At McMillin's, the food couldn't get more local

Even in comparison to other bistros and their eat-local-and-slow-food mantra, it's hard to top McMillin's Dining Room.

Roche Harbor's fine-dining restaurant features spotted prawns and shellfish caught near the resort's marina — about a 10-minute boat ride from the restaurant, said Executive Chef Bill Shaw.

For herbs, organic vegetables, berries and even lamb, Shaw turns to island farmers five miles down the road.

For what he can't find on San Juan, he turns to farmers from nearby Waldron Island.

Talk about local. But this is, after all, a chef who grew up in Seward, Alaska, where he was accustomed to seeing Dad "go to the dock and pick up a king crab and put it on the front porch of the house" while his mother prepared the pot to boil.

For the past 15 years, Shaw has run this white-linen restaurant, the former home of John McMillin, founder of the Roche Harbor Lime & Cement Company. Shaw also oversees the resort's two other restaurants.

"I learned from my grandpa, an Alaskan fisherman," he said. "It starts with fresh ingredients. Our job is not to mess it up."

— Tan Vinh