Where to Eat in December: Frolik, Noodle/Bar, Good Voyage, and More

Plenty of Clouds owners recently expanded their exquisite Sichuan offerings, bringing handmade noodles to their new spot in the Cascade pocket of South Lake Union. Every springy and flavorful strand is made in-house by chef Travis Post, using small-batch Washington wheat flour. If you’ve never had mouth-numbing Sichuan peppercorn-based dishes before, try the Wanza Mian. It’s an intense, highly spiced dish with ground pork, greens, mala, chickpeas, and a house broth. If you want something less spicy, the baby back ribs with cumin, cilantro, and cucumber are a flavorful alternative. Finally, don’t skip the Smoke and Mirrors cocktail, a complex meld of rye and smoky Lapsang Souchong tea.

Few downtown views compare to the ones from the fifth-floor deck at Motif Seattle. Here, it’s all about the view. Oh, and the outstanding cocktails. It’s always cocktail hour at Frolik — especially when curling, aka shuffleboard of the PNW, is involved. Frolik welcomes back another season of this one-of-a-kind outdoor experience with a brand-new Curling Chalet. So stay cozy as you show off your skills on the only rooftop rink in Washington. Reservations are available for up six guests for $175. They include a carafe of hot mulled wine or cold Oxley Blueberry Spritz, plus a soft pretzel snack board. Enjoy 45 minutes of game play plus one cocktail on Tuesdays and Thursdays for $30 per person.

As we stare down the shortest day of the year (December 21), a meal at this festive Caribbean spot will lift your mood to a sunnier place. First, the crunchy half-jerk fried chicken plate is worth scheduling your day around. Lighter and more piquant than most versions, it’s a bit of a cult favorite. Then, there’s the butter-seared Cuban-spiced Pacific Northwest salmon plate served with rice and peas plus plantains. Of course, you’d be lax in skipping the sides — you’ll be talking about the ginger yams and spicy Cuban beans on the way home. Rum-forward cocktails include a Caribbean Sunset, the perfect drink to toast longer days ahead.

From Left Bank wine bar owners, Good Voyage serves a small but mighty menu of “pecks,” plates, and baguette sandwiches by day, Oh, and pastries from beloved Sea Wolf Bakers. By night (Thursday-Saturday), the South Park newcomer serves New Mexican fare from Cocina Barelas alongside an impressive selection of beer, cider, and natural wines. The green chile stew will take the chill off the gloomiest of Seattle nights.

Simple cold-weather comfort food excels at this downtown Tacoma destination. Start with the wood-fired bone marrow, an umami-packed dish with smoked garlic butter and onion jam. Seasonal flavors, brown-buttered carrots, and sage bread pudding keep company with fresh burrata. For something more substantial, opt for the braised brisket with creamy polenta and root vegetable medley. If you need a time-out from holiday mayhem, slip into the bar between 4 and 5:30 p.m. for daily happy hour and an old fashioned on draft.

From December 19-25, an estimated 872,500 travelers will go through the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and many of them will have an appetite. Whether you need a quick bite pre-flight or a real meal after a long day of traveling, Sharps Roasthouse will take care of you — they offer a 15-minute guarantee on food, or it’s free. Located within spitting distance of Sea-Tac, they serve a range of in-house roasted meats, including a purebred Hereford prime rib, Wenatchee fruitwood smoked St. Louis ribs, and a buttermilk fried boneless chicken. If your timing is right, you can indulge in one of the area’s best happy hour deals, a $7 scratch Manhattan, served daily from 3 to 6 p.m.

It may be getting dark early these days, but the relaxed vibe is always sunny at Reckless Noodle. If you’re lucky, snag one of the eight bar seats. Start with a Saigon Spritz, an easy sipper with gin, vermouth, jackfruit shrub, lemon, and bubbles. Then, order as many plates as you can from the Vietnamese street food menu. Bold flavors shine in dishes like roast duck crispy rolls with sambal hoisin, beef cheek vermicelli bowl, and lobster fried rice with turmeric coconut rice.

As people ease back into socializing, there are few places more fun to dine with a small group than MEET Korean BBQ. The menu revolves around the foundation of meat, fire, and fermentation. It serves only prime Angus, American wagyu beef, and Kurobuta pork. Thinly-sliced strips of meat are quickly seared tableside and served with all the traditional fixings to roll up into ssam (Korean-style wraps). Definitely order a soju (soju is like vodka’s less-abrasive sibling), Japanese whisky, or a cocktail. The Permission to Dance, a riff on a French 75, is the light and acidic counter to fattier cuts of meat.

Seattle is so grateful Chan is back, with a brand-new look and digs in the Paramount Hotel on the corner of 8th and Pine. Chef Heong Soon Park is taking some creative liberties with Korean comfort fare: Everything from culotte American wagyu, a rare and flavorful cut of beef, with ssamjang (a spicy Korean dipping sauce) and roasted bone marrow with chile oil and fermented chimichurri, to a beautiful plate of assorted seasonal fermented fruits and vegetables. Much like its former incarnation, cocktails are thoughtful and delicious.

In little over two years, Local Tide has become a Seattle favorite for all things local seafood. The shrimp toast has been a menu staple since day one. Think shrimp minced with pork fat, sandwiched between slices of white bread, served crisped with sesame seeds, sesame vinaigrette, and house chile oil. But, then, there’s a new fall addition you must try — local manila clams in a crab fat coconut curry with a side of Grandma’s rice. Every week, Local Tide brings in 100 pounds of Dungeness crab, which they hand-cook and crack. Crab fat is one of the many tasty byproducts which brings incredibly concentrated flavor to the curry. In addition, the buzzy restaurant is connected to Aslan Brewing, so you can grab a beer or have food delivered next door.