Dining Bytes: Who Needs to Cook? Ho-Ho-Holiday Specials in Kirkland

Relief from hosting and cooking duties on Christmas is a fine gift indeed, and you can be sure that some of Kirkland's fine dining esablishments will be happy to serve as Santa. Here's a rundown of holiday specials around town.

Christmas Dinners With A View

--The professionals at Carillon Point's will take care of you and yours in delicious style, offering a three-course Christmas menu from 1-7 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 25 including smoked duck confit lentil soup, slippery Kumamoto oysters, roasted turkey with sage gravy for traditionalists, or lobster tortellini for a luxurious twist. Dessert features, , the city’s very best chocolate pudding cake topped with mascarpone and candied orange, cardamom donuts with three dipping sauces or pear-cranberry tart.

See the full menu on Bin’s website -- those inclined towards vegetarianism won’t be disappointed. Cost is $55 for adults; $23 for children 12 and under.

--Almost just next door, The Beach Café at the is offering both a Christmas Eve special ($24) and a Christmas Day brunch buffet, the latter from 10:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. For $39, $20 for children 5 to 12, guests can indulge in blackened cod, flat iron steak, omelets, maple glazed pit ham and other brunch specialties. The full menu will also be available until 9:30 p.m.

Shop & Stay Holiday Package

--Turn your last-minute shopping frenzy into a gift for yourself by indulging in the ’s unique offer. After checking in, they will whisk you to the Bravern shops in Bellevue via the hotel’s luxury hybrid SUV -- no fighting traffic or searching for a parking space! When you’ve completed your shopping, they will pick you up and treat you to an expertly prepared farm-to-table dinner at during which your gifts will be wrapped by their staff. The experience is topped off with a night of rest on a Heathman Art of Sleep bed.

Rates start at $260 per night. See the full details on the Heathman website.

A Christmas

--If eating local ingredients is your idea of a gift to the planet, book a reservation at restaurant in the Heathman downtown on Christmas day from 12-8 p.m. The three-course menu offers a wide range of options including a bleu cheese salad, wild mushroom soup or Spanish style cured ham for starters. Entree choices range from winter squash ravioli to pheasant veronique and even wild boar tenderloin followed by a buche de Noel with caramel and chocolate sauce, Meyer lemon Shaker pie or caramel apple bread pudding.

Cost is $42 for adults; $21 for children 12 and under. For the full menu see the Trellis website.

Pre-Holiday Flair at VoVina, Lucia and Trellis

--Though closed on Christmas day, at Lakeshore Plaza is open up through and including Christmas Eve. Fresh on VoVina's rotating menu are bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with chevre, drizzled in a balsamic reduction and sprinkled with chives. For a meatier snack, try the spiced Cubano -- braised pork and ham topped with sweet pickled jalapenos and chipotle mayo on a French baguette.

Bar manager David Barnett has whipped up a cranberry-orange vodka infusion shaken and served straight or mixed into either:

• "The Bees Knees" -- A 1920's classic featuring gin (locally produced in Woodinville), lemon, honey, fresh sage.

• "Pom Mash" -- Lemon, house honey syrup, pomegranate and an extra warming splash of bourbon.

--Celebrate Christmas Eve with a special three-course meal including wine pairings at Parkplace Center's . The special menu wasn't finalized at this writing. But said it will include fresh pear and Gorgonzola crostini, tiger prawn scampi, drunken red wine fettuccine with boneless shortribs and chanterelle mushrooms, cioppino with salmon, prawns, seabass, mussels and clams in a white wine and tomato stew, and flowerless chocolate decadence with sirena salted Carmel gelato (dolci).

The regular menu is also available. Contact the restaurant at 425-889-0200 for reservations, prices and hours.

--Bar manager John Ueding at is offering made-from-scratch "Hot Buttered Rum" or "Egg Nog" (the egg nog is not on the menu, so be sure to ask). And listen to these festive cocktail options:

• "Spiked Cider" -- hot cider pressed from Chef Scheehser's orchard apples with Woodinville White Dog (whiskey) and Licor 43.

• "Applejack Flip" -- Laird's Applejack, lemon, honey, frothy egg white and shaved cinnamon.

One of these cocktails seems the perfect thing to take off the edge of shopping-induced stress, don't you think?