W Hotel's Earth & Ocean Shutters, Welcome TRACE

W Seattle announced last week that it will close restaurant Earth & Ocean and all of the first floor public spaces for a major renovation. When the rehaul is completed in March 2012, new restaurant TRACE will replace Earth & Ocean. Other TRACE restaurants can be found at the W hotels in Austin and San Francisco.

In its heyday, roughly bookended by Johnathan Sundstrom helming the kitchen beginning in 2000 and Maria Hines taking over between 2003 and 2005, Earth & Ocean became a destination restaurant. During Hines' tenure at E&O, cook Brian McCracken met cook Dana Tough, and the rest as they say is recent history.

In conjunction with Seattle W's "renovation/RE-WONDER", a trivia contest is being held, where the grand prize is a swanky trip to Paris. Details appear on W Seattle's Facebook Page.

· All Shutter Coverage on Eater Seattle [-ESEA-]

[Photo: W Seattle]