RENTON, Wash. — On the second floor of the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, chefs are preparing some of our area's best food for some of the world's best athletes.
The Seattle Seahawks Performance Kitchen is a next-level cafeteria serving players and organization staff. New menus are created daily, using guidance from team nutritionists.
"Coach says always compete, compete and be better than the other people and stay ahead. Be ahead of the other teams,” said Team Chef Stu McNabb. "Whether we're playing the Niners this week, or Arizona, I want to put out better, high quality food than they did."
It all starts with breakfast, and hundreds of eggs.
"I would say we go through about 700 eggs a day,” McNabb said. "80% of the team go to the omelet bar.”
The most popular order: a three-egg omelet made with yolks. There are also plenty of healthful banquet-style options, and twice a week the kitchen puts out specials like breakfast tostadas.
"We need to make it fun for them. What would mom do? How do we uplift what mom does? How do we do it better? Even though we know moms are the best chefs in the country - don't get mad at me, moms,” McNabb said, laughing.
Protein is predictably popular – they go through hundreds of pounds a day between breakfast, lunch and dinner. And some of it is prepared outside, in a Texas-built barbeque smoker delivered in June 2023.
"This is my favorite place to be right now. I could feed about 300 people protein just off of this smoker,” McNabb said. "They smell it at practice, they get all excited, they know they're having barbeque."
Perhaps the most surprising element of the VMAC's food service is plated fine dining – a new option added this season.
“I'm more of an upscale casual fine dining chef. Coming here, it's like a dream come true,” said Chef Quintin Tissot. "What I'm trying to do is bring a little extra something to the table."
One option: a dish made with pea puree, sea bass, lemon beurre blanc and smoked paprika oil.
"Anytime I put a nice plate out, they're like, ‘Oh wow, we're really doing it here,’” he said. “And that's good! That's what we want. We want to be the best in the league."
Fine dining is served once a week but the goal is to eventually plate it daily. McNabb said the offerings aren't just healthful - they can also help players expand their palates.
"I've had players tell me that they've never seen avocado in their life, and now they eat it every day on their omelets," he said. "The sprouts on the sea bass, nobody in a million years was eating that before."
The menu is just another way the organization is upping the game. We are what we eat, and the Seahawks Performance Kitchen makes winning food.
"The whole building works together as a team, just to have fun,” McNabb said.
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