The highlight of writing about Seattle’s restaurants comes in celebrating the people and places that bring us food and joy. When we lose any of those people, the job becomes a little harder. As I take the time to look back at the people in this industry that we lost this year, I try to focus on that joy, on the wonderful moments and mind-blowing bites that these absolute culinary forces of nature brought to our industry.

These are people whose restaurants and food not only delighted us over the years, but who pushed the industry forward, who saw how food could be a conduit for better lives—for themselves, their teams, their customers.

Sarah Penn

In an industry often dominated by the loudest voices, Sarah Penn quietly made an enormous impact. The cofounder and owner of Pair and Frank’s Oyster House and Champagne Parlor, and fairy godmother and partner of Pancita, passed away from ovarian cancer in January. Penn came to the restaurant world from film production and created spaces that imbued diners with the same transportive sense that great movies do.

Opening Pair in 2004, she created the casual warmth of a small-town French bistro, bestowing each customer with the feeling of genuine welcome. At Frank’s, a wink at retro-glam and trays of shellfish let even the most staunchly fleece-clad Seattleite feel sophisticated. Penn left with a cinematic flourish, using her hard-fought expertise and resources to give chef Janet Becerra the boost she needed to create Pancita—a rare public demonstration of the care and mentorship well-known to those close to her.

Justin Cline

Everybody loves an ice cream shop, and Justin Cline built an ice cream shop that loved everybody back. Cline passed away of a heart attack in March, leaving behind a community he supported tirelessly and an example of how a small business can make a big impact. Cline and his partner, Ann Magyar, opened the first Full Tilt Ice Cream Shop in White Center in 2008, after hearing neighbors speak up about wanting one nearby. A yacht-builder at the time, Cline figured opening a “punk rock ice cream parlor” would fill in his slow summer season. Instead, his pinball arcade and scoop shop combo expanded, growing to five locations.

Cline isn’t remembered just for the colorful flavors like purple ube and blue moon, though, but for Stout Your Abortion, Pints for Palestine, and the many ways he championed causes he cared about. The most punk rock thing about Full Tilt wasn’t the live music shows, it was Cline’s refusal to stay silent on controversial issues, even if it hurt the business.

Wayne Johnson

It takes a lot to overshadow a career like chef Wayne Johnson’s, but he managed to overshadow his own. Johnson’s time running the kitchens of major Seattle fixtures like Andaluca in the Mayflower Hotel and Ray’s Boathouse seem small in the face of his mentorship and leadership at FareStart. Johnson began volunteering with the nonprofit culinary training program in 1999 and stayed involved as his career moved forward. Eventually, the two merged when he took over as executive chef for FareStart in 2016. He worked there, in various roles, until retiring in 2023. Unfortunately, that retirement was cut short when he passed away in August from a traumatic brain injury due to a bacterial infection.

Johnson drew respect from chefs all over town for his thoughtful approach to both cooking and leadership, and his generosity with his time and knowledge spread that approach widely, leaving the city’s restaurant scene far better for his presence.

Tamara Murphy

Tamara Murphy spoke out loudly for what she believed in, fighting for LGBTQ+ rights, promoting unique Pacific Northwest ingredients, and advocating for the farmers who grew the food she cooked. The self-taught chef and co-owner of Terra Plata (which she ran with her partner in life and business, Linda Di Lello Morton) reached the end of the trail she bravely blazed when she suffered a fatal stroke in August.

As the chef at Campagne through the 1990s, then at her own restaurants, Brasa, Elliott Bay Cafe, and Terra Plata, Murphy showed the world that women belonged in the upper echelon of the industry and that Seattle’s restaurants belonged in the national spotlight. She founded two major fundraisers, An Incredible Feast and Burning Beast, both of which became beloved annual events—and a part of her legacy of championing Seattle’s local, organic foods, the farmers who grow them, and anybody else in her community in need of support.