The notable chill in the air compels us all to take better care of ourselves, to tuck into the comfortable and warm spots of our home, to indulge in the richness that our body craves this time of year. This month, we’ll have two new bakeries added to a growing list of incredible bakeries in this city, each bringing vastly different styles to your favorite desserts. Whether you’re craving sweets, carbs, something cheesy, or something meaty, restaurants have heard the call and created menus with everything you’d want, as well as some things you might not have known you needed. 

The “Big Bang” at Paper Cakes

Photo by Gabby Park

The Big Bang at Paper Cakes

Chef Rachel Yang of Joule and Pastry Chef Gabby Park opened Paper Cake Shop in Fremont with the goal of normalizing eating cake. Cake for breakfast, cake today, or cake tomorrow; just say yes to cake. The varieties at the newly opened Paper Cake Shop are a creative mix of Asian flavors, sweet and savory, delicate and colorful. With its Asian mom-friendly “not too sweet” approach, you can try more than one flavor provided that you finish with a bang, the Big Bang specifically with rich chocolate cake, tahini layer, red miso caramel, milk chocolate buttercream, and a sesame brittle. 

A chopped cheese sandwich at Little Jaye South

Photo courtesy of Little Jaye

Chopped Cheese at Little Jaye South

This month, the team at Lady Jaye opens its sister bakery, Little Jaye. Chef Charlie Garrison leaned hard into the pastry game, giving us the down-home comforts of cereal Rice Krispies, large M&M cookies, and cream-filled shokupan donuts. But Lady Jaye has infused a bit of its meat-loving self into its South Park dessert spot with a menu of rich sandwiches like the unctuous chopped cheese with dry-aged ground beef, rocket sauce, tomato, and classic American cheese between a hoagie roll. Traditionally, the chopped cheese is a New York classic, but the combo of Lady Jaye’s sandwiches and a little sweet from Little Jaye could be the start of a new local tradition. 

Ebi Katsudon at Kobuta Ookami

Photo courtesy of Kubota Ookami

Ebi Katsudon at Kobuta Ookami

It’s hard to compete with a classic like katsu don, a Japanese crispy fried pork cutlet on rice. Fried shrimp katsu is like the katsu don for all seasons, still coated in crispy fried panko on a bed of steaming white rice, but light and sweet, still rich and filling. Kobuta & Ookami in Capitol Hill has mastered katsu in its many forms: juicy Iberico pork, or pork katsu with oozing mozzarella, and the Jidori chicken to name a few, but Kabuta is known for a panko crust that is long and wispy with an aggressive crunch, and its crunchy, yet tender sweet shrimp katsu really lets that shine. 

Various flavors of manakish at Alida’s Bakery

Photo by Tiffany Ran

Manakish at Alida’s Bakery

Owner Nechirvan Zebari opened Alida’s Bakery because his family lacked a reliable source of fresh Middle Eastern bread. Alida’s, tucked in a corner of an Everett strip mall,  is one of the few spots where you can find diamond-shaped Iraqi samoon and manakish. On a Sunday morning, families gather at this Kurdish-American bakery to stock up on their supply of pita, for their weekly baklava fix, and the chance to tear into hot and steamy manakish, savory flatbreads baked fresh to order. Alida’s manakish comes in different flavors like za’atar, lamb, muhammara, cheese, and other flavors. There are many ways to enjoy them: folded, rolled, or torn. The important thing is that you do. 

The “Nordic Waffle” at Bar Miriam

Photo courtesy of Bar Miriam

Nordic Waffle at Bar Miriam

Breakfast for dinner. That’s part of the appeal of the Nordic Waffle, among the new dishes on Bar Miriam’s fall menu. Chef Cody Westerfield’s Nordic Waffle comes with beets, smoked sockeye salmon, horseradish creme fraiche, salmon roe, and dill pickles. The new dish is a product of a culinary deep dive by Westerfield, who is currently exploring the flavors and cuisines of his heritage for inspiration. Nordic it may be, but this waffle feels strangely local, delightfully familiar with Bristol Bay sockeye salmon from WildBay Seafood. This sockeye was a regular staple when Westerfield helmed the kitchen at Lecosho. At Bar Miriam in Queen Anne, this is the sort of creative dish you can get at a cozy neighborhood bar where chefs are given full reign to play with their food.