The kitchen is closed until March at The Willows Inn on Lummi Island. The chefs have gone nomadic. (The Inn remains open, and Chef Jason who has been with us eight years will continue outstanding menus at our two small cafes, The Beach Store and The Taproot.)
Each year, the chef staff travels during a hiatus from January into early March. They travel the U.S. and the world, dining, gleaning, learning more and more about their craft.
Chef Blaine Wetzel’s plans include Italy, and his sabbatical climaxes with participation in a sensational international event in Milan in March. If you happen to be in the neighborhood Chef Blaine will create and prepare the menu March 3-4 at the Bulgari Hotel as one of just seven premier chefs in EPICUREA.
This first-edition event of an extraordinary culinary experience billed as a “taste voyage around the world” began in October. It stretches through April 2014 featuring a different acclaimed chef each month. Chef Blaine joins a lineup consisting of chefs from Santiago, Peru; Paris; Melbourne, Australia; San Francisco; Dranouter, Belgium, and Tokyo. We’ll provide you more details as the March event draws closer.
Meanwhile, our garden rests, never totally sleeping as winter vegetables grow under cover for early-spring harvesting that will fulfill the menu upon our reopening March. Chef Blaine and our culinary gardener Mary already have detailed plans for the first planting in springtime, and she will spend winter down-time in her own rounds of workshops and research.
Meanwhile, check hours for dining at The Beach Store Café and The Taproot available to you with the expert presentations that live up to our standards for your dining year-round.
Please include us in your plans for 2014. We’re at your service today (360.758.2620 for reservations). Happy New Year!