Seattle, WA
The Seattle Restaurant World Is Mourning Acclaimed Chef Tamara Murphy

On Saturday night, August 10, Tamara Murphy, the 63-year-old owner of celebrated Capitol Hill restaurant Terra Plata, died after suffering a stroke.
Murphy was one of the leading lights of a generation of chefs that defined Pacific Northwest cuisine. She focused on local and seasonal ingredients at a time when that was an unusual approach, and ran some of Seattle’s most influential restaurants, including the now-closed Campagne, where she won a James Beard Award; her first restaurant, Brasa, which also closed, and Terra Plata, which she opened with her partner in life and business, Linda Di Lello Morton. She was a legend and remained at the top of her game until her death: The New York Times recently named Terra Plata one of the top 25 restaurants in Seattle.
She was also known for her commitment to charity. She founded An Incredible Feast, an event that raises money for local farmers markets, and Burning Beast, a “culinary Burning Man” where top Seattle chefs cook in fire pits at Snohomish County’s Smoke Farm, raising money for the Rubicon Foundation, an arts and conservation nonprofit. In 2016, Murphy and Di Lello Morton were named Community Leaders of the Year by the Greater Seattle Business Association, a chamber of commerce made up of LGBTQ people and their and allies. When the COVID pandemic began, the couple started Food Is Love, which partnered with restaurants to distribute 38,000 meals to food-insecure families.
Murphy’s sudden death sent shockwaves of grief through the Seattle restaurant community, as captured by an obituary in the Seattle Times. In that obit, famed restaurateur Tom Douglas described her as “proud, opinionated, talented, thoughtful, fighter, dynamo, philanthropic, fabulous chef, loyal friend.” Smoke Farm director Stuart Smithers told the paper, “She was always thinking about others — how to help, how to make life bigger and better, whether it was an immigrant dishwasher, her community of chefs or a struggling nonprofit.”
As the Times recounts, Murphy was born in Pennsylvania, and grew up in North Carolina and Peru. She worked at restaurants in New York (Anthony Bourdain was once a coworker) before moving to Seattle in 1988. Once there, she spent time at Dominique’s Place, one of the city’s top French restaurants, before taking over the kitchen at Campagne (another top French restaurant). She ran the cafe at the original Elliot Bay Book Company in Pioneer Square and opened the celebrated tapas restaurant Brasa in 1999. (It closed in 2010.) After that, Murphy focused her energy on Terra Plata, opening it inside Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market in 2011 after a legal battle with the landlords.
Along the way, Murphy mentored countless chefs, among them Jim Drohman, the first owner of legendary French restaurant Le Pichet — he once called her “the hardest-core line cook I ever saw” — and Holly Smith, who owns the celebrated Cafe Juanita and who helped open Brasa. “Her trust in me — at that time and forever after — was empowering and shaped me professionally. A bright flame, so outrageously talented, with a stellar palate, and a breadth and depth of experience that she was open to sharing with all she met,” Smith told the Times. “She was everything all at once.”
Some chefs of Murphy’s caliber build empires, but Murphy stayed put at Terra Plata, establishing one of Seattle’s most well-loved restaurants. It is maybe best known for its secluded rooftop — a sanctuary improbably close to I-5 — with a garden that grows herbs used by the kitchen. The Greater Seattle Business Association described Terra Plata in an Instagram post following Murphy’s death:
At Terra Plata, we came to celebrate our birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings; we gathered on that magical rooftop to commiserate about the state of the world; we fundraised for countless nonprofits and candidates running for office; from city council members to Presidential nominees. Intense conversations and belly laughing stories at Terra Plata always were shared over mouthwatering foods from Chef Tamara’s famous homemade potato chips, blistered shishito peppers, famous roasted pig and those indescribable churros.
There were many signature dishes at Terra Plata, from those chips to Monday night paella, but the roast pig may have been Murphy’s specialty. In 2006, when she still owned Brasa, Murphy started a blog called Life of a Pig, which documented her experiences raising, slaughtering, and cooking several pigs. In it, she described something close to her philosophy as a chef, which cut against the molecular gastronomy trends dominant at the time.
“In an age where chefs are reaching to their chemistry books to create food from things that aren’t, I am reaching back to the farm where things have been mostly forgotten. I won’t be turning back… Perhaps NEW can be found in the almost forgotten,” she wrote. “Less than half of a generation ago, many more of us ‘knew our food’ and perhaps a new purpose for me, is to teach or at least inspire a NEW way to remember what food is about and WHERE it comes from. When we reach into the uncomfortable areas of food, we can find information about ourselves and what we as eaters, chefs and cooks are about and what we and the animals are capable of.”
Murphy suffered the stroke that killed her on Wednesday but was kept on life support for several days so her organs could be donated per her wishes, the Times reported. On Terra Plata’s website, it says that “a celebration of her life will be announced at a later date.”

Seattle, WA
Seattle Mariners' new identity is resilient and relentless

At 28-20, winners of 11 of their last 13 series, and with a 3 1/2 game lead in the AL West, the Mariners have been good. Better than expected. Better than most of the teams in the American League. Better offensively than they’ve been in years. Better defensively than they appeared to be when the season began. Better in the bullpen than they were last year. Better depth than we knew.
Seattle Mariners off to MLB-best road start with sharp pitching, timely hitting
The stats tell that story. Your eyes tell that story. At least through the first 48 games, those statements are all but indisputable. And with just six games to go before we get to the one-third mark of the season, it’s probably fair to say that it is no longer “early” in the season.
I don’t know if the Mariners can keep up this pace. I’m not sure if anyone does. But I strongly believe they are succeeding because of two qualities that often describe teams that see high levels of success.
They are resilient. And they are relentless.
I might not be able to prove either of those statements, but the first one should be easy to see. At one point this week, the team was without eight members of its projected opening day 26-man roster. That includes three members of their starting rotation, always assumed to be the strength of the squad. Sixty percent of the rotation! Thirty-one percent of the roster!
None of it has slowed them down. The “next man up” mentality is alive and well in this clubhouse.
But their resilience has been on display in other ways. They are now 7-1 in deciding “rubber games” of series. They have won five series after dropping the first game. Only once have they lost as many as four games in a row, and they responded almost immediately by winning four straight, on the road, including three against the excellent Padres.
They aren’t phased by late-game deficits. In fact, they have 14 comeback wins this year (tied for second most in baseball behind only the Dodgers), including a few memorable ones against the A’s, Astros and White Sox.
And it’s funny, but a whole bunch of those comebacks have come from their other great quality: their relentlessness.
The Oxford Dictionary defines relentless as “oppressively constant; incessant,” and that’s how the Mariners must appear to opponents. We expected that would be true of their rotation. It would certainly seem oppressive to have to face any combination of their top five starters in a single series and deal with the incessant pounding of the strike zone with a steady diet of fastballs and nasty breaking balls.
There was a sense that the return of Matt Brash, the return to form of Gabe Speier and the continued emergence of Andrés Muñoz would give the late innings a similar feel.
But I’d be lying if I told you I expected a relentless offense. Yet, it has been exactly that, thanks both to the approach and the depth of the lineup.
On most nights, the Mariners can offer a lineup with seven or eight players with an OPS+ over 100 (which is league average). Yes, that’s insane. There’s Jorge Polanco (177), Cal Raleigh (168), Dylan Moore (149), Leo Rivas (139), J.P. Crawford (132), Randy Arozarena (129), Julio Rodríguez (111), and Rowdy Tellez (107). Ben Williamson, Miles Mastrobuoni and Leody Taveras are not at that level, but all three have battled with competitive at-bats and contributed directly to huge wins.
And that is the other way in which they have been relentless: they simply haven’t given away many at-bats. There is no precise way to define an at-bat that was given away, but you know it when you see it. It can be characterized by chasing lots of pitches outside the zone, popping up, or rolling over on ground balls early in the count. What had become an unfortunate hallmark of this offense for the last two seasons has (thankfully) disappeared.
They take down ace pitchers, having won games against Tarik Skubal, Hunter Brown, Garrett Crochet, Michael King, Nathan Eovaldi and Max Fried. They’ve hung around in games long enough to put pressure on relievers. And even on nights when they haven’t scored much, they have offered a sense of hope that runs are coming because they haven’t given up and continue to work hard.
The Mariners may not maintain their currently pace of 95 wins. But they are sure developing the characteristics of a team that can do that and more. If these personality traits continue to define them, there should be plenty of meaningful and fun baseball ahead.
Seattle Mariners coverage
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Seattle, WA
Why former GM is 'big fan' of Seattle Seahawks' QB approach

Finding a franchise quarterback is arguably the most important – and perhaps most difficult – task for any NFL general manager.
That’s why one former GM loves that the Seattle Seahawks essentially gave themselves two bites at the apple this offseason.
Which NFC West team has brightest future? An insider’s take
The Seahawks underwent a major shift at quarterback in March, when they traded away 34-year-old veteran Geno Smith and then replaced him by signing 27-year-old Sam Darnold to a team-friendly three-year, $100.5 million deal.
But they didn’t stop there. Seahawks GM John Schneider also spent a third-round pick on Alabama dual-threat QB Jalen Milroe in April’s NFL Draft, giving the team a longer-term developmental option at the position.
Former Las Vegas Raiders GM Mike Mayock praised Schneider’s approach last week during an appearance on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.
“Philosophically, I love what they did, because very few NFL teams are intentional about the quarterback position, in my opinion, the way they should be,” said Mayock, who also spent 15 years as a draft analyst for NFL Network.
“So basically, it’s two moves. They go out and they trade Geno at age 34 (and then sign) a 27-year-old Sam Darnold. They pay Sam a reasonable starting salary that they can effectively get out of after two years for plus or minus $65 million and a reasonable dead cap hit. And then they draft a developmental quarterback behind him. So there’s a plan A and a plan B here.”
In signing Darnold, the Seahawks are hoping the former first-round pick can build on his breakout 2024 campaign with the Minnesota Vikings, which revived his once-disappointing career. But at the same time, as Mayock mentioned, the Seahawks structured Darnold’s contract in a way that allows them to move on after one or two years if he doesn’t pan out.
And in Milroe, the Seahawks took a shot at a rare athletic talent. Milroe still needs a plenty of polishing as a passer, but with big-time speed packed into a powerful 6-foot-2, 217-pound frame, he has a tantalizing skill set as a runner.
“I love the fact that, you know, let’s root for Sam Darnold to be who he was last year and continue to get better, but let’s also develop this young kid who had the best physical traits of any quarterback in this draft,” Mayock said. “And does (Milroe) need 10,000 reps and time on task? Absolutely. But (in the meantime), Darnold is there and can play at a highly competent level.
“I just think that John doubled down on it – not unlike signing Matt Flynn years ago and drafting Russell Wilson in the third round. I’m just a big fan of what John did there.”
Listen to the full conversation with Mike Mayock at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Tune in to Brock and Salk weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app.
More on the Seattle Seahawks
• Watch: Seattle Seahawks take batting practice at T-Mobile Park
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Seattle, WA
Seattle Mariners: Casey Lawrence returns, local product DFA

For the fourth time already this season, Casey Lawrence is back with the Seattle Mariners.
May surge: Five top Mariners prospects are red-hot at the plate
The team recalled the veteran right-handed pitcher from the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the second game of a three-game series in Chicago against the White Sox. Lawrence, 37, has made headlines this season because he’s been designated for assignment four times – thrice by the Mariners, and once by Toronto.
Lawrence is expected to pitch the bulk of Tuesday’s game against the White Sox after reliever Casey Legumina starts as an opener, per Seattle Sports’ Shannon Drayer. The Mariners signed Lawrence back on May 7, five days after he was granted free agency by the Blue Bays.
The Mariners optioned left-handed pitcher Jhonathan Díaz to Tacoma to make room for Lawrence on the active roster. Seattle also designated corner infielder Austin Shenton for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.
Shenton, a native of Washington state and Bellingham High School alum, was originally drafted by the Mariners in the fifth round of the 2019 MLB Draft and made his MLB debut with Tampa Bay last year. The 27 year old returned to the Mariners organization over the offseason in a trade from Tampa Bay for cash after the Rays designated him for assignment.
Díaz, 28, was recalled from Triple-A by the Mariners on May 14 but did not pitch in a game. He has appeared in one game for Seattle this season and seven with the Rainiers.
Lawrence has pitched in four games with Seattle and once with the Blue Jays this season, allowing seven earned runs over 12 2/3 innings for a 4.97 ERA. He also has a 4.91 ERA over four appearances (14 2/3 innings) with Tacoma.
Lawrence originally played with the Mariners in 2017. He is set to become the sixth player in team history to have three separate tenures with Seattle, joining Mike Blowers, Raúl Ibañez, Norm Charlton, Roenis Elías and Jeff Nelson.
Game 2 of the Mariners’ series against the White Sox is set for a 4:40 p.m. Tuesday first pitch. Radio coverage on Seattle Sports will begin at 3:30 with the pregame show. However, it’s been a rainy day in Chicago, so there’s a good chance the game is postponed.
Also right now in Chicago… pic.twitter.com/V7vZRog6Bh
— Shannon Drayer (@shannondrayer) May 20, 2025
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• Mariners switch-pitcher Cijntje wins minor league award
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• Savvy play by Seattle Mariners’ Ben Williamson gets national attention
• Drayer: How top M’s pitching prospects Cijntje, Sloan are opening eyes
• Brock & Salk: Seattle Mariners leading AL West no longer feels surprising
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