The holidays are a great time to reunite with old friends over drinks and a hot meal.

And if you’re fresh out of eggnog or just prefer catching up somewhere besides your dining room, consider stopping by the Lehigh Valley’s newest steakhouse, Westside Grill, in Upper Macungie Township.

The 200-seat restaurant, billed as a “modern steakhouse with a new age twist,” opened Dec. 3 at 621 Grange Road, on the ground floor of a newly constructed building housing the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotels, which opened Nov. 18.

Customers can enjoy a mix of classic and innovative cuisine, including appetizers such as bang bang shrimp, blackened tenderloin tips and cold water oysters on the half shell; and entrees such as bucatini Bolognese, cioppino linguini and chicken and seafood paella.

“We’ve got high-quality steaks as well as great seafood, including amazing sea scallops and lump crab cakes,” said Scott Craver, the hotel’s general manager.

The six-story hybrid hotel, owned by the Jaindl Land Company and operated by TKo Hospitality, features 205 rooms — 109 Hyatt Place rooms, featuring vinyl plank flooring, large showers and sofa beds; and 96 Hyatt House extended-stay rooms, featuring seating areas and fully-equipped kitchens.

Other amenities of the dual-branded project include a business center, fitness facility, indoor pool, outdoor grilling area, complimentary breakfast and an Aster event center, featuring a ballroom with capacity for 250 guests.

Thanks to the Jaindl connection, guests of the restaurant can enjoy a wide array of dishes featuring Jaindl Farms turkey, including berry-glazed turkey meatballs, turkey orzo soup, panko-crusted turkey cutlet, a turkey burger and one of the restaurant’s most popular selections, Grand Champion turkey pot pie.

The kitchen, led by executive chef Ian Beard, also is serving up hand-held items such as a 10-ounce angus beef burger and ribeye French dip; steaks and chops such as 6- and 10-ounce prime filets, a 14-ounce dry-aged New York strip and twin double lamb chops; and seafood selections such as twin 7-ounce lobster tails and wild Atlantic salmon. Entrees start at $21.

Customers also can choose from shareable sides such as lobster mac and cheese and potatoes au gratin.

“We have a lot of comfort foods, which is perfect for this time of year,” Craver said.

There’s also a full bar with 12 draft beers, more than three dozen domestic and international wines and 15 signture cocktails, including a golden pineapple margarita, smoky maple old fashioned and high-octane espresso martini.

Aesthetic highlights include hardwood and tile flooring, glass pendant lighting, leather booths and a marble bar top.

Westside Grill, which has a seasonal outdoor patio, is open for dinner only temporarily, 5-9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays (bar opens at 4 p.m.). Lunch service is expected to begin early next year.

For reservations, visit westsidegrillpa.com or call 610-508-4500.

From steaks to spring rolls, La Kang Thai Noodle Bar is expected to open in early January at 620 Main St. in Hellertown, co-owner Nakkarawoot Krueawong said.

The space previously housed Sagra Bistro, which closed in 2019 after 11 years of business.

Krueawong, along with partners Ratchaphol Rojratana and Visanu Kiewkajee, opened La Kang Thai-French Cuisine in April 2020 at 190 S. Greenwood Ave. in Palmer Township.

Their new Hellertown eatery, with seating for around 50 guests, will serve authentic Thai cuisine with a focus on noodle dishes, including chicken drunken noodle, shrimp pad Thai, beef pad see ew, duck leg noodle soup and sukhothai noodle soup.

The full-service restaurant, featuring an open kitchen, will utilize various types of noodles, including egg, rice and clear glass, Krueawong said.

Menu highlights will include staples from the Palmer restaurant such as chicken sate, lump crab fried rice and pan-roasted duck breast (with red curry and and pineapple), along with new dishes such as yum nua (Thai beef salad), larb pla tod (branzino) and Thai tea-braised short rib. Info: facebook.com/LaKangThaiFrench.

For people craving something sweet, Yum Yum Bake Shops, a family-owned coffee and baked goods business with three locations in Bucks and Montgomery counties, on Monday reopened its Quakertown location after nearly two years of renovations. The 1461 W. Broad St. shop temporarily closed for upgrades in March 2020.

“We temporarily closed because of the pandemic and then realized it was a good opportunity to completely remodel the place,” co-owner Dan Conly explained. “The upgrades had been in our heads for a while, and the pandemic just sort of accelerated those plans.”

The building was completely gutted “down to the studs,” Conly said, with improvements including new flooring, plumbing, electrical work and counters.

Contractors also added a new walk-in refrigerator and repositioned the shop’s drive-thru to allow for more cars in the queue. The drive-thru is expected to reopen in the coming weeks.

Yum Yum, known for its made-from-scratch doughnuts, was founded in 1963 by Dan’s grandparents, Gilbert and Cecelia Conly, as a small doughnut and coffee shop in Warminster Township, Bucks County.

Today, Dan operates the business with his father, Bruce; mother, Donna; uncle, Glenn; and brother, Joe.

Other menu highlights include bagels, coffee rolls, apple fritters, muffins and egg sandwiches, dubbed “Yumwiches.” Info: yumyumbakeshops.com.

About 20 miles northwest of Yum Yum, Bella’s Bistro, offering all-natural dog and cat treats along with pet gifts, supplies and wellness products, opened Nov. 27 at 123 N. Second St. in downtown Easton.

The renovated space previously housed Touch of Thai restaurant, which closed in January 2020 after about 20 years of business.

Bella’s Bistro owner Kristine Shive opened the business to create a “warm and welcoming space for pets and their owners,” she said.

“Pets are definitely welcome, and the owners can even celebrate their dog’s birthday or ‘gotcha day’ with some cake or a treat,” Shive said. “Dogs are literally a part of people’s families, like their children. So, to sit across the table from your dog with his or her birthday cake, it’s just really special.”

Shive, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in animal science and nutrition from Penn State University, previously operated a pet daycare and boarding business with her family in upstate New York.

When the pandemic broke out in spring 2020, the operation took a financial hit, and Shive and her family made the difficult decision to close the business.

Eager to get back to work, Shive then expanded on a practice that she was already doing for her 14-year-old American pitbull and the bistro’s namesake, Bella: making fresh, all-natural superfoods weekly.

At Bella’s Bistro, her goal is to educate people on how to feed their dogs a clean diet that includes whole food, with no preservatives or toxic chemicals.

“I’m excited to help educate pet parents on proper nutrition as well as ways to prevent certain diseases,” Shive said.

Food is made in small batches on site using a dehydrator, convection oven and other equipment.

Menu highlights include chicken jerky, beef lung or liver jerky, wild-caught salmon or cod bites, hollow beef trachea, pumpkin-peanut butter cookies and organic green dental treats. Shive uses only human-grade ingredients.

“If something isn’t good enough for me, it’s not good enough for my dog,” Shive said.

The space also features a retail section where customers can shop a wide array of cat and dog accessories and gifts, including collars, brushes, strollers, water bowls, leash holders, paw and nose balm, plant-based litter and plush toys modeled after popular beverages such as cans of “Barkweiser” and “White Paw.” Info: 484-252-6902.

Also in Easton, Tucker Silk Mill, the popular Aussie-focused cafe and provisions store that opened at the Simon Silk Mill off 13th Street in 2017, is planning to move in the summer to downtown Easton to a bigger site adjacent to the owners’ wine bar project, my colleague, Jennifer Sheehan, reported.

Tucker’s last day of trade at the Silk Mill will be Christmas Eve, owners Jason Hoy and Melanie Hansche said.

Hoy and Hansche, both native Australians, earlier this year announced plans for their second restaurant, Kabinett, a wine bar and garden, which is planned for 125 Northampton St., Easton sometime in early 2022. The name “Kabinett” is German, a term that refers to fine wines that winemakers felt were good enough to put in their own cabinet rather than offer for sale.

Hoy’s been a fine wine professional working for nearly 30 years in retail, wholesale and importing, and Hansche is the deputy editor of Food & Wine magazine.

Lashes by Gab, providing lash services, retail products and more, is planning to open a second location in early 2022 at The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley, according to a news release.

The new location, in Suite 603 (across from the AMC Center Valley 16 movie theater), will supplement the business’ original location at 1331 Roth Ave., Suite 1, in Allentown.

Owner Gabriella Edwards began her passion for lashes in 2017 while working alongside her mother, Miriam Frey, at Gabriella’s Salon & Day Spa, also located at 1331 Roth Ave. in Allentown.

In addition to providing lash services, Edwards has broadened her business model to include esthetician certification trainings, retail items such as lash artist supplies and merchandise such as T-shirts and other apparel.

News of Lashes by Gab’s expansions follows the early December announcement that ELITE Salon & Suites — a “community of beauty professionals who are independent salon owners” — also will join The Promenade Shops’ line-up in 2022.

Lastly, fans of Burger King’s Whopper and Croissan’Wich have one less eatery to frequent in Northampton County.

The fast-food chain’s location at Male Road and Route 512 in Wind Gap permanently closed on Dec. 12, according to a worker. The restaurant was in operation for more than 30 years.

“This was a planned closure, and the franchisee of this location has offered all team members transfers to surrounding Burger King restaurants,” the Burger King public relations team said in a written statement.

Retail Watch, appearing every weekend, keeps track of retail and restaurant news in the Lehigh Valley. Contact Ryan Kneller at 610-820-6597 or retailwatch@mcall.com.