Former Canlis Executive Sous Chef Kickstarting Port Townsend Restaurant

Former Canlis executive sous chef Deborah Taylor and husband Scott Ross are bringing some serious Seattle restaurant pedigree to their forthcoming Port Townsend restaurant, Finistére, which could help them complete their Kickstarter campaign and open at the end of August. To help with the final push of funding, the duo are hoping to raise $25,000 for purchasing glassware and chairs, as well as for “working capital.”

Finistére, which means “end of the land” in Latin, will feature ingredients from the Olympic Peninsula, like shellfish, cider, and produce from farms in the area. Seafood will be the main focus, and Taylor says she hopes to plant a culinary garden in the future. The restaurant, replacing Sweet Laurette’s at 1025 Lawrence Street, will serve dinner and brunch.

“There is such an abundance of farms and producers here, it’s really a special place,” says Taylor, who most recently finished a two-year run as executive chef at Ethan Stowell’s Staple and Fancy and has also worked at heavy hitters Eleven Madison Park and Per Se. Ross, who will oversee the front of house, brings an impressive background of his own, with experience at Tilth and the Four Seasons.

No doubt Taylor would like to join the elite ranks of Washington’s remote-destination restaurants like The Willows Inn, Aelder, and Ursa Minor — which, astute readers will recall, completed its own very similar $25,000 Kickstarter campaign this spring before opening. Finistére will track its progress via its Facebook page.