Thanksgiving Day is an occasion almost without parallel at the New Orleans Fair Grounds Race Course.

A visit to the track on the holiday, which historically marked the opening of the racing season, is for generations of New Orleanians as much a part of Thanksgiving celebrations as is the turkey consumed by many Americans in copious quantities. In recent years, the start of the racing season has been pushed up by a few weeks, but Thanksgiving continues to draw peak crowds.

"It's a social scene," spokesman Jim Mulhilvill said, noting that some have made the track a requisite part of their Thanksgiving traditions for 40 or 50 years. "It's one of the highlights of the season. "

Tables for the holiday are in such high demand that Fair Grounds representatives once attempted to sell them on the online auction site eBay, but they abandoned the idea after some longtime racetrack goers with less Internet savvy complained of being pushed out of the process.

The venue is so much a part of annual tradition for so many people that Fair Grounds employees don't anticipate even the slightest diminishment in demand this year, even in light of the staggering national economy.

"By the time people read this, they might have difficulty getting a reservation," Mulhilvill said last week. "Thanksgiving is one day that's a slam dunk. We'll be full. "

But the Fair Grounds isn't the only New Orleans venue expecting ritual to trump recession this year.

A number of high-end restaurants, some of them challenged by the slower pace of tourist traffic in the years since Hurricane Katrina and, more recently, the toughest national economy in decades, hope Nov. 26 will offer plenty of reasons for gratitude.

Commander's Palace is among them.

"Special occasions like this are the times when the locals really come out, and we're as busy as pre-Katrina," said Steve Woodruff, operations manager for the Garden District culinary giant.

Thanksgiving typically rivals Mother's Day - usually ranked as the premier dining-out occasion nationally - as the busiest recurring business day of the year at Commander's, Woodruff said.

"So while we're not as busy as pre-Katrina overall, on special days like this we still get to the point where we have to stop taking reservations because we're at capacity. "

As of last week, half of the restaurant's Thanksgiving dining slots already were booked, which Woodruff said is fairly typical with a month to go until the holiday.

Still, he was expecting a slight boost in traffic based on observations of holiday dining patterns he said would allow the restaurant to book more reservations this year.

The Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group is also anticipating improved sales this Thanksgiving compared with last year, based on improvements at its restaurants' Mother's Day and Easter business this year, said Charlee Williamson, executive vice president of the group that includes Bacco, Ralph's on the Park and Red Fish Grill.

Williamson said Thanksgiving 2008 arrived just weeks after events that touched off the worst U.S. economic crisis in decades, which she estimates contributed to a dip in sales that ranged from about 7 percent to 10 percent.

A year later, Williamson is optimistic customers will be in better spending spirits, though she's not willing to bet on a hugely successful holiday just yet.

"It's probably too early to make an educated guess," she said.

"On one hand, you could say there's a bunch of pent-up demand for people who have not been spending with their usual enthusiasm, and they may realize they have a lot to be thankful for and want to indulge. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have people who are hurting and might otherwise go out to a restaurant, but will cook at home this year. "

Meantime, Williamson said, an underappreciated challenge for restaurants this time of year comes not in filling dining rooms on the holiday itself but on the weekends falling before and after Thanksgiving, times when would-be patrons either refrain from eating out in anticipation of imminent overindulgence or cut back in its aftermath and turn their attention to shopping for holiday gifts and football.