Daniel Bear's culinary interests started at a very young age. His father, through his worldly travels and experiences, developed quite the knack for cooking, which he passed on to his second son. Daniel recalls at the early age of 8, standing next to his father as he was shown "the secret ingredients" to the richest spaghetti sauce ever. He took his ambitious work ethic, and love of cooking into the restaurant industry at the age of 13, starting as a dishwasher at a local restaurant in Hudson, WI where he grew up. He quickly moved up the ranks, as a prep cook by the age of 15, and by 16, he was cooking food on a large scale for weddings through a catering company in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. Daniel never stopped progressing. His mother purchased a very busy cafe in Hudson when he was 19, and after observing his hard work keen ability in dealing with customers, he was asked to take a general manager position. After a couple of years as manager, he decided to expand by founding a small division of the cafe, St. Croix Catering & Banquet Company, the first exclusively catering service in Hudson at that time. His regular clients included a large local concert hall, in which he provided all concessions for concerts and plays. To his regret, his mother sold her cafe, shortly after his starting the catering division, forcing him to return to the kitchen. He quickly dove into the world of fine dining restaurants, making the rank of Sous Chef at Twisted Grille, a popular restaurant in Hudson at that time, which specialized in casual ecclectic American cuisine. Daniel went on to several different ventures in Hudson to expand his knowledge and experience, including a high end country club. As the economy took a turn for the worse, Hudson's restaurant industry got hit especially hard. Forseeing what the grim job opportunities would soon be, he took a leap of faith, and he packed his bags and moved to Madison in August of 2008. Well aware of the number of restaurants existing in Madison, and their importance in Madisonian culture, he knew he would have no troubles progressing his career. He has worked at several restaurants in town since moving, including Talula on the east side and The Madison Club, a very high-end private club. Most memorable for him though, is his time he spent at Captain Bill's Seafood Company in Middleton. He started first as a saute cook, and was then promoted to the position of sous chef. His favorite part he says was,
"advancing my knowledge of seafood. Before I worked there, my knowledge of and skills in working with seafood such as filleting fish was very novice. Now I am fluent in disassembling a wide variety of fish, including rare or strange species such as monk fish. I can also shuck an oyster in just a few seconds at most. That job really benefitted my career skills."
