In what quantities to a seismic shift for Seattle’s high-quality eating scene, the homeowners of famed restaurant Canlis introduced a sequence of main modifications within the New York Occasions and the Seattle Met on Wednesday, February 5. Brian Canlis, who co-owns the restaurant along with his brother Mark, is leaving town and leaving Canlis in Mark’s fingers. Possibly extra related for diners, govt chef Aisha Ibrahim, certainly one of Seattle’s most adorned cooks, additionally plans to depart.
Canlis — you already know what Canlis is, proper? Canlis is probably going Seattle’s most well-known restaurant, a brooding modernist construction overlooking Lake Union. It was opened in 1950 by Peter Canlis (Mark and Brian’s grandfather) and has turn into a high-quality eating vacation spot. It’s been a James Beard Award semifinalist or finalist for its service, wine, and meals over two dozen instances; in 2019 it received a Beard for its design and Brady Williams, then its govt chef, received the prize for Greatest Chef: Northwest.
Since Mark and Brian took over the household enterprise in 2005 they’ve made modifications. The well-known tableside Canlis salad has been deemphasized (it’s solely obtainable as an add-on) and the restaurant has been a bit extra playful — the Occasions mentions a celebration early on within the brothers’ tenure that featured a nacho cheese fountain, and final yr it used a scorching pink coat of paint to show into “Kenlis” for a Barbie–themed social gathering.
Ibrahim turned the chief chef — the primary girl to carry that function at Canlis — in 2021, changing Williams, and drew on her Filipino heritage and globe-trotting expertise as a chef at Michelin-starred eating places to replace the menu. She’s obtained a bevy of particular person awards since, together with a Greatest New Cooks nod from Meals & Wine in 2023 and a spot on the Time 100 final yr; this yr she’s a James Beard semifinalist.
So why, in the midst of that run of success, are issues altering? The Occasions stories that Ibrahim and her spouse, Canlis govt sous chef Samantha Beaird, “have Michelin-level ambitions” (there’s no Michelin information in Seattle) and “are on the lookout for an even bigger market, possibly New York or Los Angeles” the place they will open their very own restaurant. In keeping with the Met, Ibrahim “envisions a restaurant that displays her roots within the southern Philippines; most trendy Filipino eating places within the US, she notes, draw on dishes from the nation’s northern and central areas.”
“The dream has at all times been to open my very own restaurant and have my very own stars,” Ibrahim advised the Occasions.
Her transfer has been within the works since September, the Met stories, when she advised the brothers that she wished to open her personal restaurant sooner fairly than later. In flip, they advised her that Brian was additionally planning a transfer: This June, he might be shifting to Nashville along with his household and dealing on a mission along with his longtime buddy Will Guidara, the entrepreneur recognized for his stint at Eleven Madison Park and his e-book, Unreasonable Hospitality.
Brian advised the Met that he was “a special particular person” than he was when he took over the household enterprise and wished to make a change. Nashville is nearer to his spouse’s household and Guidara and his spouse, Milk Bar’s Christina Tosi, already reside there. It’s unclear what he and Guidara might be doing, however he’s wanting ahead to it. “We have now no finish to the quantity of enjoyable concepts we now have. However none of them are opening a restaurant,” he advised the Met. He’s bought his share of the enterprise to Mark and his spouse, however will stay on Canlis’s board.
In keeping with the Met, Ibrahim and Beaird will go away on April 8. Canlis is on the lookout for a brand new govt chef.
