Johnny Courtney
Atoma | Seattle, WA
December 2025
In Cedar Crest, New Mexico, just outside Albuquerque, Johnny Courtney got his start cooking for his family as a teenager before landing his first job scooping ice cream. He caught the bug and jumped into a career in restaurants in 2008. After culinary school at Johnson & Wales University-Denver, he rose through the ranks at Chef Alex Seidel’s Fruition and then on the opening team at Seidel's Mercantile, where he worked closely alongside Rising Stars alum Matthew Vawter. Courtney then moved to Melbourne, Australia to cook in Chef Andrew McConnell’s Cumulus Inc. and Cutler & Co. After returning stateside, Courtney joined Seattle’s acclaimed Canlis, where four years as executive sous chef polished his technique and fine-tuned his execution.
In 2023, Courtney and his wife, Sarah, opened Atoma in a converted craftsman-style home in Wallingford, which was the former home of Rising Stars alum Maria Hines’ lauded restaurant Tilth. At Atoma, Courtney cooks with the Pacific Northwest at the center of his heart and mind. The à la carte menu flexes from snacks-and-a-cocktail to a de facto tasting experience, flecked with the likes of live spot prawns that are lightly binchotan-grilled after a brush of prawn-shell oil, wrapped in garden shiso, and finished with a kumquat-koshō aïoli with chiles and koji. Courtney’s kitchen runs on calm rigor, education, and craft. Beyond the pass, he supports FareStart, the Seattle Farmers Market Association, and local charities, aiming to grow Atoma sustainably while championing the region’s farms, fisheries, and makers.
