Best Chef: Northwest: Justin Wills
This morning, the James Beard Foundation dropped its list of semifinalists for the 2013 Restaurant and Chef awards
Chef Justin Wills,
Restaurant Beck, Depoe Bay, OR, is upping the coastal cuisine ante, playing to a crowd of in-the-know locals and guests staying at the Whale cove
Inn. When he’s not searching for sustainable seafood and locally foraged ingredients, he spends his free time with his wife and young son, and enjoys making forays to portland to sample the city’s fare.
Peter Szymczak, editor, NW Palate:
Restaurant Beck, located — of all places — in remote Depoe Bay on the Oregon Coast. Destination-worthy contemporary haute cuisine à la Castagna, Painted Lady, Willows Inn, et al."Foodie heaven" might be an apt description for Restaurant Beck — one of the newest upscale additions to Oregon's coastal dining scene.
In the don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it category, it is perched atop a bluff on Highway 101 near the southern boundary of Depoe Bay inside the luxuriously remodeled Whale Cove Inn.
Co-owners Justin and Stormee Wills named the restaurant after their young son Becker. The Wills fashioned a sophisticated oasis that exudes contemporary elegance enhanced by picture windows that frame a spectacular view of Whale Cove.
