The island is idyllic. As a workplace, it's toxic
13 minutes to read
By: Julia Moskin
Globe-trotting diners flock to the Willows Inn's serene Northwest setting. But former employees say faked ingredients, sexual harassment and an abusive kitchen are the real story.
The chef Blaine Wetzel first came to Lummi, a
tiny island near the San Juan archipelago of Washington state, in 2010. At age 24, he was fresh off a two-year stint at the vaunted Copenhagen restaurant Noma. He could have found a job in any kitchen in the world.
Instead, he'd answered an ad on Craigslist, posted by a chicken farmer who owned a century-old inn on Lummi Island, 160km north of Seattle and reachable only by ferry. Sight unseen, Wetzel had fallen for the island's ravishing isolation — fewer than 1,000 people live there full time — and its unspoiled forests, farms and fisheries.