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Every restaurant has a vision of who/what they are—the concept that sets them apart from the competition. That vision must be understood by all the players so everyone is heading in the same direction. When the executive chef position opens, it’s critical to find someone who "gets it" and can carry the torch. Who did The Fish Club find when Executive Chef Chris Ainsworth left to open his own restaurant in Richland, Washington? Being a Todd English (TE) restaurant, it only makes sense that they found someone within that family of restaurants; someone who could bring direct knowledge of Todd English to the only TE restaurant on the west coast. They found that person in Chris Frothingham.

Photo: David Scherling, GM, and Executive Chef Chris Frothingham

Chris brings great experience and enthusiasm to The Fish Club. After culinary school, he began working at Bonfire, a TE steakhouse, working his way up the ranks to become the executive chef. He later moved to Kingfish Hall, TE’s east coast equivalent to The Fish Club, also as the executive chef. After a stint there, he tried his hand at Legal Seafoods, a top spot in Boston that had been there for over 50 years. "I wanted to learn their systems and how they handled the volume so well," Chris explains. He later returned to the Todd English camp, just in time for the opening at The Fish Club.

What steps brought him into the kitchen in the first place? He was born in Mexico and still has a passion for Mexican cuisine. When he was six, his family moved to London where he had Lady Di as a kindergarten teacher. "It wasn’t a big deal at the time," he says. "It was later that she became famous." The family moved to the Boston area. Chris attended Hobart College in environmental economics. After college, he went to Mt. Hood and worked in the kitchen "for the free food and ski pass." While at Timberline Lodge, he was impressed by what happens in a professional kitchen; he returned to the East Coast and a small restaurant in Nantucket where he honed his skills. Another turnaround came and he decided to work in a financial institution in Boston. "That lasted a year and I decided to go to culinary school at The New England Culinary Institute in Vermont. I got into the accelerated program because of my past experience."

At the time he graduated, Bonfire had opened in Boston and the rest you know. He’s enjoying being back on the west coast and in a new environment. As Chris says, "I love the learning curve and thrive on challenge. I’ll learn more about different fish and the Seattle market. I’ll teach the culinary staff about Todd and we’ll all learn from each other. The staff here has so much pride and desire to succeed. We’ll work together and with the hotel management to create a team that can reach our common goals."

Part of that team is David Scherling who has been in the restaurant industry since 1986. He spent 8 years with Restaurants Unlimited (only eight months of that in the Seattle area) doing management training, openings and trouble shooting. He also spent three years with Oki Golf as a General Manager for The Golf Club at Echo Falls and The Plateau Club. Interestingly, he was a semi-professional baseball player and still loves to play.

We talked about some of the challenges and opportunities the team faces and how they plan on positively impacting the Seattle dining scene.

There is a certain stigma in being a "hotel restaurant." In days past, hotel restaurants were pretty vanilla. They had to make all the hotel guests happy all the time—breakfast, lunch and dinner. Often, hotels were simply trying to keep guests in the building as opposed to creating a wonderful culinary experience.

Part of the issue is that there are many moving parts to a hotel—in the case of the Marriott Waterfront, 358 rooms; dining hours that have to stretch to accommodate guest schedules; banquets; communication between sales and marketing, guest services, concierge; the list goes on and on. In a town full of people who love food and expect the best in terms of taste, presentation, service and atmosphere, how does The Fish Club manage to be everything to everyone?

"There’s definitely a general stigma that we have to overcome," says GM David Scherling. "We want the hip destination restaurant appeal and it’s difficult to change peoples’ mindset when you’re a three-meal-a-day restaurant. Our obligation is to get people to see this restaurant as a place where they want to eat." Chef Chris agrees. "We have to marry the hotel and restaurant cultures. The best way we can do this is to get people in the door and taste the food. Once we’ve shown them what we have to offer, we think they’ll come back." A good example is the success The Fish Club had with 25 for 25. People would have lunch one day and come back for dinner the next. Hooked.

The Fish Club doesn’t have the feel of a hotel restaurant. It has a family culture as opposed to a faceless corporate entity. Although Chef Chris had just arrived, he and David had clearly bonded. They see themselves as business partners; the entire staff looks out for each other. "The people here have a huge desire to learn and improve," says Chris. "On the culinary side of things, it creates a solid foundation for the restaurant." That warmth on the staff translates into how customers are treated. Second, food (flavor, texture, presentation) takes top billing. "So much care goes into our food," explains David. "We don’t pre-make things and heat them up. Freshness and quality is of the utmost importance."

An advantage of being part of the Marriott is being able to use the supplier Avendra. The company was actually created by Marriott and other hotels to take advantage of volume purchasing. They supply to a number of hotels including the Fairmont Olympic. Avendra purchases seafood and other products through local vendors. Beef comes from Harris Ranch in California. The Fish Club also has it’s own connections, for example, a mushroom farmer in Fall City.

Another issue The Fish Club has to deal with, and let’s just be honest about this, is that Seattle doesn’t open its arms to "outsiders" when they open restaurants here. Think Jeremiah Towers and Stars or Wolfgang Puck and Obachine. The Fish Club is a Todd English concept. Todd is from Boston, he’s good looking, has a following due to killer PR and TV appearances and is on the international stage. He has numerous concepts: Olives, Kingfish Hall, Figs, Bluezoo at Walt Disney World, Bonfire, Tuscany, a restaurant on the Queen Mary 2, English Italian and Fish Club. Exactly the sort of thing we like to turn our backs on. Of course, if he were from Seattle we’d be so proud.

Photo: Todd English

"It’s a two-edged sword," acknowledges David. "If people are familiar with Todd and know his food, they want to come here. For travelers, that’s a plus for us. And when he’s in town, our business spikes. On the West Coast, he’s not as well known, so we have the ‘outsider’ issue. The good news is that Seattleites are willing to try new things. And once they’ve tried us, they’ll come back. Todd English is recognized as quality, a notch above. As with any restaurant, we have to be hospitable and good managers to create that special experience in addition to offering great food. We had a solid opening in April 2003 and feel we’re slowly becoming a premier seafood destination restaurant in town."

"Todd gives 100 percent autonomy," says Chris "He wants the chefs to represent him—new food in the style of Todd English. Each restaurant is somewhat different, but the emphasis is on flavor. Of course, we’re cooking for guests. If we’re a seafood restaurant and they want steak, they can have it. But we’ll serve it to them in a way they haven’t seen before. We want to keep things new for returning guests. We have seasonal menu changes as well as daily creations."

"Todd is cutting edge," adds David. "We’ll send ideas to him and he and his culinary director will put a twist on them and send them back for us to try. Todd sends suggestions for the most part. They know that we understand the local demographics better. His brain never stops; he’s going a mile a minute all the time. He’ll be out for the evening and come up with ideas that he jots down on cocktail napkins and then faxes to us." Chris laughs. "I have some of those in my files."

With Todd English support, great food, fun atmosphere, good teamwork and an exciting new chef, The Fish Club should be added to your list of favorite dining spots.

Connie Adams/February 2006

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