Herbfarm Will Rise From Ashes

The Herbfarm outside Seattle, one of the West Coast’s leading restaurants, was destroyed two weeks ago, apparently the result of an electrical fire.

Surrounded by a 12-acre garden, including two acres devoted solely to the growing of herbs, the Herbfarm was famous for its fresh, regional cooking and the scarcity of its reservations. Tables in the converted 1917 bungalow were so treasured that the restaurant filled most of a year’s worth of reservations in one day set aside annually for customers to call in. Prix-fixe dinners ranged from $65 to $150 per person.

At first, the owners, Carrie Van Dyck and Ron Zimmerman, were afraid they would not be allowed to rebuild because the 11-year-old restaurant had been granted a “grandfather” zoning variance to operate in its residential neighborhood.

But the Metropolitan King County Council is considering a change to the zoning ordinance that would allow the owners to pursue their plas of reopening the restaurant with an expanded gift shop and a small inn on the property.