Interview with Chef Blaine Wetzel, Executive Chef of The Willows Inn, Lummi Island
The following interview was made possible by the NW
Tastemaker, a culinary travel publication forthcoming from Northwest Travel
Magazine. To read more interviews with the best chefs in the Pacific Northwest,
visit Northwest Travel Magazine and
TableTalkNorthwest.com.
Chef Blaine Wetzel, Head Chef of The
Willows Inn, Lummi Island
Chef Blaine Wetzel landed the 2015 James Beard Award for
Best Chef: Northwest, marking yet another milestone in his culinary career.
Previously, he tied for the James Beard Foundation Rising Star Chef category. With
his rising success, awards will continue to come, that is certain.
A Washington state native, Wetzel has worked in kitchens
since his early teens, and he is considered a prodigy of René Redzepi, head
chef of Nomo, the two-Michelin-star restaurant in Denmark. After responding to
a Craigslist ad about a chef’s opening at Willow’s Inn, he was offered the
position in 2010, and the potential of working with indigenous foods paired
with the breathtaking Lummi Island location pulled Blaine in. Just one year later,
the Inn earned a spot on The New York Times list as one of the world’s 10 Best Restaurants
worth traveling to. Chef Wetzel describes the menu in his own words as “a
moment in time, fished, foraged and farmed, a story about the land and the
place is the food.”
1. How do
you describe Northwest cuisine?
I would
say that what is considered the Pacific Northwest is a really large area with a
ton of geographic diversity, probably about the same size as France. Similar to
France, there are different cuisines within our own different regions that
correspond to ingredient availability and cultural factors. I live in the
northern Puget Sound, and I would say that, in this area, our cuisine is rooted
in the abundant fish and shellfish. This ties into our history as a fishing
area, along with fertile agricultural lands with long cool weather growing
seasons.
2. Who are
six of your favorite purveyors, whether farms and ranches or hot-sauce, salt,
or olive-oil producers?
Loganita
Farm (our farm)
Lummi
Island Biodynamic Farm— It produces the most unique versions of vegetables that
I have ever seen.
Taylor
Shellfish— They grow a lot of different shellfish in many locations in the
Sound.
Jones
Family Farms— Awesome family providing all sorts of top shelf stuff on Lopez
Island.
Skagit
Valley Ranch— Animals raised right.
The Bread
Lab— Bread done right.
3. When
you go out for a nice meal, what are two or three of your favorite spots?
see below
4. Who are
two other Northwest chefs that you admire?
Matt
Dillon— Fantastic cook. I really enjoy all of his restaurants.
Nathan
Lockwood— Nice guy and really good cook.
Canlis
Bar— Best cocktails, with views and music.
5. In your
opinion, is there an area of Northwest cooking that doesn't receive enough
attention?
Not
really. I enjoy the amount of attention that the PNW is getting these days.
There are several great publications putting out good stories and information.
Also, in the past few years, there has been a decent amount of national and
international attention given to the great ingredients and environment we have
here.
6. Looking
toward the future, what about Northwest cuisine most excites you?
I am
excited about high quality local grains, fresh wild game and all the amazing
craft beers that are happening. In the kitchen, every night I am excited for
dinner. I do this because I love seeing people enjoy the tastes we create while
they soak in the views and comfortable setting here on Lummi Island.
Willow
Inn-Lummi Island
2579 W
Shore Drive
Lummi
Island, WA 98262
Phone:
(360) 758-2620
Toll Free:
(888) 294-2620
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