Canlis restaurant, Seattle’s iconic fine-dining establishment, is facing significant changes as executive chef Aisha Ibrahim and co-owner Brian Canlis both announced their departures, according to Seattle MET.
Ibrahim and her wife, executive sous chef Samantha Beaird, will leave April 8 to pursue their dream of opening their own restaurant.
Brian Canlis will relocate to Nashville in early June to work with renowned restaurateur Will Guidara.
Ibrahim, the seventh executive chef in Canlis’s history, has garnered numerous accolades, including a James Beard Award semifinalist nomination and a spot on the 2023 Food and Wine Best New Chefs list.
She and Beaird joined Canlis in 2021 after working in Asia. Their new restaurant will be in New York or Los Angeles, and Ibrahim plans to showcase her southern Filipino heritage.
Brian Canlis’s departure marks a major shift for the restaurant, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this December.
He expressed that his priorities have changed as he’s gotten older and now has a family of his own.
He will sell his share of the restaurant to his brother, Mark, and his wife, Anne Marie, but will remain on the board. Anne Marie Canlis has also joined the restaurant and executive team.
Mark Canlis acknowledged the difficulty of these changes but emphasized the importance of supporting his employees’ growth, even if it means their departure.
He highlighted the restaurant’s philosophy of “turning toward” one another, a concept now being studied at Harvard Business School.
The restaurant has begun its search for a new executive chef.
Despite the changes, the Canlis brothers, along with Ibrahim, have plans for menu updates and events later this year.
Mark Canlis affirmed that the restaurant’s creative spirit will continue, even without Brian’s day-to-day involvement.
He emphasized that his other brother, Matt, remains committed to his work as a pastor and has no plans to join the restaurant business.
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