About Town: Chef John Howie Represents the Northwest in the Other Washington

Good cooks enjoy feeding family and friends. Great cooks open restaurants and feed strangers who can afford the price of a meal. Fabulous cooks with big hearts do all of the above and still make time to donate their skills to feed the poor and hungry.

A description like that should be behind any directory with John Howie’s name. He’s the owner and chef behind at the Bravern and in the Civica Building in Bellevue.

Saturday night, his staff was minding the local stoves and broilers while Howie worked to help feed the nation’s hungry. He cooked at a Share Our Strength dinner in Washington, D.C. Share Our Strength is a national non-profit group that raises money for food programs. Saturday’s party was the Democratic Governors Association Taste of America Gala.

I’ve followed Howie’s career since he was the star in the kitchen in Seattle’s Palisades Restaurant. It wasn’t until I researched the Eastsider for this story that I realized this man grew up in local kitchens and became a chef the old-fashioned way – by being trained at the sinks and stoves in the business. On-the-job training and sometimes horrible apprenticeships used to be the only way chefs were trained.  These days people who can afford it have a choice of college and specialty schools.

A great article in the archives of seattledining.com outlined Howie’s old school training. He began by clearing tables and carrying dirty dishes to the kitchen at the age of 15 in an old Bellevue restaurant. He spent the next three years working in restaurants that no longer exist.

If you’ve been around the Eastside long enough you might remember some of them – The Refectory, Emmett’s, Black Angus and The Butcher.

Howie then stirred pots in a number of Seattle restaurants before eventually landing at Palisades. Although he had been the force behind great food long before that gig, Howie became well-known during the decade he was there – partially because of his cookbook about cooking on wood planks. (The wood adds yummy flavors to entrees such as salmon.)

In March of 2002, Howie opened his first place – the Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar. That’s also when Howie’s fundraising efforts took off. An opening week gala raised more than $50,000 for two charities.

I’ve seen Howie at several charity auctions. He not only attends, he’s an auction item. He donates an instant dinner party – he brings the food to the home of the lucky bidder. Plus, he gets sold at the event to prepare a flaming dessert at table of that lucky bidder.

Two of my favorite John Howie stories involve less public events. He and his staff invite needy families to the Seastar for Thanksgiving dinner. Howie and the staff volunteer to cook and serve a traditional meal – something he doesn’t advertise. A few years ago a holiday party for Puget Sound Energy executives and field staff was cancelled at the last minute because a big storm knocked out power and all the PSE staff were needed for repairs. The food for the party was already in the Seastar kitchen. The restaurant had power so Howie and his staff used the party food to prepare dozens of to-go trays. The food was delivered to PSE and sent to the crews in the field.

Howie’s cooking talents have been recognized nation-wide. He’s been a guest chef at the James Beard House in New York City several times. (If you’re not a foodie, I always describe being invited to cook there as the equivalent of musicians being invited to play at a concert at Carnegie Hall.)

He probably has gained more attention after Saturday night’s Washington, D.C. party. He was the only chef from the Northwest.

So what did he cook? His course was soup. He fixed Cream of Porcini Mushroom Soup with Black Truffle Crème. Yum! And Howie took his own kitchen crew, too – his 17-year-old son, Jo-Jo, and two New Zealand exchange students.

“They will get to learn a little about our government and the restaurant business,” Howie said.