“And the winner is …”

A packed house of restaurateurs, foodies, chefs and sommeliers waited at the edge of their seats during the 2008 Taste Washington awards ceremony in early April as the Washington Wine Commission opened the envelope to name the Washington Wine Restaurant of the Year.

“And the winner is … Brix 25.”

Not your typical Seattle restaurant attendees probably expected to win. Instead, the Brix, a quaint little place tucked along a hill in Gig Harbor, took home the prestigious prize.

As people noshed, sipped and listened to the other award winners that evening, back in Gig Harbor, Head Chef Dan Hutchinson and his modish crew rocked to System of the Down and Iron Maiden, their focus not on awards banquets but turning out Northwest-inspired meals worthy of the accolade they just received.

But, what folks in Seattle, and even in the Brix’s own dining room may not realize — the Brix crew hasn’t cooked long on this planet. The average age in the kitchen — 20. Hutchinson recently turned 23. His number two man — 22.

Old, broken down chefs say cooking is a young man’s game, still, no one in this kitchen even saw the early 1980s. Most of the men behind the Brix’s grill rose up from dishwasher with little or no formal training. Some plan to stay in the game; others cook as a means to an end. How can an arguably three to four star restaurant win awards and more importantly gain repeat customers when those behind the beouf bourguignonne and lamb shank are literally fresh meat themselves?

The answer: these cooks don’t know better.

Play date

Boys in a sandbox create and build while bantering around friendly insults to their hearts’ content. The same holds true inside the Brix. Generation gaps don’t exist.

Working in a young man’s kitchen has real benefits for the millennial generation.

“Older chefs are more opinionated,” says Sous Chef Ryan Ford, Hutchinson’s number two man. “Here, Dan is always open to new things. We try a lot of things.”

Zach Hassileu, 19, took 75 days of culinary training at South Seattle Community College and a stint in a Port Orchard restaurant, and landed a pantry chef job at the Brix.

“It’s laid back here,” Hassileu says. “It gets busy — and you get your ass kicked by the tempo — but it’s the best job I’ve had. It’s by far better quality food here, and it’s fun working with these guys.”

Fun, inventive, fast-paced, pride in the product — these words came up over and over in interviews.

“We’re all on the same page,” Hassileu adds.

And yet, chefs this young, some with no ambition to cook their entire lives, making food as good as or better than other places with more seasoned staff?

“I’m amazed at what we’ve done,” says Richard “Dickie” Hendricks, 19, the second sauté cook. “We compensate by doing a lot of cooking and by experimenting with things all of the time.”

Hendricks gives a lot of credit to Hutchinson.

“He’s a very good chef — and very smart.”

Leader of the Pack

Hutchinson spent his formative years in Ohio. He tried college at Ohio University where his mom works as a professor, going from pre-law to theater and finally out altogether. In high school he and a buddy experimented at home with cooking, always hoping to eventually open a restaurant of their own. Hutchinson decided to replace college with a food career, but after applying to the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, he learned he first needed six months of practical restaurant experience.

With family in Washington State, Hutchinson moved here to be close to nature. Not unlike the people now working for him, Hutchinson started with a dishwashing job at the Ram, moved to the line at CI Shenanigans and six months later landed a cooking job at Brix 25 under Jeff Bishop. Six months after that, Mark Womble sold Brix 25, and when the flour settled, Hutchinson was head chef at 21 years of age.

“I was in the right place at the right time,” he adds.

Hutchinson enjoys his young crew.

“It’s really unique,” he says. “There is great collaboration and a feeling that we are young and nothing stops us.”

Hutchinson tries to inspire his crew to take risks.

“I am really proud of them — I couldn’t do it without them.”

Letter from dad

Hutchinson also credits part of his success to the man that gave him his big break — Jeff Bishop. Bishop, a well-known chef in these parts, oversaw food operations at the original Il Fiasco and Brix 25, both under Womble, and now opens his own place, Il Trattoria di Merende, later this month at 9th & Pacific in Tacoma.

Bishop recently wrote highly of Hutchinson and his crew in a letter to the Weekly Volcano.

“I am very pleased to see that Dan and his crew are doing such a great job,” Bishop wrote. “I hear nothing but good reviews. Dan is young but he is passionate, loves what he does, and has respect for the products and those are such major pieces in the equation.”

Dylan Kane, 18, may best characterize what’s happening behind the scenes at Brix 25. The 2007 Gig Harbor High School graduate worked across the street at the local café but walked into the Brix to see about a job. With no real pastry experience, Hutchinson took a chance on him and together they developed recipes for desserts people pay $8-$12 to enjoy.

“Yeah, it’s kind of weird I am doing this and I’m only 18,” Kane says.

Weird, sure — but apparently that’s how awards and good reviews happen when you’re young — you don’t know you can’t do it.

[Brix 25, 7707 Pioneer Way, Gig Harbor, 253.858.6626]