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Seth Caswell, the former Emmer and Rye chef that closed his Queen Anne restaurant and, after a stint at Google, moved to Lummi Island to take over the Beach Store Cafe's kitchen, has moved on. Beach Store Cafe is under new ownership and is reopening in mid-November with a to-be-named chef and revamped menu; Willows Inn took over Beach Store Cafe's lease in 2013.
In other potentially huge, unsubstantiated Lummi Island news, Willows Inn may be looking for outside investors: Eater received a tip that the Pagliacci Group is acquiring Willows. A Willows rep tells Eater that it is "in discussion" with an unnamed investment group; a Pagliacci rep says that while the company is "enormous fans" of Willows and James Beard Award-winning chef Blaine Wetzel there is no official partnership.
