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ACOMMONSENSERULE
among restaurateurs is
to always situate an eatery in a well-trafficked
neighborhood. So if you decide to open a din-
ing spot on a remote island serviced by a ferry
that stops running in the early evening, well,
you’d be er have one heck of a restaurant. Fortunately for the own-
ers of Willows Inn, located on tiny Lummi Island in the San Juan
archipelago north of Sea le, that’s precisely what they have. Their
restaurant is so good, in fact, that the
New York Times
deemed it
among 10 that are actuallyworth flying to. (Even if you book a flight
to Sea-Tac, though, it’s still a 90-mile drive, plus the ferry.)
Who is drawing customers to this eatery at the end of theworld? A
26-year-oldgeniusof achef by thenameofBlaineWetzel,who—before
moving home to Washington in 2010 to be closer to his girlfriend—
spent two years working at Copenhagen’s acclaimed Noma. Inside
Willows Inn’s recently upgraded kitchen, Wetzel explains what
So Far.
So Good.
Would you travel via plane,
car and ferry to an island
in the middle of nowhere
to eat a meal cooked by a
26-year-old? Yes, you would.
BYMICHAEL KAPLAN
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
AW, SHUCKS
Pickled oysters with
sorrel, tapioca pearls,
sauerkraut liquid and,
yes, beach rocks at
Willows Inn
34
MAY 2012
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FOOD&DRINK