Olympia native’s meandering path leads to James Beard Award top honors

The James Beard Awards aren’t as well known as the Oscars, but they are the culinary equivalent — and Maxine Peabody, born and raised in Olympia, is a key player in the Philadelphia restaurant that took top honors in June.

Peabody, the daughter of Olympia musicians Vince Brown and Monica Peabody, is the general manager of Friday Saturday Sunday, which was chosen Outstanding Restaurant by a national group of experts.

“It was very surreal — crazy,” Peabody said. “None of us wanted to think we were going to win because we didn’t want to curse it. … We didn’t make a plan for if we won.”

The small restaurant, owned by Chad and Hanna Williams, serves a seasonal eight-course tasting menu, with a la carte options only in the bar. Current dishes include grilled quail with curried liver paté, crispy sweetbreads with egg-yolk jam, and Meyer lemon semifreddo, a frozen dessert made with cream and egg yolks.

“At the end of the meal, before dessert, we serve a tea that’s basically made from all the vegetables we used that night,” Chad Williams told Philadelphia Magazine in June. “We do some things that are fun to eat with your hands. … Not all fine dining needs to be with a knife and fork.”

The couple opened Friday Saturday Sunday in 2016, keeping the name of the venerable restaurant that previously occupied the space and changing just about everything else. They switched to a tasting menu when they were allowed to reopen after the pandemic lockdown. At the time, they could seat just eight people in the dining room, which normally holds 36.

Peabody started work at the restaurant in 2017 and now oversees the front of house — basically, everything but the kitchen, which is chef Chad Williams’ domain.

She found recognition not by having a career goal but simply by following what appealed to her, moving from barista at San Francisco Street Bakery and Olympia Coffee Roasting Co., to bartender, to restaurant host and beyond.

“I’ve never had one defining life plan for myself,” she told The Olympian. “When I was younger, I never imagined myself as an adult. … I kept trying things out.”

Her parents were on her side every step of the way.

“They’ve always been my number-one supporters,” she said. “They have allowed me to live a life that is not traditional and maybe not always going with what other people would think is the right path. Their support has led me to building a pretty cool life.”

She graduated from Olympia High School in 2008, but she didn’t spend all that much time there. “I unschooled in freshman year,” she said. “I read ‘The Teenage Liberation Handbook,’ and my parents were very supportive. They are very classic Olympia.”

Peabody designed her own curriculum that year, then returned to public school in sophomore year because she missed her friends. As a junior and senior, she did Running Start classes at South Puget Sound Community College.

“Once I was back in school, I was very much into getting good grades and working very hard,” she said. “Running Start is a lot harder than high school, because we were taking college classes.”

She looked at colleges and then decided to take a year off. That year never ended. She initially imagined staying in Philadelphia for just a short time, too, but now it’s been more than a decade.

Her work at Friday Saturday Sunday started as a part-time job and just kept on growing.

“It was a natural progression, where I kept asking for more responsibility and Hanna kept finding more things for me to do,” Peabody said. “I became her assistant manager, and in 2020, when (Hanna and Chad) had their baby, I was promoted to general manager.

“It’s a funny story,” she added. “I never really thought I would go into management. I was content bartending, but it just worked out that way.”

Since the Beard awards were presented last month, things have changed at Friday Saturday Sunday. Reservations are filling as soon as they open, Peabody said, and most bar customers are committing to the full tasting menu.

The Williamses plan to start more restaurants — and that means new opportunities ahead on Peabody’s meandering path.

“We’re definitely going to build on that momentum,” she said. “We have plans to open other spots, which I would love to be a part of. We have a lot of staff that has been here since day one, and I see a lot of us taking this opportunity to grow within the company.”