Maria Hines

Hines was raised in Bowling Green, Ohio and San Diego, California, and she earned a degree in culinary arts from Mesa College.^[1][2] She worked in kitchens across the country and in Europe before becoming executive chef at Earth & Ocean in the W Hotel in Seattle.^[3]

In 2005, she was named one of the “Top Ten Best New Chefs in America” by Food & Wine magazine, and she decided to open her own restaurant.^[3] The restaurant was named Tilth, and it opened in Wallingford in 2006.^[4] Hines worked with Nora Pouillon and Oregon Tilth to have the restaurant certified organic.^[4] In 2008, the New York Times recognized Tilth as one of the ten best new restaurants in the country.^[5] In 2009, Hines won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northwest.^[6]

Hines opened two more restaurants: the Golden Beetle in 2011, and Agrodolce in 2012, both certified organic.^[2] The Golden Beetle was not financially successful and closed in 2016.^[7] In March 2019, Hines announced that she would sell Agrodolce to her executive chef, focusing her efforts on Tilth and on writing a cookbook and developing retail products.^[7]

Tilth closed in October 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.^[8]

In 2010, Hines won an episode of Iron Chef America, defeating Masaharu Morimoto in a battle of Pacific cod^[9] She also competed on an episode of Top Chef Masters,^[10] and she appeared on Martha with Martha Stewart.^[11]

Hines was a founder of Seattle restaurant week and is known as a pioneer of organic and Pacific Northwest cuisine.^[1] She was a notable proponent of Washington Initiative 522 which would have required labeling of genetically modified food.^[12]