Wed, Dec 21
Work Release 5 at the Carlile Room
It's the fifth iteration in which Seattle cooks, sous chefs and chefs de cuisine break from their routine grind—be that French fine dining or French fries and fried chicken—and get inside The Carlile Room kitchen. For this Work Release, chef Jesse Elliot of Witness on Capitol Hill trades Southern flavors for Middle Eastern spices. The four-course meal starts with beef tartare, couscous, cured yolk, and candied pine nuts, then eventually moves onto Moroccan braised lamb with garbanzo, burnt eggplant puree, and flat bread, all paired with cocktails. Tickets are $65.

Wed, Dec 21
Agrodolce Turns 4
Maria Hines' love letter to Sicily in restaurant form celebrates four years in Fremont with an extended happy hour from 4:30 until 10. Choose from happy hour standbys like the mini lamb burger, or go for the birthday pasta specials: beet mafalde with sage brown butter and drum spaghetti with marinara and fresh basil, both for $4. Lastly, imbibe Italian style with an Aperol spritz or a negroni.

Fri, Dec 23
Feast of Seven Fishes at Anchovies and Olives
If there’s ever a place for a prix fixe fish feast, it’s here. The Italian tradition of eating seafood on Christmas Eve—yes, a day early this year—endures as chef Kyl Haselbauer puts on a menu of fresh oysters, hamachi crudo with parsnip and grapefruit, grilled octopus, steamed Manila clams, bigoli pasta with anchovies, whole branzino, and for dessert, nothing fishy, just a lovely passion fruit panna cotta. Dinner, served from 5 to 11, is $85 per person. Reservations are highly recommended.

Sat, Dec 24
Christmas Eve Brunch at Mr. West
While there are quite a few spots around town good for holiday dining, this relatively new brunch at Mr. West has a streamlined menu consisting largely of waffles and mimosas for Christmas Eve. Boom, done. Leslie Knope would be proud. This Saturday look for festive waffle options, though if you opt for a plain one, you can visit the Pinterest-worthy, Instagram-bait toppings bar. To drink: aforementioned mimosas in various styles, plus toasted spearmint mochas, cereal milk cappuccinos, and more.

Sat, Dec 24
Low Tea Up High at the Nest
When they go high, we go low...but just for tea purposes. From 2 to 6, flock to the Nest for low tea and a lofty view, some warm drinks and a respite from harried holiday shoppers (apologies in advance). Sip on boozy hot Mexican cocoa, Frontier Toddy made with green tea–infused Bulleit rye, lemon, and demerara sugar, plus more—all while the Seahawks play the other, other bird team from Arizona. And in case you have yet to break out your ugliest of holiday sweaters, the time is now; best worst threads win a one-night stay at the Thompson Hotel.

Ticket Alert: Taste Washington and Its Top Chef Lineup for 20th Annual Grand Tasting
(Also discount alert and name-check alert.) Taste Washington will run March 23–26, 2017 and for its twentieth go, big-name chefs abound. The Grand Tasting will be at CenturyLink Field and will have a lot of culinary mastery in one place: Top Chef alumni chefs Kristen Kish, Stephanie Izard, Chad White, whose Zona Blanca opened in Spokane this summer, Gregory Gourdet, and Seattle’s own Jason Stratton of Mbar. And our most affable Frenchmen, Thierry Rautureau, will emcee the event. Taste from hundreds of wineries and a bevy of restaurants in addition to the live chef demos. Tickets range from $95 to over $200; as for that discount: For December only, tickets are $20 off Sunday’s tasting with the code “20TASTE.”