MEET ACCLAIMED CHEF MIKE EASTON

Four-time James Beard Award-nominated Chef Mike Easton leads The Kitchen at Abeja. Celebrated for his meticulous approach to cooking and his reliance on locally sourced, high-quality ingredients, Chef Mike brings a Tuscan-inspired influence to The Kitchen at Abeja’s prix fixe menu.

Easton's cuisine first gained a cult following at Il Corvo, a tiny, lunch-only destination that opened in Seattle in 2010. There, Mike famously milled his flour to make handcrafted pasta daily. Two James Beard nominations followed, first in 2016 and again in 2017. His culinary journey continued with Il Nido, an acclaimed fine-dining Italian restaurant in West Seattle that earned Chef Mike his third James Beard nomination for Best New Restaurant in 2020 before a call to a quieter way of life led him to Eastern Washington. He opened Bar Bacetto in Waitsburg in 2022, winning Mike and his wife Erin a fourth James Beard nomination for Best New Restaurant in 2024.

Originally from New Mexico, Chef Mike’s career in the music industry brought him to the Northwest in 1999. He worked part-time in restaurants to supplement his income as a recording producer and engineer before his love for cooking took hold. In 2004, he traveled to Tuscany to perfect his craft and has since dedicated himself to culinary pursuits full-time.