Today we’d like to introduce you to Chef Bear.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Chef. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’m originally from Kodiak, Alaska. I guess you could say I had a normal bear childhood, devouring salmon in the summer and hibernating away in the winter. Everything changed when I lost my parents to poachers and was kidnapped to be part of a traveling circus. The circus ended up in Paris and that’s where I had my “awakening,” where I learned to walk, talk and cook.
Some artist friends of mine helped get me a job at a prestigious restaurant, and a fluke accident catapulted me into a chef position. I’ve been cooking ever since, all over the world and for some of the most fun and unique guests I could imagine. In 2011 I arrived in San Diego to create Cow by Bear and have been doing my thing ever since.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It most definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. Before I migrated to San Diego, I was stationed in Mexico City on a bit of a spiritual journey. I met and fell in love with another “woke” bear, Osa Bear, and it was us that created the concept of Cow by Bear together. We were caught in the middle of a violent battle against an evil cartel intent on exterminating us bears from the human world, and Osa and I both thought each other and died.
I came to San Diego broken-hearted and started Cow by Bear in her honor. Years later, Osa came knocking on my door (along with our cub Osito). It turns out she’d been alive this whole time! Silly me, convinced the evil cartel was still hunting us bears, didn’t believe it was actually her. I ran away as fast as I could, leaving everything I’d built – along with the love of my life and the cub I never knew I had – behind.
I ended up in Seattle and started doing dinners there under the Cow by Bear brand while Osa and Osito picked up the slack for me in San Diego. It’s a bit embarrassing to look back on now, the way I responded to that adversity, but it’s all worked out in the end.
We’re a happy bear family and now have multiple locations where we get to bring humans together around our dinner table.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Cow by Bear – what should we know?
We put on a “dinner party experience experiment” in San Diego, Seattle and Savannah. The experience is reserved to just 14 guests – whom typically have never met – around one table.
Our dinner is five courses with fine wine pairings, and of course, there’s always a few surprises along the way. I don’t really know what sets us apart from others… we like to call our experience “fine dining, wild animal style.” It’s an experience based around the dinners we’d feast on as cubs in Alaska, which makes it unique to us. That’s all we can do.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Other than Osa Bear and Osito, I have to give credit to all the humans I’ve crossed paths with, both my staff and those that have dined with me all over the world.
I’ve learned more from them than I ever could have imagined, and it feels great having friends all across the globe.
Contact Info:
- Website: cowbybear.com
- Email: bear@cowbybear.com
- Instagram: cowbybear
- Facebook: facebook.com/cowbybear
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