On Saturday, May 1, Seattle’s twittering food folks heaped congrats upon chef Lisa Nakamura, who had just announced she was taking over the lease at Orcas Island restaurant Christina’s.

You may know Nakamura from her stint at Bin Vivant in Kirkland, or from her latest gig as chef de cuisine at the Herbfarm, where she once had to create salt using water from the Puget Sound for the restaurant’s 100-mile dinner.

The new restaurant will be called Allium and it is slated to open on Memorial Day Weekend. According to the press release, "Allium [is] the Latin name for the lily family, which includes onions and their allies. For Nakamura, ‘the onion is fundamental to cooking, providing the base for multifaceted flavors and dimension.’”

The release lists the following as signature dishes “Puget Sound sole filet with duchilly hazelnut faro; Smoked paprika-braised pork shoulder with mango rhubarb salsa; and Jones Family Farm manila clams with local saffron aioli.”

I’ll be talking to Nakamura soon to find out more. Wonder who will take her spot behind the line at the Herbfarm….