011: Seattleites You Should Know - Ethan Stowell

011: When I stared the newsletter I labeled the first episode 001. Having three digits was intentional. I’ve set an expectation with myself that this newsletter will go at least 100 emails. But in all honesty, I wasn’t sure if I would get past 6. So to be in the double digits now makes me happy.

This is one of my favorite weeks of the year. I love golf and this week is The Masters in Augusta, Georgia. I usually clear my calendar for 4 days to watch. But I have a lot more happening this week. On Saturday we are hosting our baby shower for our baby girl who is expected to arrive in June. It’s also my birthday on April 13th.

With the arrival of my daughter, I’m not really sure what to do with the newsletter, social media, or my business in general. At least I will get paid family leave even though I’m self employed (another reason I am grateful to live in Washington). I could just not send or post for 6 - 12 weeks. That certainly has been the general advice I’ve received. I’ll be forced to make a decision soon, or I’ll just disappear for a few weeks 😜.

The Seattleites You Should Know story has continued to open up new opportunities, that my previous videos didn’t. This week’s Seattlite owns more restaurants than any other in Seattle. For 20 years he has climbed the ranks of top chefs, and is now is one of the figureheads for the restaurant industry in Seattle. He invited me to his newest restaurant, where we made pizzas together. It was very cool moment for me. While sitting there talking, it hit me. I have come a long way since this all started.

— Conner Cayson

Ethan Stowell
^{Chef & Owner, Ethan Stowell Restaurants}

This might be my most famous Seattleite You Should Know to date. But Ethan Stowell doesn't care about being famous. He’s just a chef that’s trying to make his employees, and customers have a good day. I think he’s become the top of the food chain when it comes to Seattle restaurant owners and entrepreneurs. He has 30 restaurant locations under various names across Washington. He has been nominated for an uncountable amount of awards, and also won a few. He opened his first restaurant, Union, in 2003, and was on “Best New Chefs in America” by Food and Wine in 2008. He’s owns multiple restaurants in Downtown Seattle, including his newest, Bombo, where we met for pizza and had this interview.

Who is Ethan Stowell?

Ethan Stowell was born in Germany, but grew up in Seattle. His parents were kind of a big deal when he was young. They were Creative Directors at the Seattle Northwest Ballet. He talked about riding the number 7 bus from Capitol Hill to Downtown and Pike Place Market. Our city shaped his youth, and now as a veteran and leader of the industry, Ethan is the one shaping the city. 

He is mostly a self-taught chef. Learning from books, and practice. But he had some helpful mentors along the way. These chefs and business owners taught him about having passion for service, work ethic, making tough decisions, and even some technical insights on cooking. Now Ethan is the mentor. He has hundreds of people working for him. We hung out for a few hours and what stood out to me over and over again was his emphasis on the people. He credits Seattle’s other top chef, Tom Douglas, for showing him “The restaurant owners who are successful have figured out how to evolve to better serve the next generation of employees.”

He’s changed a lot over the 20 years of owning restaurants in Seattle. He says he used to be the yelling type. Whether a new maturity comes with age, experience, or something else, he approaches his employees in more healthy ways than he used to. Ethan said “I want to serve people, I want to be a positive influence. I used to be a yelling chef, but I learned that wasn’t as effective to getting buy in.”

Ethan Stowell’s First Restaurant

Ethan’s first restaurant opened in 2003 in Belltown. It was called Union. It was serious, fine dining. In 2007, he opened a more casual restaurant called Tavolata. He described it as “a late night pasta joint that was open until 2am.” Union closed in 2010, and Tavolata has turned into his most popular brand, with 3 locations in Seattle (Belltown, Capitol Hill, Fremont), and 1 each in Redmond, Spokane and Boise. 

Ethan thought he was a fine dining chef, but Tavolata taught him that he didn’t need to always be so serious.  He said “the customers were having more fun at Tavolata because it was more relaxed. Even though the food at Union was better, our customers were having more fun, and I was having more fun.” This was one of the turning points for Ethan and his career. He has embodied that spirit in all of his businesses since.

Making Pizzas with Ethan

I met Ethan for this interview and video shoot at his newest restaurant Bombo Italian Kitchen. It’s located in the new Seattle Convention Center called Summit. Like other ESR restaurants (sorry, is that right? Ethan Stowell Restaurants restaurants?) their pasta will be very reliable. Ethan invited me into the kitchen with him to make pizzas. So I’m associating Bombo with pizza after this. That was his first mistake. I am not a kitchen guy. I eat at a lot of restaurants, hang out in plenty of kitchens with chefs, but I don’t know anything about cooking. And I pretty much embarrassed myself back there.

Rolling out the dough... you’re fired.
Adding a light layer of sauce in a circular motion… you’re fired.
Add toppings to your pizza… you’re fired.
Slide the pizza into the oven… you’re fired.
Use scissors to cut the pizza… you’re fired. AND you burned your fingers.

I’m sure there were multiple moment where Ethan thought “Who is this guy and how does he have a food Instagram?” But he was incredibly gracious and fun. More sarcastic than I expected. We hung out for a few hours which was way more time than I expected.

BOGO Bonanza

The macro environment of restaurants is tough. There are rising costs everywhere. Wages, product inflation, rules and regulations, and delivery fees are only some of the factors that impact prices. We all are feeling it and seeing it when we dine out. When I asked Ethan about how he’s dealing with it, I loved what he had to say. “Our goal is to get people in the door, and make sure they are happy. By doing those two things, we will be successful. The first quarter in restaurants is always tough. So we decided if we aren’t going to make a lot of money in q1, we might as well have a lot of people in the door.”

That sparked BOGO Bonanza. I first noticed the plan in an Instagram video they posted. I think they were giving away a free bowl of pasta to each table that came to dinner on a Monday night. It was packed that night. So they did it again. And again. And again. It has been a big hit and they’ve expanded to a bunch of their restaurants (specials through end of April 2024):

Monday BOGOs: Bagels & Bagel Sandwiches at all Rubinstein Bagels locations, Half Off all slices at Ballard Pizza Co. SLU, Medium Pizzas at Ballard Pizza Co. Ballard, Frelard and Woodinville locations.

Tuesday BOGOs: Burgers at Red Cow, Bagels & Bagel Sandwiches at Rubinstein Bagels Redmond, Medium Pizzas at Ballard Pizza Co. Ballard, Frelard and Woodinville locations.

Wednesday BOGOs: Bagels & Bagel Sandwiches at Rubinstein Bagels Redmond, Medium Pizzas at Ballard Pizza Co. Ballard, Frelard and Woodinville locations.

Thursday BOGOs: Pasta at Rione XIII, Bagels & Bagel Sandwiches at Rubinstein Bagels Redmond, Medium Pizzas at Ballard Pizza Co. Ballard, Frelard and Woodinville locations.

Friday BOGOs: Bagels & Bagel Sandwiches at Rubinstein Bagels Redmond, Medium Pizzas at Ballard Pizza Co. Ballard, Frelard and Woodinville locations.

Saturday BOGOs: Pasta at Cortina, Medium Pizzas at Ballard Pizza Co. Ballard, Frelard and Woodinville locations.

Sunday BOGOs: Medium Pizzas at Ballard Pizza Co. Ballard, Frelard and Woodinville locations.

He also teased something called “Pick Up Palooza” which I assume is discounts on take out orders, instead of ordering delivery.

Ok that’s it for today. I hope you learned something new! The Ethan Stowell video will be posted across my accounts on Saturday.