Last night at the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards in Chicago, Blaine Wetzel, chef of the Willows Inn on Lummi Island, was named Best Chef Northwest. Impressively, this is actually 29-year-old Wetzel’s second Beard award, having taken home honors last year as national rising star chef.
In a very personal acceptance speech, Wetzel, whose fiancé, Raquel Ruiz Diaz, was involved in a hit-and-run accident in her native Paraguay earlier this year, expressed gratitude to chefs and restaurant owners, both local and across the country, for their support.
Wetzel beat out local chefs Renee Erickson of the Whale Wins, and Rachel Yang and Seif Chirchi of Joule, as well as Portland’s Greg Denton and Gabrielle Quiñónez Denton (Ox), and Justin Woodward (Castagna).
