| Willows Inn | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Willows Inn photographed in 2012 | |
 Interactive map of Willows Inn | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | c. 1910 (1910) |
| Closed | 2022 (2022) |
| Previous owners |
|
| Head chef | Blaine Wetzel |
| Food type | |
| Location | 2579 West Shore Drive,Lummi Island, Washington, 98262, United States |
| Coordinates | 48°44′08″N122°43′07″W / 48.7355°N 122.7187°W /48.7355; -122.7187 |
| Website | willows-inn |
TheWillows Inn was an Americanfine dining restaurant andbed and breakfast inn onLummi Island, Washington, United States. It operated on and off from 1910 to 2010 as a small regionalbeach resort and bed and breakfast. Starting in 2010, under chefBlaine Wetzel, who had worked forRené Redzepi atNoma, the Willows Inn became known worldwide as a destination restaurant serving purportedlyhyperlocal cuisine fished, grown orforaged on or around Lummi Island. It was described in 2011 byThe New York Times as one of 10 restaurants worth a plane trip. As Wetzel won awards from theJames Beard Foundation andFood & Wine, the Willows Inn's reputation for high-quality local ingredients,Pacific Northwest flavors and meticulous service and presentation grew.
In 2021, however, the restaurant's reputation was damaged by allegations published byThe New York Times that the restaurant presented non-local ingredients as local to Lummi Island and that Wetzel used derogatory and abusive language and toleratedsexual harassment at the restaurant, allegations Wetzel denied. In addition to the allegations reported by theTimes, the restaurant also settled claims ofwage theft. In 2022, the Willows Inn closed permanently. It was one of severaldestination restaurants that inspired the fictional restaurant in the satirical 2022 horror comedy filmThe Menu.
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Originally known as "The Willows", the inn was constructed by Frank and Ruby Taft as a seven-roombungalowc. 1910.[1] It was located on the western shore of Lummi Island overlookingRosario Strait and theSan Juan Islands.[2] By 1913, it was a bustling summer resort featuring 28 cabins and attracting visitors fromVancouver,Victoria,Seattle andTacoma.World War II-era travel and currency restrictions, as well asgas rationing, decreased traffic to Lummi Island. New owners after World War II could not keep the resort viable, however, and the Taft family resumed ownership. The Willows' season ran fromMemorial Day toLabor Day, and Ruby Taft's Sundayfried chicken dinners would draw up to 100 diners each week, including many from the mainland. According to Ruby's granddaughter Victoria Flynn, almost everything served at the inn was either homemade or sourced from the inn's farm. Frank and Ruby ran the inn with their daughters Maurine and Dorothy until 1958, when they sold it. A large part of the farm was subdivided into a residential neighborhood.[1]
In 1984, Flynn and her husband, Gary, purchased the Willows and reopened it as a bed and breakfast and wedding reception venue. They operated it for 16 years until Flynn's health prevented her from working long days. They sold the inn to Lummi Island fisherman Riley Starks and his wife in 2001.[1] Starks supplied the fish and produce for the inn's restaurant, while his wife ran the kitchen. In 2009, however, with business affected by theGreat Recession, Starks' wife left him and he placed an ad onCraigslist to find a new chef.[2][3]
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Starks received 25 responses to his ad, one of them from Blaine Wetzel, then 24, achef de partie at Redzepi's much-praisedNoma inCopenhagen.[2][4] In his 1,000-word cover letter, Wetzel pitched Starks on "a small chef-driven kitchen with the emphasis on the garden." Starks hired Wetzel, who planned a menu that would incorporate localsalmon, Lummi Island's many varieties of berries,seaweeds and beach plants, local shellfish, and produce from Starks' organic farm. Working alone in the kitchen, Wetzel began serving five-course meals with a single nightly seating in the fall of 2010. Wetzel's reputation as a former Noma chef brought the inn its best autumn under Starks' ownership, Starks said. The inn closed in January 2011 for a three-month renovation.[2] That month,The New York Times described it as one of "10 restaurants worth a plane ride", noting that despite its two-hour distance (withferry connection) fromSeattle, "it is about to become a destination restaurant."[5]
The restaurant re-opened in March 2011 with an 18-coursetasting menu priced at $85 (which rose to $150 by 2013, $225 by 2018 and $285 by 2021).[2][6][7] By 2018, the Willows Inn had a staff of 40.[6] It would close each winter from December to March.[8] In 2012, Starks sold the inn to Tim and Marcia McEvoy.[9] Wetzel later became a co-owner of the Willows Inn.[8] Under Wetzel's leadership, the Willows Inn was praised by outlets around the world, including theThe Sydney Morning Herald,[10]The Globe and Mail,[11]The Wall Street Journal,[12] andSaveur.[13]
The Willows Inn was known for purportedly hyperlocal Pacific Northwest cuisine, with news reports describing the ingredients as sourced "almost exclusively" from Lummi Island[12] and reporting that the staff "grow, forage, cook and serve everything. The only thing they buy commercially is oil and salt."[14] According toEater, approximately 80 percent of the menu came from Lummi Island.[15] Wetzel claimed that the restaurant slaughtered chickens to make its own stock.[4]
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Sample dishes at the Willows Inn included: a single bite of smokedsockeye salmon served in a cedar container withalderwood smoke; rawrazor clams with horseradish ice and blue potatoes and pickledoysters served withsorrel;[14] beet and rhubarbnigiri;ling codceviche;[16] side-stripe shrimp;steelheadroe incrème fraîche inside acrêpe;[15] andgeoduck in seaweed oil.[2] Wetzel reproduced Noma's presentation style, with "unconventional vessels" and dishes delivered to the table by the chefs themselves.[17]
The simpler breakfast and lunch meals served for overnight guests also became attractions in their own right, according to Bill Addison inEater.[15] Addison later described the breakfast as "the most extravagant breakfast of my life" due to its use of summer fruits.[18]
Amid the acclaim for the restaurant, the Willows Inn was the subject of numerous controversies starting in 2017. That year, after aU.S. Department of Labor (DOL) investigation, the restaurant agreed to pay nearly $150,000 (half of it unpaid overtime and half of it damages) to 19 workers. DOL found that as part of itsstaging program for trainees, entry-level kitchen staff were required to serve a one-month trial without pay, after which they would be paid as little as $50 per day, with no overtime, for workdays reaching 14 hours.[19] Volunteer labor in staging is a common practice at high-end European restaurants, and five to six candidates each week asked to stage at the Willows Inn.[19][12] Willows Inn described all the participants in the program as volunteers and said that "[o]nce we were informed by the Department of Labor that the practice of staging was illegal we ended the program immediately."[19] Employees at the inn from 2014 to 2017 filed aclass action lawsuit in 2017 charging that the Willows Inn had withheld tips and overtime payments. The restaurant settled the lawsuit in 2021 for $600,000 without admitting wrongdoing.[20][21]
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The New York Times in April 2021 published a lengthy article quoting 35 former Willows Inn employees who alleged that the restaurant often used non-local foods and obscured their true origins, that Wetzel verbally abused and intimidated employees and that male staff members sexually harassed female employees. According to theTimes, employees said that "most ingredients were ordered from distributors and farms on the mainland. When local produce ran out, cooks routinely bought supermarket ingredients, like beets and broccoli, that were then passed off as grown or gathered on Lummi." One signature chicken dish was made with chickens purchased fromCostco, theTimes said. A former line cook reported cutting frozen Alaskanscallops "down to the shape and size of pinksinging scallops."[3][22]
Employees reported that Wetzel used derogatory and racist language. Wetzel "denied the substance of most allegations", according to theTimes. TheTimes reported that former employees tolerated Wetzel's alleged behavior because a recommendation from him could open doors for many cooking jobs. Female employees also claimed that male staff members harassed them with "sexual overtures andinnuendo". Although they did not allege that Wetzel himself engaged in this activity, they said that Wetzel was present at events where underage staff drank alcohol, which Wetzel also denied.[3]
TheNew York Times article resulted in local protests on Lummi Island, including asailboat that passed back and forth in front of the inn's dining room windows with anti-Wetzel messages on its sails.[7] After the article appeared, the 2017 class action lawsuit was amended to include 137 employees at the Willows Inn from 2018 to 2022 who alleged wage theft and lack of required breaks. This amended lawsuit was settled for $1.37 million, with three additional cases settled by November 2022.[23][20]
Wetzel's wife,Daniela Soto-Innes, joined the staff of the Willows Inn after leaving her restaurant Cosme in New York City in 2020. She brought several of her staff from Cosme and addedMexican elements to thePacific Northwest menu. Soto-Innes held a "coaching" role alongside Wetzel, and during her tenure there, in August 2022, the Willows Inn had a half female and mostly immigrant staff.[24]
In November 2022, the Willows Inn permanently closed.[25] Co-owners Tim and Marcia McEvoy donated the inn and restaurant property, valued at $2 million, to Lighthouse Mission Ministries, an organization combating homelessness in Bellingham.[20] The property was listed for sale in April 2024.[26]
Under Wetzel, the Willows Inn received several awards and ratings, including a four-diamond rating from theAmerican Automobile Association.[27] It was named the top restaurant in North America by the website Opinionated About Dining in 2017.[28] Wetzel was named toFood & Wine Best New Chefs list in 2012[2] and given theJames Beard Rising Star Chef Award in 2014 and the James Beard Award for Best Chef Northwest in 2015.[29]
The Willows Inn was one of several restaurants that inspired the satirical 2022 horror comedyThe Menu, in which a fictional destination restaurant offering an expensive tasting menu is located on a Pacific Northwest island reached only by boat.[25][21][30]
The Willows was one of the main inspirations for the recent movie "The Menu," exploring the dark side of fine dining and celebrity-chef culture.
On a remote Northwest island, its Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) runs a tasting-menu restaurant (with echoes of the Willows Inn).Harbron, Lucy (February 18, 2024)."Every restaurant that inspired the making of 'The Menu'".Far Out Magazine. Retrieved14 October 2025.
Perhaps the most ridiculous detail about Hawthorne is that the diners must get a boat to a secluded island just for their meal. It would seem utterly unrealistic if it weren't plucked from real life. To dine at the Willows Inn, you have to get a ferry to the island of Lummi, off the coast of Washington, to be able to sample food from chef Blaine Wetzel.Willmore, Allison (November 18, 2022)."The Menu Is Deliciously Mean".Vulture. Retrieved14 October 2025.
Hawthorne, located on a small island a short ferry ride from the mainland, feels inspired by the setting of Lummi Island's the Willows Inn and the Scandi severity of Noma in Copenhagen.McQueen, Elizabeth Marie (2024)."Acting Edible: The Taste of Performance on a Damaged Planet"(dissertation). University of California Los Angeles. Retrieved15 October 2025.
In 2022, The Menu was released by Searchlight Pictures, a dark satirical horror-comedy set on a private island host to a fine-dining restaurant called Hawthorn, echoing real-life restaurants Noma or Willows Inn, where hyper-local foods are displayed with modernist culinary techniques (e.g. foam, emulsions, or spherified manipulations).
