Tom Douglas
Tom Douglas (born August 2, 1958) is an American executive chef, restaurateur, author, and radio talk show host. He is known for winning the 1994 James Beard Award for Best Northwest Chef. In 2012 he also won the James Beard Award as Best Restaurateur. He is the author of "Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen", which was named the Best American Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation and KitchenAid, in 2001. In 2005, he appeared on an episode of the Food Network's "Iron Chef America", in which he defeated Chef Masaharu Morimoto. Early life, family. Tom Douglas was born  on August 2, 1958, in Wilmington, Delaware. Douglas moved to Seattle in 1977. Soon after arriving, he started working in a variety of jobs from general construction to serving as a railroad car mechanic. , Douglas lives in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle as well as Prosser, Washington with his wife and business partner, Jackie Cross, and their daughter, Loretta. Their farm in Prosser provides a variety of produce for use in his Seattle restaurants. Restaurant career. Wilmington, Delaware. Douglas's first restaurant job was working at the Hotel duPont, where he served as an assistant to the hotel's cook . He never attended professional culinary school, but developed his natural talents while travelling and eating at various world-class restaurants throughout the U.S. and Europe. Seattle, Washington. In 1984, following working in a series of general labor jobs, Douglas began working at a local restaurant, Café Sport. In November 1989, he opened his first restaurant, the Dahlia Lounge, which quickly became a prominent fixture in quality dining in the Pacific Northwest. In 1994, he was recognized as the Best Chef in the Northwest by the James Beard Foundation. In 2001, he opened the Dahlia Bakery, to complement the food of  Dahlia Lounge. In February 1995, Douglas and his wife opened Etta's Seafood, named after their daughter, Loretta. The following year, they opened the Palace Kitchen, which offers a considerably more rustic style, utilizing Northwest cuisine cooked on a wood-fired grill. During the first year of operation, the Palace Kitchen was nominated for a James Beard Award as one of the best new restaurants in the United States. In July 2004, Douglas opened Lola, which serves a fusion offering of Greek-inspired, Northwest cuisine. In 2006, he opened a pizzeria, known as Serious Pie. The original location, Serious Pie  Virginia, is in downtown Seattle, and the second location, Serious Pie and Biscuit, was located in the South Lake Union neighborhood until its closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 Response. Douglas was one of the first restaurateurs in Seattle to close due to the coronavirus. Work-at-home orders from companies near his restaurants had reduced his sales by up to 90%, and on March 11, he announced that 12 of his 13 restaurants would close until further notice, effective the following Sunday (March 15). Dahlia Bakery remained open to service a contract with a hotel across the street . The move proved prescient, as the Washington governor issued a statewide closure on the following Monday, March 16. Later he revealed that it had cost his restaurant group nearly $3 million to settle payroll, benefits, and other debts for the shutdown, and that it would be "tough" for half of the restaurants to return. Soon after, though, he was able to open a no-contact carry-out pop-up restaurant in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, called ""Serious TakeOut"". The extended shutdown led to many closures among Douglas's restaurants. In July 2020 he announced that two closures, of the  Brave Horse Tavern and Trattoria Cuoco, would become permanent, as both restaurants were reaching the end of their ten-year leases and the future remained uncertain. Douglas similarly declined to renew the lease for Serious Pie and Biscuit in September of that year, and announcements of Dahlia Lounge's closure followed in March 2021. Dahlia Bakery was reopened in July 2021. Radio talk show. Douglas co-hosts a weekly food radio show with longtime friend Thierry Rautureau. The show, "Seattle Kitchen", regularly focuses on local and national cookbook authors and personalities. The show is broadcast weekly on Saturdays and Sundays  on KIRO-FM, 97.3. It is recorded on Tuesday mornings in front of a live audience at the "Hot Stove Society", Tom Douglas's cooking school in Seattle.