So, did you hear the news? Chefs Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi, owners of Wallingford's darling Joule, are expecting a baby. No, not that baby. (Their son, Pike Jun Jack Chirchi, arrived in July.) I'm talking about the new kid on the block: their latest effort, Revel, due in December.

401 N. 36th Street, in Fremont: It's nothing to look at now, but stay tuned.

Yang is envisioning their 45-seat restaurant and bar as "a fun, young, urban space": casual, high-energy, and inexpensive, with dishes priced between $8 and $15. They plan to open daily, for lunch, dinner and weekend brunch. The menu, she says, will be "a spin-off of Joule."

She defines that as "street comfort food, really loosely formatted into five categories: salad, dumplings, pancakes, noodles and rice." Everything will have a Korean twist, says the Korea-born chef (who, with her husband, recently came thisclose to winning the title "Iron Chef America"). While dumplings might mean a dish as familiar as ravioli, "in each category, there will be something you can't get anywhere else."

Chefs Seif Cherchi and Rachel Yang, at Joule [Seattle Times photo/Mike Siegel].

Revel is a partnership between Yang and Chirchi and the building's owners, developers Chad Dale and Bryce Phillips, who helped bring Staple & Fancy Mercantile and The Walrus and the Carpenter to Ballard's Kolstrand Building. Now under construction on the corner of N. 36th and Phinney (directly across from the colorful Thai restaurant, Kaosamai), this latest restaurant space -- with the dining room and kitchen on one side and a 15-seat bar on the other -- will soon sport a large warm-weather deck.

Ditch now, deck later.

The chefs intend to split their time between the two restaurants, Yang says, and once Revel is up and running will develop a new menu for Joule: one that will continue to rely on the couple's highly developed skills, and position their Wallingford bistro "as a little more refined dining experience."

As a longtime supporter of their work, I'll be looking forward to the changes to come, knowing that formal or casual, whatever they're cooking, it's certain to be delicioso. And I'm not the only one who agrees with that assessment.

Outta the mouths of babes. "Delicioso!" says Pike Chirchi.