Friday Harbor - Farm to Table Restaurant

Updated April 2017

A coworker at our hotel used to say to our guests, that you can’t find a bad restaurant in Friday Harbor, because it has to survive the long winter with us judgmental, spoiled islanders, so it better be good. Virtually all restaurants offer at least one island-grown, island-made or seasonal dish like Sundstrom’s lamb burgers, Lopez Island Ice Cream or Westcott Bay oysters.

There are a few restaurants though, which go beyond that. When you eat there, you eat from a sound, sustainable food system, you eat love for the earth, love for the craft of cooking, and respect for the animals and humans involved in the process, including us, the eater. They offer local, seasonal food, where everything from breads to sauces is made fresh, daily and from scratch.

One most remarkable among those is the:

COHO RESTAURANT

Family owned, located in a quaint, historic craftsman on quiet Nichols Street, the COHO Restaurant is open year-round and, most importantly for a little town like Friday Harbor, open on all major holidays. Chef Bill artfully concocts the freshest Pacific cuisine with a Mediterranean flair, and spoils with special chef’s dinners throughout the year.

COHO brings the Farm to Table movement to its logical next level with a Table to Farm composting project, partnering with San Juan Island’s Sweet Earth Farm.

They source local, seasonal produce from Sweet Earth Farm, Grover Greens, Synergy Farm, Mossy Knoll Gardens, and Blue Moon Farm on Waldron Island, all familiar names when you browse the Saturday Farmer’s Market. Hot weather produce such as melon, stone fruit and tomatoes are provided by Eastern Washington’s Mad Hatcher Farm, which is also the restaurant's source of poultry, rabbit and quail. COHO obtains beef and pork from Lopez Island’s Jones Family Farm, goat cheese from San Juan Island’s Quailcroft Farm, and oysters, mussels & clams from Westcott Bay Shellfish Co, a mere 20 minutes away.

COHO features local spirits from San Juan Distillery and wines from San Juan Vineyard.

COHO offers Chef’s Tastings every night from 5:00pm to 5:45pm, a 3 course sample meal and a bottle of wine for 2 for $70.