Follow Me Foodie – Lummi Island – The Willows Inn (Top 10 Best Island Restaurants) – Part 1-5
I’m no athlete, but I am competitive; and if I had to play the Hunger Games, I would do it here. Welcome to Lummi Island. There it was. That was it. Lummi Island. I’m not first to discover this hidden gem and for many food enthusiasts, chefs, and industry folk it...
Bon Appétit – The Best Food Lover’s Hotels in America
When chef Blaine Wetzel returned home to his native Washington three years ago, after a stint at Noma in Copenhagen, he took over the kitchen of this small inn on Lummi Island, just a few hours outside Seattle. There he began crafting intensely local, poetic, and...
Little Miss Locavore – Day 2 of Easter Weekend on Lummi Island: The Willows Inn
Tastiness Factor: 10/10 Atmosphere: 5/5 Service: 5/5 Locavore Approved? YES, YES, YES!!! (The very epitome of local, seasonal, sustainable cuisine) Lummi Island, just off the coast of Washington, with a population of 900, has garnered a lot of attention lately. Prior...
April Alarm Clock
We have an April alarm clock at The Willows Inn on Lummi Island. An apple tree sits right outside the kitchen window. Its blossoms blink open, and provide the wake-up call to the bright, bushy luster that leads us out of wintry darkness and into the lively greening of...
sound+bites – I said YES to many things at Willows Inn
Sometimes you enjoy a tremendous meal and it goes down in your head and on your tastebuds as one of the most memorable experiences of your life. We had such an experience this weekend that was a little more special than just the food... more about that later... I...
Gayot – 2013 Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S.
The visionary food of chef Blaine Wetzel can only be savored on Lummi Island, one of the San Juan Islands near Bellingham between Seattle and Vancouver. An alumnus of Copenhagen’s Noma, Wetzel blends local foraging, farming and fishing with avant-garde artistry to...
Outside Magazine – Chef Blaine Wetzel’s Quest to Become the Ultimate Locavore
In the winter of 2010, Riley Starks was in trouble. A fisherman and organic farmer, the 59-year-old owned a small inn on Washington State’s Lummi Island, a nine-mile ridge of fir and hemlock rising out of the sea near the Canadian border, with a year-round population...
Ooh, my Favorite! – Fish, Forage, and Farm at The Willows Inn
Last fall Andrew was invited up to Lummi Island for a little getaway at The Willows Inn. I’ve written about my love affair with the island and the restaurant before, so I was desperate to find a way to cleverly blackmail work my way into the trip. The Fish, Forage,...
ChuckEats – Perfect Meal 2012
The smoke, the wild, the vegetable, the historical, and the aged – many themes championed here have finally reached a critical mass in 2012. Some are already official trends for 2013. It would be easy to dismiss them as simply stylish but a few chefs have been walking...
DuJour – Where the Wild Things Are
A 26-year-old culinary sensation is tantalizing the Pacific Northwest with his succulent foraged fare Behind every great dish is a chattering of stories waiting to be told. Take the ripe blackberries with wild yarrow, carrot flowers, sorrel and chickweed in a puddle...
Gourmet Pigs: Willows Inn (Lummi Island, WA): An Unforgettable Experience
My favorite meal in 2012? Easy. Willows Inn at Lummi Island is a small inn on a small island in Washington, with a restaurant helmed by Chef Blaine Wetzel, a young native of the area who had worked at Noma (you know, the world's best restaurant). When they talk about...
Lonely Planet – Top 10 US Travel Destinations for 2013
Every year our US-based editors team up with Lonely Planet’s expert authors to compile a list of US destinations that are prime for the next year. Best in Travel 2013 already covered two places we think the world should be looking at – San Francisco and the Gulf...
ChuckEats – Willows Inn First Harvest Dinner
To get away – seclusion, slow time, and the freedom to work. To explore the land and work within its bounty. To be inspired by the physical connection to food and walk amongst it – on the farm, into the green. Down to the beach: currants on the slant, stonecrop along...
50 Shades of Delicious: Yummy Lummi: Chef Blaine Wetzel Boy Genius
What were you doing with your life at age 26? We recently met one of the most impressive young chefs who has created the most incredible dining experience at a small inn on little known Lummi Island (it rhymes with yummy), WA. Lummi (to see map click here) is a very...
No Umbrella – A Meal to Write Home About
Disneyland. Hawaii. The Olympics. The Grand Canyon. Salmon with Mustard Greens. I’m not sure when it happened, but slowly and surely my reasons to venture out of my comfy Seattle bubble started to need different qualifications. No longer was I only after sunny beaches...
Wild Crabapples
Crabapples ranks high among the trickiest ingredients we’ve worked with. A species of the Malus family, crabapples are a close relative to the cultivated apples we see every day. Small, woody, and often terribly acidic, crabapples require a little finesse for...
Global Writes – The Lure of Lummi Island
There’s a hilly piece of heaven that sits among a chain of islands at the most northeasterly section of the San Juan archipelago, an unspoiled spot just a short ferry ride from the mainland and a brief distance’s drive from Bellingham, Washington. It’s the bucolic...
Afar – Rene Redzepi’s Picks: Willows Inn, Lummi Island
On a small island called Lummi, between Seattle and Vancouver, Blaine Wetzel is cooking at the Willows Inn. The menu changes daily, and this is definitely one of the most exciting new places to eat in the western U.S. 2579 West Shore Dr., (360) 758-2620. Rene Redzepi...