Many chefs and restaurateurs in the Seattle area have their own take on the popular axiom “Eat, Drink and Be Married.” They work together. They live together. They’re life partners. They share a passion for hospitality, endure long hours and intense schedules, and rely on teamwork and collaboration for emotional support in a close-knit work environment.

Jill Kinney and Shaun McCrain at Copine, Luis Rodriguez and Leona Moore-Rodriguez at The Station, and Samantha Beaird and Aisha Ibrahim at Canlis are three such couples. They share their journeys of meeting, falling in love, and the joys, challenges and realities of building a marriage and career together.

Editor’s note: Aisha Ibrahim and Samantha Beaird announced last month that they are leaving Canlis.

Aisha Ibrahim & Samantha Beaird

Canlis

Aisha Ibrahim and Samantha Beaird lived mere blocks from each other in Northern California’s East Bay, but it wasn’t until a chance encounter halfway around the world that the two ambitious and talented chefs met and eventually fell in love. Married now for more than two years, they are the chef team that leads the kitchen at the hallowed house of Canlis, which will celebrate its 75th anniversary next year. Ibrahim is the executive chef, while Beaird serves as research and development chef.

The couple met in Thailand. Ibrahim was working at three-Michelin-star Aziamendi, while Beaird was apprenticing at restaurants around the country on her way to a permanent job in Australia. She never made it.

“We became friends and then we realized that we wanted more than that,” Beaird recalls.

Years earlier they lived in Oakland, Calif., mere blocks apart. They cooked at competing restaurants. Unbeknownst to each other, they would order coffee from the same cafe and do their laundry at the same neighborhood laundromat. Once, Beaird considered applying for a job at three-Michelin-star Manresa, where Ibrahim was the sous chef at the time. But they never met.

Photograph by Andrea Coan

“I think it’s funny that we used to live around the corner from each other when we were living in Oakland. Our industry is so small, and everyone knows everyone, Ibrahim says. “These circles are very tight-knit. I’m still shocked when I tell the story. It just tells you that everything happens for a reason.”

When they did meet, they immediately forged a close relationship.

“When you live abroad, you’re building your networking community with each other. You are each other’s networking community,” Beaird says. “She was the only person who could speak fluent English in the kitchen when we first met, so it was amazing to just be able to communicate directly with someone you know quickly.”

Many friends around them sensed the chemistry between them, but it took them longer to realize it. Ibrahim was the first woman Beaird ever dated. They were married in July 2022.

At work, they anticipate each other’s moves and needs. They address each other by the formal “Chef.” They are also each other’s biggest critics, preferring to exchange feedback in private, a side of them many never see.

“It’s really hard here because it requires anywhere between 30 to 40 people to operate this kitchen really well,” Ibrahim says. “(But) our relationship is the most important thing to me.”

Luis Rodriguez & Leona Moore-Rodriguez

The Station

Luis Rodriguez is a modern-day Gatsby-esque character whose confidence, charisma, and quixotic demeanor have sculpted many of the seminal moments of his life. Now 47 years old, Rodriguez — along with his wife, Leona Moore-Rodriguez — opened their second cafe last April, The Station Columbia City, which is part espresso bar, part wine bar and 100% community hub.

Luis’ magnetic personality and dogged determination eventually bonded the couple, who met as impressionable teenagers and locker neighbors at Nathan Hale High School in 1995. Luis was a junior from Baja, Mexico, on a student visa. Leona was a senior.

Gastro gurus Luis Rodriguez and Leona Moore-Rodriguez consider themselves educators as well as entrepreneurs.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREA COAN

She was rolling an infant simulator doll in a stroller as part of a school project to curb teen pregnancy when Luis playfully asked her who the father was. “She said, ‘He doesn’t have a father.’ So, I replied, ‘I could be the father,’” Luis recalls. “That’s how the whole thing started, over a baby doll.”

Circumstances worked in their favor. Luis’ student visa was expiring after graduation, so the couple got married. They had their first child in 2003, and their second three years later.

“We were just two kids in love in high school. We were sweethearts,” Luis says. “When we first met, I knew she was special.”

The original Station opened in the spring of 2010 on Beacon Hill. By 2017 it had outgrown its original location, and it moved across the street to Plaza Roberto Maestas. The Station Columbia City opened this past April in the Sonata at Columbia Station building.

“I remember going to wineries or restaurants and feeling ignored. I wanted to open a wine bar where I can educate myself and educate my community.” — LUIS RODRIGUEZ

From its origins, The Station has kept the heartbeat of its neighborhoods while pumping out musical beats. Dubbed the “Hip-Hop Coffee Shop” by regulars, a constant stream of music (from jazz, to folk, to R&B, to pop, to rock and to the eponymous hip-hop) fill the room at both locations. The Station hosts live performances, fundraisers, political events, wine tastings, local vendor markets, and other special events throughout the year.

As much as anything, the couple strives to make The Station a vibrant gathering place for people of all races. Building community is important to both — especially when it comes to the coffee and wine industries, where Black and Brown consumers are underrepresented.

“With both coffee and wine, I would like to educate Black and Brown folks,” Luis says. “I remember going to wineries or restaurants and feeling ignored. I wanted to open a wine bar where I can educate myself and educate my community. Every time I go to a wine tasting and I see a Black person, I immediately go to talk to them. It is important to make them feel like they are part of the culture.”

Jill Kinney & Shaun McCrain

Copine

Shaun McCrain of Copine in Ballard is a chef of few words. He lets his food do the talking, and it speaks loudly. Copine was one of five finalists in the country (and the only one from the West Coast) for the coveted James Beard Award for “Outstanding Restaurant” in 2023.

So, when it came to his early courtship of his now wife and business partner, Jill Kinney, his approach was likewise demure. McCrain and Kinney were on the opening team at the iconic Per Se in New York City in early 2004, where McCrain would rise to executive sous chef. Kinney was the maître d’. During the six-week pre-opening process the two would regularly sit next to each other when vendors visited the restaurant to hawk their wares.

“She kept sitting next to me,” McCrain recalls. “We all sat in a big banquet room. Jill and I would always just, as creatures of habit, sit next to each other. We would just sit in the same spot.”

They eventually began dating. This spring, they celebrated 20 years together, the last nine as a married couple.

Under McCrain’s watch, the restaurant reached the height of the culinary world. Per Se received four stars from The New York Times reviewer Frank Bruni, its highest rating. It won the prestigious James Beard Award for “Best New Restaurant” in 2005. In 2006, it was awarded three stars by the Michelin Guide, the highest recognition from the most revered restaurant guide in the world.

“I think that’s part of why we get along so well, and why the team understands. We’ve just worked together for so long, we kind of know how each other operates.” — JILL KINNEY

Kinney and McCrain moved to Seattle in 2010 when McCrain became the opening chef at Book Bindery on North Queen Anne. Kinney served as general manager for Thierry Rautureau’s Luc before joining McCrain at Book Bindery to run the front of the house. They struck out on their own with Copine four years later.

At Copine, McCrain and Kinney craft a different prix fixe menu each week. Together, they have created a seamless chemistry at work and at home.

“I tend to be a little more black and white, while Jill tends to be a little more malleable, a little more diplomatic,” McCrain admits.

As the diplomat, Kinney is more regularly the conduit between the back and front of the house.

Jill Kinney & Shaun McCrain

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREA COAN

“I always know exactly what’s happened all day long and I’m very transparent with the staff when they come in,” Kinney says. “I’m just making sure that the guys are understanding that Shaun has been doing a few more things besides all the stuff that he already does, and he’s been here all day long and putting out these fires. I think that’s part of why we get along so well, and why the team understands. We’ve just worked together for so long, we kind of know how each other operates.”

When not working, the couple indulge in dinners out at places such as The Peasant in Loyal Heights, Off Alley in Columbia City, and Atoma in Wallingford.

Kinney and McCrain are detail-oriented at work and at home. For their wedding, they each called a friend to witness their vows at the courthouse, then had tacos at Chavez (now Violet) on Capitol Hill.

“I think we’re just exacting people by nature, which is probably why we sat next to each other every day,” Kinney says.