The First Harvest lineup of chefs (left to right): Christopher Kostow (The Restaurant at Meadowood), Grant Achatz (Alinia, Next, and The Aviary Bar), Dominique Crenn (Atelier Crenn), Justin Yu (Oxheart), Virgilio Martinez (Central Restaurante), and host Blaine Wetzel on the deck of The Willows Inn on Lummi Island.
Photo courtesy of professional food photographer Charity Burggraaf
The same date that the reef-net fishery opened we held the first of two dinners in our second annual First Harvest with a kitchen full of award-winning chefs who were invited to team up with our own, Chef Blaine Wetzel.
Our social media lit up with raves and photos of the six featured chefs and their original recipe creations as they followed the Willows Inn method of farming, foraging, and fishing for their ingredients.
The visiting chefs – from Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Napa Valley, and Peru – enjoyed the luxury that we benefit from daily: custom ordering of the specific items they wanted from the harvest at nearby Loganita Farm. “There might be four places in the whole U.S. where you can do that,” one chef said.
Even the chefs tweeted frequently, including one describing the night before First Harvest when our chef staff prepared the meal: “Experiencing one of the best meals in recent times….”
One young visiting sous chef from a New York restaurant who helped out during the event commented, “This was the best week of my life.” Blogs and comments continue to pop up describing the amazing nature of food resulting from 16-hour workdays by marquee chefs preparing and serving unique dishes together.