I want a perfume of the air inside Hamdi. It smells like fire, black pepper, charred herbs, almonds, oak. I want to wash my hair in it. I want a little vial of it to keep in my pocket and inhale on the train.

Open since late 2022 on a semi-industrial stretch of Leary Way, Hamdi was born of a Turkish cuisine popup, first at kitchens inside various Ballard breweries and later as a truck. At a memorable 2021 event, chef-owners Berk Güldal and Katrina Schult roasted an entire lamb in front of Obec Brewing, along with crispy, char-edged chicken wings.

I’ll never forget the scene: the majestic lamb slowly turning on the back of the truck right on the busy street, the cloud of almond-wood smoke and lamb fat hanging above it, the throngs of people waiting to get a bite, and drivers pulling over when they spotted (or smelled) the spectacle. It was delicious havoc, a street scene from an ancient and faraway place plunked down in Ballard’s Brewery District. People couldn’t believe their eyes.

Now that they’re in their sleek Frelard space, Güldal says the lamb roast isn’t part of the usual menu, but it’s long overdue, so he’s including it as part of his New Year’s Eve prix fixe dinner ($145), alongside a whole mess of mezzes and a dessert.

“People have been asking for it for a long time, but we weren’t able to do it, and so we didn’t want to finish the year without a special lamb roast,” Güldal says. “When we celebrate the new year in Turkey, we just do lots of mezzes, with friends and family. Just a big, big meal, many mezzes, and always roasted meat.”

Originally from Istanbul, Güldal met Schult in California when she was the dining room captain at SingleThread Farm in Sonoma. He was the sous chef. Schult, who hails from upstate New York, had helped open the restaurant in 2016, following a three-year stint at The French Laundry in Napa Valley. Güldal got his start at one of the oldest Ottoman restaurants in Turkey, Hacı Abdullah Lokantası, moved on to Cafe Boulud and then Eleven Madison Park, both in New York City, before heading to California.

In 2021, the couple brought their heavily Michelin-starred backgrounds to Seattle, then hit the ground running with their popups, opening Hamdi’s brick-and-mortar location only a year later.

Although the event’s food menu is under wraps, you’ll want to budget for drinks, which aren’t included. It’s innovative stuff, incorporating ingredients like isot black pepper, shiitake mushroom, syrup, mastika made from pine-scented tree resin, a type of graham cracker-like Turkish cookie called eti çifte kavrulmuş, and ayran, a frothy drinkable yogurt that’s prevalent throughout Turkey. I can’t think of another cocktail list in town like this one.

Hamdi: 4012 Leary Way. N.W. Its New Year’s lamb roast dinner begins at 4:30 p.m. and runs through 10 p.m. Cost is for $145 per person (before tax and service fee).