When I first saw Lummi: Island Cooking, the new cookbook from Willows Inn chef Blaine Wetzel, I couldn’t help but pick it up. The book itself is wrapped in a rough but texturally pleasing yellow fabric, and the cover — a single deep-blue photograph affixed to the...
The love story started in the summer of 2018, with a chance encounter at a pintxos bar. Blaine Wetzel had just landed in Bilbao, Spain, after a long series of flights from his home on remote Lummi Island, Washington, a two-hour drive and 10-minute ferry ride north of...
The Willows Inn. Internationally renowned as the epitome of Pacific Northwest cuisine, the restaurant at this Lummi Island inn is a bucket-list destination for anyone who calls themselves a food lover. Helmed by James Beard Award–winning chef Blaine Wetzel, the...
“By mid-December, the pumpkin pile will be depleted. When the pumpkins are gone, it’s time to close our doors for the winter season.” So said Reid Johnson, manager of The Willows Inn on Lummi Island. The pumpkin pile, bright orange like a warm fire, sits beneath a...
Just off the coast between Vancouver and Seattle, tiny Lummi Island is home to a totally unique dining destination called The Willows Inn. Blaine Wetzel spent formative years under René Redzepi at Copenhagen’s Noma before taking over this 100-year-old inn at the...
