[1] He is the author of Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen, which was named the Best American Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation and KitchenAid, in 2001.

[2] After relocating to Seattle, he started working in a variety of jobs from general construction to serving as a railroad car mechanic.

As of 2006[update], Douglas lives in the Ballard neighborhood in Prosser, Washington, with his wife and business partner, Jackie Cross, and their daughter.

In July 2020, he announced that two closures, of the Brave Horse Tavern and Trattoria Cuoco, would become permanent, as both restaurants were reaching the end of their ten-year leases and the future remained uncertain.

[10] Douglas similarly declined to renew the lease for Serious Pie and Biscuit in September, and announcements of Dahlia Lounge's closure followed in March 2021.

It is recorded on Tuesday mornings in front of a live audience at the "Hot Stove Society", Tom Douglas's cooking school in Seattle.