Delightful at the time but absurd upon reflection.
We just came back from a short trip to sample the cuisine at The Willows on Lummi Island – an eight minute ferry ride just off Bellingham, WA.
Chef Blaine Wetzel is a “rare and amazing talent” and The Willows was declared by the NYT as “One of the 10 restaurants (in the world) worth a plane ride”.
The menu consisted of five courses interspersed with sixteen, yes sixteen, “snacks” and all of these delights came from ingredients “fished, foraged, and farmed” on the island. As a visual and taste experience, this was astonishing – plate after plate of miniature masterpieces with combinations that you’d never think of presented as little art works.
Some examples here – oysters served on a bed of beach pebbles frozen into the plate, kale leaf crisp with black truffles, radish and toasted flax seeds. We also had venison tartare, asparagus with spruce shoots, halibut skin, local foraged mushrooms, scallops and clams, and more local flowers and herbs than I can remember.
One interesting touch – local stone and beach pebbles in almost every plate. Frozen in ice as a plate for the raw oysters, flat stones to serve tiny plates, heated in the wooden box to keep the bread warm, grilled hot under the oysters cooked in tequila and sage. You can do this at home folks.
Totally astonishing experience but we could not get away from two thoughts:
– Where was the main course? Twenty miniatures but no grand canvas to step back from and admire; I am sure there must have been a lamb to kill on the island.
– The food was local but the foodies weren’t. The food has a zero carbon footprint but the customers all came from miles around; we drive almost 600 miles there and back and others had clearly taken the NYT advice and flown there.
Colin's Travel Journal 