‘Miracles’ Do Happen Again: Wildly Popular Holiday Pop-up Returns to Seattle This Year

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“Miracle on 2nd” Pop-up Brings Kitschy Holiday Vibes to Belltown Once More

Eat, drink, and be merry. The super popular holiday pop-up “Miracle” is coming back to Seattle, setting up shop at Belltown cocktail stalwart Rob Roy from November 29 through December 25 as “Miracle on 2nd.” As in years past, there will be plenty of kitchy seasonal décor and themed drinks, such as the Bad Santa (served hot, with rum, black chai tea, and date infused oat milk), the Snowball Old Fashioned (with caramelized pecan bourbon), and the Yippie Ki Yay Mother F****r (with rum, cachaça, and purple yam and coconut orgeat). The New York-based pop-up, expanding across the country yearly since 2014, has proven to be a hit, even inspiring some offshoots such as Sippin’ Santa, a tiki-driven pop-up at Rob Roy’s sibling Vinnie’s Raw Bar. On December 2, there will be a nationwide ugly sweater contest at participating locations.

Wallingford’s Octopus Bar Is Moving to a New Spot

After five years, Wallingford’s quirky, nautical-themed watering hole the Octopus Bar — (known for excellent happy hours and cocktails garnished with Swedish fish — has closed down temporarily, preparing to set up shop not too far away. In fact, it’ll basically be on the same block at 2121 N 45th St, the former location of the Iron Bull sports bar. Construction is still under way, so there’s no definite re-opening date yet, but according to the bar’s official Facebook page, it hopes to have the new digs ready before Octopus’s sixth anniversary, which would be early 2020.

Eastside QFCs Will Feature New Hydroponic Herb Gardens Next Week

Is this the future grocery shoppers want? Next week, two Seattle area QFCs (in Kirkland and Bellevue) will be the first supermarkets in the country to try out indoor hydroponic produce gardens from a German vertical farming startup called Infarm. The gardens will allow customers to pick freshly-grown kale, cilantro, and other herbs from in-store, self-contained gardens. QFC’s parent company, the Cincinnati-based Kroger, hope to have a successful test of this concept in the Pacific Northwest, and then gradually expand it across the US — there are plans to add the gardens to 15 more QFCs in Washington and Oregon by April. Kroger owns nearly 2,500 grocery stores in 31 states, and hopes to cut costs with these gardens, which don’t require a lot of maintenance (hydroponics involves growing produce with a mix of nutrients and water, instead of soil). Infarm already has similar supermarket partnerships across Europe.