Barger said in her statement. “We need clarity.”

The primary election is scheduled for March 7, 2028.