Where to eat in Seattle instead of Willows Inn

A decade ago, the New York Times opened the celebration of the Willows Inn, which featured one of ten restaurants around the world worth air travel. Much to the delight of Seattle foodies, no flights were required from here – just a two-hour drive and a short ferry ride to tiny Lummi Island. With a dozen courses (supposedly) of the best local produce, seafood, and meat distilled into a multi-hour tasting menu, often with a break when dinner stepped outside to watch whales swim by under a stunning pink sunset, it became go quickly – space for unique celebrations.

As Willows’ fame and popularity rose from $ 95 per person to $ 225 – service and drinks not included – for reservations longer than two weeks that require the additional cost of booking a room at the Inn.

This week that same newspaper broke the illusions of size with a damn synopsis about the inn and chef Blaine Wetzel that included employee abuse, sexual harassment of employees and locals, and widespread ingredient fraud, all by nearly three dozen Sources have been supported.

For locals, many of whom have been saving up for that special meal for years, the article shattered dreams of a perfect meal, resulting in existing or even theoretical plans being canceled. Those with reservations booked who contacted Willows to cancel received no explanation or apology, just a form letter and their refund. But when their deposit fell back into their bank account, many wondered: where else can we go?

The Willows Inn has a unique twist with a combination of quality, creative food, elegant and solemn atmosphere, and a location just enough from Seattle to make it special. Few places can do it justice – and neither does Willows, of course – but depending on which part of the equation a diner is looking for, there are other places in the region that might be suitable for a special night.

Even so, it is difficult to know for sure where else might be a similar toxic environment. Many of the topics from the article appear at different levels across kitchens. (Though a 2017 labor lawsuit at Willows at least hinted at problems behind the pristine facade.) There’s no guarantee the places on this list – or every restaurant you go to – won’t have the same problem. The first step in improving the industry is to get your meal money removed from a place that definitely does.

For the absolute best menu

For the most part, the best high-end multi-course menu items, such as those available at the Willows Inn, are offered closer to home. If the trip was a big part of the bait, please find the meals at the destination below. If you’re in the mood for a great meal and then sleep in your own bed, these places are currently open with excellent multi-course tasting menus.

Looking ahead this summer, more options should be available soon, including the Filipino gourmet spot Archipelago, which aims to open in June, and The Peasant, which is starting meals this week and is currently taking reservations.

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David X. on Yelp

Chef Nathan Lockwood’s ode to local ingredients through the lens of Italian tradition is open again on Capitol Hill. The menu costs $ 157 per person with a 20% service charge (they describe how it’s split on the reservations page) for about nine courses, including sea urchin, caviar, hearty cannoli, and nettle gnudi with rabbit ragu.

While Eden Hill’s more casual sibling spot, Eden Hill Provisions, went to much of the effort to get the restaurants through the troubled year, Max Petty’s more formal Ode to the Northwest has reopened, offering a five-course tasting menu worth 95 USD in its outdoor dining stalls. Although the Prix Fixe offerings change frequently, the a la carte version offers a taste of Petty’s sense of fun using local ingredients in dishes such as crab dumplings with chorizo ​​broth and mint oil, and blueberry pop tarts with whipped ricotta Cheese.

Set in a charming, centuries-old building and cute garden that denies proximity to industrial Georgetown and I-5, chef Emily Dann throws a Saturday night festival every week to celebrate whatever is in season. The $ 100 menu has four to six courses of roasted halibut with whey braised leek, and pea and guinea fowl with artichokes, ramps, bacon, and sorrel sauce.

Chef Hiro Tawara practices the Japanese tradition of kaiseki at the foot of the Space Needle and attaches great importance to beauty and attention to detail in dishes that are reminiscent of every season. The $ 150 Premium Kaiseki Menu is available each month for take-away and toggle. However, it remains the same basic format, including a sashimi class, stew, grill, soup and dessert, and other types of snacks. Local specialties like geoduck and black cod meet high quality and special ingredients like A5 Miyazaki Wagyu beef and preserved cherry blossom petals.

For the pomp and circumstance of a meal at the destination

Sometimes formal dining isn’t just about the food: part of the fun of a destination restaurant like Willows is expecting a wonderful meal on the way there, planning a hotel night for afterwards, and turning a single meal into one 24 hour event. These places offer the same allure as a short break for a long meal dedicated to the best seasonal ingredients in the Pacific Northwest.

The herb farm

Rita W. on Yelp

Though this Woodinville restaurant practically parodies itself with its devotion to local ingredients, kitschy decor, and the singing and dancing parties of the people preparing your food, it has been offering diners special nights longer than Blaine Wetzel. The 9-course themed meals and sketch-like service can feel over the top on the second round, but for beginners who want to lean into the absurdity and enjoy themselves, this is a delicious, memorable meal. The current Spring Forager menu features collected elderflower soda, halibut skin chicharron, and Columbia River Spring King salmon tart, served alongside braised leek, egg yolk pudding, and pickled spruce tips.

After Amber Tande and Colin Patterson ran Sutra, a vegan-tasting menu restaurant in Wallingford for eight years, they headed for the mountains in 2016 and opened Mana in Leavenworth. While the ethos behind Sutra is a dedication to sourcing local, sustainable, wild, and organic produce, Mana’s 8-course meal is an omnivorous treat (with thoughtful options for vegans, vegetarians, and those with dietary restrictions). The $ 85 meal features dishes like gochujang-fried leg of lamb with leek and ginger broth and casheu dosa with black garlic. The optional soft drink pairs here may be one of the few places to go with those in Willows, including basil-sparkling elixir with coconut lemon whip.

Since 2015, this farm and restaurant has quietly built a reputation for hyper-seasonal dishes from Chef Victor Nattress, who previously made a name for himself as head chef at Meadowood Restaurant in the Napa Valley. After Nattress and his wife, Tyla, Wine Maven of Orchard Kitchen closed the restaurant because of much of the pandemic, they made their outdoor farm dinners (with a spare barn in bad weather) at $ 85 five-course Menus restarted with asparagus from their garden, wild king salmon gravlax and slowly roasted Whidbey Island lamb.

For the hotel and restaurant combination

If Willows was less about fancy food than about good food in a beautiful location, combined with an overnight stay just a few meters away, then Washington State has a few gems in hand that are just right, but not quite offer the same ornate tasting menu.

The Bluff Restaurant at Friday Harbor House

Friday Harbor House via Yelp

Just a short walk from the San Juan Island ferry dock, this local classic looks back on its stunning namesake. Chef Jason Aldous – an alum from Willows Inn – brings his own creative and ambitious culinary talents to a menu that appears to make insufficient use of his expertise. Behind simple dishes like grilled asparagus toast, however, are his pickled maitake mushrooms, the grilled sockeye salmon with homemade noodles and the S’Mores brownie with cedar with caramelized white chocolate and madrona-smoked marshmallow.

The Washington coast hotel, reopened June 1, is owned by Heather Earnhardt, who the Seattle executives know from the beloved, late Wandering Goose, and her husband Zac Young, whose dreams of running a local smoked fish shop never came true. But now the two of them combine their passion for southern hospitality and his flair for seafood in this quaint 18-room inn (bathroom in the hallway). But the real indulgence comes from their talents in the kitchen – where they serve local seafood and heirloom products from their own farm in dishes like manila and razor clam soup, dungeness crab and cheddar dip, and a fried seafood platter with wild shrimp, local oysters and stone fish and hush puppies.