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.