icon Grill

There's nothing quite like icon Grill with its rose-hued interior—glass balls and an amazing amount of, well, stuff, everywhere. It opened in 1998, conceived and owned by Gary Dethlefs who did the interior design for Palisade and Palomino. icon tops them both for sheer bravado. About a year and a half ago, the facade of the building fell to the sidewalk. Amazingly, it has taken this long to finalize things, but within approximately eight weeks the work should be done and icon will be back to its iconic self. A grand re-opening is being planned (they have remained open the entire time).

icon interior, courtesy of icon Grill

The face of icon is that of Corporate Executive Chef/District Manager/General Manager Nick Musser. He signed on as the chef de cuisine in June of 1998 liking Gary's idea of eventually having 16 restaurants. icon opened in August and by October, Nick had been promoted to executive chef.

Nick's culinary background started in high school in Boise, Idaho, when he began slinging burgers. He majored in music (and still plays the viola). Moving to Seattle in 1986 to finish his music education, he got a job at the Rusty Pelican on Lake Union. He realized after a semester at the University of Washington that music was not his career passion. "As I've looked back, I've had to attribute my success to a lack of understanding of the system and youthful ignorance," he laughs. "It never occurred to me I might fail. I just threw myself into situations. What I learned at the Pelican was not how to cook, but how a kitchen was put together." Within a year, he was the kitchen manager and stayed until they closed in late 1990. "When it was closing, the GM told me I should be a sous chef. I didn't even know what a sous chef was but began looking for sous chef jobs."

Executive Chef/General Manager Nick Musser

He interviewed at McCormick & Schmick's on 1^st. Executive Chef Chris Keff hired him because of his "cocksuredness." "I told her that whatever she could teach me I could learn and apply. I stayed nearly three years and she taught me so much: she pounded home all the classics. I was a sponge. She was instrumental in helping me figure out my voice in the kitchen." The last year with McCormick & Schmick's, Nick moved to the Fish House on Fourth. When he was offered the executive sous chef at McCormick and Kuleto's in San Francisco, he turned it down to stay in Seattle. "Eventually, I felt burnt out and decided to wait tables. I worked for Dany Mitchell at Trattoria Mitchelli, Angelina's, Stella's and Jack's 24 Hour Farm Fresh Kitchen. I took art classes and worked for a year and a half."

Out of the blue, Chris Keff called him with the holy grail of kitchen jobs: the chef of the Beach Café, Monday-Friday with nights and weekends off. In 1994, as Executive Chef at Yarrow Bay Grill, she sent Nick and another manager to California to eat. "Upscale casual dining was coming on. Wolfgang Puck had opened a restaurant serving meatloaf. Chris continued to teach me how to cook and find my visual—the presentation." She left to open Flying Fish and Nick took the title of head chef overseeing the central kitchen for the three entities (Grill, Cafe and catering). He stayed nearly three years.

Six months after leaving, Chris called and asked him to come to Flying Fish. She was considering opening Fandango and wanted someone who could run the Fish on a daily basis. Nick turned it down, but Chris did not give up and he eventually moved. He helped them work toward receiving their 4 star designation, staying from 1997-1998.

In 1998, a manager at Yarrow Bay Grill who had hooked up with people at icon spoke with Nick. icon already had a chef and the concept, but with the potential of 16 restaurants, Nick knew he would have plenty of options. The idea of helping open a brand new restaurant with a concept that mirrored his own embrace of comfort food as the cuisine of his youth was irresistible. Little did he know how soon he'd be in charge of the kitchen.

"In 2001, Randy Tei purchased icon. He became my operations and management mentor and is a great boss. He and his partners owned 10 Applebee's locations in the Bay Area and he had great operational knowledge. He wanted to open five or more restaurants with similar icon features and menus." They ran into trouble with Krispy Kreme because of its ICON LLC designation. To avoid a legal battle, they agreed they wouldn't open another icon outside of King County. They took the comfort food concept and changed the visual calling it Zephyr Grill & Bar and opened in Livermore, California. "icon is more feminine," explains Nick. "Zephyr is more masculine with a lot of dark wood. It was easier to open because we didn't need the artistic bent it took to create icon. The Aroused Americana concept works in both. We opened in 2004. Livermore is in a neighborhood with regular clientele who like "regular" food. Seattle's menu has evolved as we have more tourists and have to compete with many restaurants, but the foundation items are still in place."

In 2008, a Zephyr was opened in Kent. "We thought Kent was another Livermore—a neighborhood. But Livermore is in a wine area and people in Kent were unwilling to pay our price. It was a victim of the recession. After a year, we decided to close." As the District Manager and Corporate Executive Chef, Nick had been traveling frequently. With Kent closed and Randy selling the Applebee's and focusing on Zephyr, Nick traveled less. As the recession worsened, Nick had to let his icon general manager go, taking on the role himself.

Optimistic about the future, icon will continue their traditional holiday events—Santa brunches (December 3-4, 10-11, 17-18, 24) and whimsical menu changes (click here for his wreath salad and candy cane cake recipes), as well as wine dinners, special brunches, Seattle Restaurant Week and a great happy hour. "We have embraced comfort food since day one. I'm always finding a piece of Americana I want to add to the menu, like taking our mac & cheese and frying it. It's become one of our most popular appetizers." Frequently you'll find Nick in the restaurant talking to guests. "I learned this from my friend Mauro at Assaggio down the street—you have to have the human touch."

It's still a treat to be in icon's atmosphere enjoying satisfying food, good beverages and talking to Nick. With its refurbished exterior and a lack of scaffolding, a new era will begin.

Connie Adams/October 2011