Kerry Sear and his family at the Farmers Market in Beaune ten years ago; Sear and "his" private jet at Boeing Field last year.
Ten years ago was a momentous date: seventh year of the new century, seventh month, seventh day. Market Day, as it happened, in Beaune, the very heart of Burgundy.
Furthermore, according to my rental car's dashboard digits, it's 11:11 on 07 07 07, the temperature is 22.2 degrees and I've driven 333.3 kilometers since leaving Paris. What does it all mean? That would be the coincidence of crossing paths with Seattle chef Kerry Sear.
Normally, he would be leading tours of the Pike Place Market, then returning to Cascadia (a much-missed restaurant in Belltown) to make lunch for the gang. But he was winding up a two-week vacation in France. At the market, he was seriously impressed with the richness of produce, meat and cheese, from $1.25 a pound on-the-vine tomatoes to the piles of foraged mousserons and girolles. "No big fuss about 'organic' here, is there?" he observes. "No need."
In Paris, Sear spent a day in the three-star kitchen of the George V, another day watching 14 line cooks prepare small plates for the 24-seat at the Atelier Joel Robuchon. Back home, it's going to be Urban: Paris with Paris-on-the-patio wine tastings in August, Rural: Burgundy in September. Inspiration, that's what vacations are all about, n'est-ce pas?
Well, Kerry Sear has gone on to greater things, and then even greater things. First, he left Cascadia and returned to the starched & folded fold of his alma mater, the Four Seasons hotel chain. (In the interim, they'd moved the franchise from the venerable Olympic to new digs at First and Union.) Rather than just running the kitchen, they made Sear the hotel's food & beverage director, in charge of the whole damn thing.
Then Four Seasons came up with a new luxury product, the Private Jet Experience, and Sears was recruited to become its on-board executive chef.
So he's feeding the 1% of the 1% who travel on this customized, 52-seat Boeing 757. Luxury at 40,000 feet, says the website, with fresh meals produced by Sear from ingredients sourced on the go. The latest trip was three weeks, westbound around the world: Hawaii, Vietnam, India, Europe, with travelers sleeping in Four Seasons properties along the way. $135,000 double occupancy.
At any rate, the 757 spent a day in Seattle last year, and we checked in with Sear, who reported that he's having the time of his life.
And to update this post: the results of the Travel + Leisure rankings: TCS Travelnamed "world's number one luxury tour operator". Bravo, Kerry!
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