Since Blaine Wetzel took over the kitchen at The Willows Inn, the eight-room inn on Lummi Island, Washington, has become an international hotspot for gourmands in search of a travel-for-food dining experience. Chef Wetzel won Food & Wine’s Best New Chef in 2012...

In a time where many of us are forced to slow down… forage… and keep it local, we decided to write about two-time James Beard Award-winning chef Blaine Wetzel’s latest book, Lummi – Island Cooking.

A few days ahead of the release of the new Michelin Guide to France, La Liste has awarded prizes to various gastronomic players that have shown both commitment and innovation in the industry, as well as the ability to reinvent themselves during the global pandemic....

Perhaps the truest embodiment of a destination restaurant, The Willows Inn ensures every guest feels as rooted in its blustery Pacific Northwest location as the 100-year-old inn itself. After time at Noma, chef Blaine Wetzel took on the Lummi Island property a decade...

1. Willows Inn, Lummi Island Washington Blaine Wetzel Progressive American 2 Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare Manhattan New York César Ramirez Japanese - French 3 Single Thread Farm Healdsburg California Kyle Connaughton Progressive - Japanese 4 Saison San Francisco...

Lummi: Island Cooking by Blaine Wetzel To get to the isolated Willows Inn on Lummi Island, you have to first land a coveted reservation and then travel to Seattle, drive two hours north (or one-and-a-half hours south from Vancouver) and take a ferry to Gooseberry...

This is an excellent time to have some absorbing cookbooks on hand. Not only because many of us could use inspiration figuring out what to cook while we shelter but also because we’re craving connection. A parallel has emerged between restaurants and cookbooks in...

Households around the world right now are being tested when it comes to their culinary repertoire. With restaurants shuttered, people are left mostly to their own culinary devices which can have their limitations. Thankfully, in the bookselling industry, spring also...

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...

Seattle has long been Washington State’s mainstage for the culinary scene. But a little college town called Bellingham, just a half-hour south of the border with Canada, looks to give the big city a run for its lunch money. With a thriving microbrewery scene, a...

Lummi Island is a perfect getaway for families looking to unplug and enjoy time in nature. This easy day trip from Bellingham is just 25 minutes to the Lummi Island ferry terminal at Gooseberry Point. From there, the ride across the channel aboard the Whatcom Chief...