The life and times of John Howie

For anyone who grew up on the Eastside in the 70s, John Howie's work history is a trip down memory lane.

At 15, he worked as a busboy at the Refectory, a downtown Bellevue restaurant that was the McDonald's of lobster tails. I know I ate a lot of them. Sadly, there were health violations (a bit of bad news I'm glad I didn't know until now) and eventually it closed.

After three months in lobster-land, John moved on to Emmett's, a fine-dining establishment on what is now auto row. He started as a pantry cook, but within six months ran the line completely by himself on Monday nights. As he says, "It was very high energy." Keep in mind that he was still in his teens.

Owner/Chef John Howie

Black Angus beckoned next and he spent a few weeks as a dishwasher, then moved on to the position of fry cook. At the Butcher, another Bellevue icon, he spent two-and-a-half years working weekend prep and evening sauté. It's obvious that he was well thought of even then as he was allowed to set up the prep system and even added some menu items. Yes, still in his teens.

Longing for the big bucks, more than $4.65 anyway, at age 18 he went to Seattle to work for Jerry Kingen at Boondock's. At the same time, he worked at Sunday's (you oldsters know this was on the site of what is now Larry's on lower Queen Anne). He also spent several months working graveyard at the Seattle 13 Coins (finally we've found a restaurant that is still in existence).

In an unusually lengthy move for John, he stayed four years at Simon's in Tukwila, working as sous chef and in charge of specials. During the last year, Restaurants Unlimited tried to recruit him, finally successful in 1988. He worked at Triples, Scott's Bar & Grill in Edmonds (his first chef position) and then back to Triples when that chef job opened. He stayed there over two years.

And this brings us to the point where the name John Howie (to restaurant outsiders) became well known. Rich Komen, founder of Restaurants Unlimited, had a vision of Hawaiian hospitality in Seattle. John got the job of chef at Palisade restaurant. He stayed 10 years, increasing sales from $4 to $11 million (including Maggie Bluffs), staying true to the original Polynesian influence but taking it in a foodie direction using natural woods to impart subtle flavors to high quality food.

This is also where his plank cooking business was born. The original company that supplied planks couldn't keep up the pace, so John's ex-step-father began making them. He then started selling to others besides John, but came back to him saying he really needed a recipe book to go with the planks. Another piece of history falls into place. There are now two cookbooks, four seasoning rubs, seafood packs, several planks and a website, www.plankcooking.com.

Since his days at Sunday's (he was so young, let's just call him "Sunday's child"), John thought he could open his own restaurant. As he says himself, "It's a blessing I didn't get my way at that time." But after Restaurants Unlimited was sold for the third time, John really had the desire to be his own boss. In March of 2002, he opened Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar.

We asked John what has happened with Seastar that he expected and what has happened that he didn't expect. "I expected to make my own decisions and do things my way, and that has happened," he says. The other thing he expected was that people he had worked with over the years would come with him in his venture. That has also come true. Everyone on his management team is an owner in the business with him and the original team is still in place. Fifty percent of the original staff is still at Seastar, an unusual ratio in this industry. "I also expected success, but you have to realize that I started this process in the boom time of 1998 and had investors lined up."

What he didn't expect was that it would take four years to get Seastar open, a lot of money on design work for a Bellevue Place location that fell through and over a year in negotiations on his current location. "I really didn't expect that I would have to change construction companies one week before construction started, and I certainly didn't expect to open in the worst economy in 10 years," he says with a smile. "I spent over $50,000 in pre-opening marketing and it wasn't enough to even scratch the surface. People were barely aware that we were here." It also took longer to get sales high enough to cover the payroll. Many restaurateurs can surely relate to this.

With this kind of environment and the amount of really good restaurants in Seattle, we asked John how he avoids the pitfalls that often take others down. "You have to balance a love of cooking with business acumen; you don't succeed without both." He also keeps good people on staff by offering some things that other places don't. He closes on holidays and he has an annual crew appreciation meeting where great prizes are awarded. He also keeps things fresh. "Food ideas just come to me and we don't run things to death on the menu. If people like them, they stay, if they don't, they're gone. The menu changes every three weeks and the bar menu changes every several months. We try to create trends."

Interestingly, John's first restaurant was not going to be Seastar. He had a different concept that he wanted to locate on the Plateau. And why the Eastside anyway? John moved to Seattle in 1981 and to the Eastside in 1991, so it's close to home and family. He felt that a restaurant like Seastar was needed on the Eastside. Plus, and this may be the most important factor, most of his investors live on the Eastside (hey, we're realists).

John's next concept that will become reality is "Sport," a family sports restaurant in the Fisher Plaza near the Seattle Center that will open in January 2005. More than half of the menu is kid-friendly—Kobe beef burgers, pizza, New York-style deli sandwiches. There will also be fish and chips, grilled salmon and steaks. "I want the whole family to come and enjoy this place. We have over 50 high definition TVs, screens in the booths for close-up viewing, and a 120" high definition projection TV," says John. Decorations will rotate Hall of Fame items from different sports, and there will be "Seattle champions" memorabilia, both signed and unsigned. Plus there will be fun things for kids to participate in, but these will just have to remain secret until Sport opens. There will also most likely be additions to John's seasoning packets—Sport steak sauce and seasonings. Keep checking that website!

Like many other chefs in the Northwest, John participates in numerous fundraising events. Being pragmatic, it brings attention to him and his restaurants and his related businesses. Being charitable, it does a lot of good. Since Seastar has opened, the items/services John has donated to auctions and events have reaped over $700,000. He has a particular interest in supporting the muscular dystrophy group as one of his sons has a mild form of MD (he has two sons, one 20, one 11).

John has been the guest chef at the James Beard house four times now and a fifth invitation has been offered. It's a sign of what a perfectionist he is when he says, "I've never been happy with a dinner I've made there." It's a home kitchen and 90 people on four floors need to be served. "It's always an interesting experience, but I've learned to ship everything myself." Don't even ask about the time the two-day lobster reduction got accidentally tossed out 15 minutes before the dinner.

Should you be watching for a John Howie Culinary Empire? Smiling, John says, "People thrive here and want to grow. I have several concepts that I would love to make happen and that I think Seattle would like." I think we should take that as a yes.