Inlander – Washington’s Finest
If you drive two hours north of Seattle and hop onto a ferry, you'll arrive at Lummi Island, home of the Willows Inn. While the guest rooms are cozy, most people are there for the food. In 2011, the New York Times named this restaurant one of 10 worth an entire plane...
OAD – Top 100+ U.S. Restaurants 2017
Rank Name Chef Cuisine Location 1 The Willows Inn Blaine Wetzel Progressive American Lummi Island, WA 2 Saison Joshua Skenes Progressive American San Francisco, CA 3 Blue Hill at Stone Barns Dan Barber Progressive American Pocantico Hills, NY 4 Alinea Grant Achatz...
Seattle Times – The Willows Inn scores the No. 1 spot on a national best-restaurants list
The Willows Inn on lovely Lummi Island — a couple hours’ drive and a very short, very picturesque ferry ride north of Seattle — was named one of Eater’s Best Restaurants in America in December. And chef Blaine Wetzel won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Northwest...
AAA Announces Four Diamond Restaurants for 2017
Each year, AAA reviews 31,000 Diamond Rated restaurants. Of these, only 665 earned AAA’s four-diamond rating for 2017—less than 3 percent. Restaurants at this level are committed to distinctive fine dining, including creative preparations, skillfully served, often...
James Beard Foundation – Meet the 2017 Restaurant and Chef Award Semifinalists
Here they are! Below are the semifinalists for the 2017 Restaurant and Chef Awards. Read on for semifinalists in all categories, from Outstanding Restaurant to Rising Star Chef of the Year. We'll announce the final Restaurant and Chef Award nominees, as well as the...
Eater – The Best Restaurants in America
"Best" is the most subjective word in the English language, and narrowing down this group is as grueling as it is exhilarating. Of course these places all serve wonderful food: avant-garde noodle bowls in Manhattan, soul-soothing roast chicken in San Francisco,...
Eater Seattle – The Willows Inn Is One of America’s Best Restaurants
For the third year in a row, Eater’s indefatigable restaurant critic, Bill Addison, has cross-referenced his travel notes, dining receipts, and napkin scribbles from the past 12 months and compiled his unparalleled list of America’s 38 best restaurants, all of which...
Eater – The Willows Inn Is a Fine-Dining Astonishment
Our trip began with a two-hour car ride north from Seattle. To the west, we passed the Olympic Mountains, their peaks scribbly against the horizon, and the network of sister waterways (including Puget Sound) that comprise the Salish Sea. The Cascade Range stood...
Seattle Met – Willows Inn Joins Another Worldwide Mystery Chef Swap
Last year, Willows Inn chef Blaine Wetzel masterminded this crazy caper—a large-scale Freaky Friday wherein 37 chefs across the world swapped kitchens for a night. Now 40 chefs from Brazil to Russia to Japan are taking part in this year’s iteration, which will include...
Seattle Magazine – Why It’s Time to Make a Trip to Willows Inn
When you feel compelled to leave the city and immerse yourself in nature, when you seek to sit in quiet amazement at the wondrous foraged and farm-raised foods our Pacific Coast region provides, and to be waited on with warmth by a knowing staff but without the...
Vacation Idea – 20 Best Honeymoon Weekend Getaways in the United States
Tucked away on the secluded island of Lummi in the San Juan Islands, The Willows Inn on Lummi Island is a romantic and tranquil retreat. Luxurious accommodation, exceptional cuisine and warm hospitality make this charming inn a veritable treat. Comfortable...
Opinionated About Dining – Top 100 U.S. Restaurants 2016
2 The Willows Inn Blaine Wetzel, a native of Olympia, Washington, has come a long way. After spending a year and a half in the Noma kitchen, he decided it was time to go back home to Washington and open a restaurant of his own. He checked out a bunch of locations and...
First We Feast – The 10 Dishes That Made My Career: Blaine Wetzel of Willows Inn
Making a name for yourself as a young, brilliant chef is never easy. Doing it from a tiny and remote island in the far northwest of the country is nearly impossible. And yet, when Blaine Wetzel looked for a way to move back to his home region after spending time in...
Departures – World’s Best Luxury Farm Stays
The Willow’s Inn, Lummi Island, Washington At this Inn and James Beard Award-winning restaurant, one could say the entire island is its pantry: chefs forage for seaweed on the shore below the main house, pluck wild berries off the property’s bushes, and fish the Puget...
Seattle Refined – Restaurant Inspection Spotlight with AAA Inspector 39
Looking to expand your local dining options at highly remarked restaurants? We've asked AAA Inspector 39 to share some favorite foodie recommendations and memorable experience throughout the inspection process. Q: What is the most unique, yet appetizing meal you've...
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants – Six outstanding restaurants to visit in New York and West Coast USA
The World's 50 Best Restaurants is heading to New York in June – the first time in its 14-year history that the awards ceremony will be held outside London. And where better to celebrate the Oscars of the restaurant world than NYC, home to such a vibrant and...
Great Northwest Wine – Harvest work lifts Washington somm’s wine appreciation
LUMMI ISLAND, Wash. – To hold a bottle of wine and tell its story through the eyes of someone who crushed grapes, cleaned barrels and walked vineyards is satisfying and gratifying. That is the lesson taken by Phaedra Brucato, wine director for the Willows Inn, a...
The Seattle Times – What is Pacific Northwest cuisine?
AT HIS OLD CHASER FARM on Vashon Island, Matt Dillon reaches over a wire fence to scratch one of his pigs on the head. “If I fell down in there, he’d eat me,” Dillon says affectionately. Renee Erickson bangs her little Boston Whaler into the back of a sailboat while...