Owner and Baker Kean McIlvaine built her career cooking in some of Washington DC’s best restaurants.
Her love and talent for bread baking debuted and flourished during her five-plus years at Michelin-starred restaurant Rose’s Luxury, where she created and executed many dishes, including most of the bread courses, as Executive Sous Chef.
When Covid lockdowns hit the DC food industry, her life of high stress, long days, and nights at work became even longer and more stressful as she and her co-workers attempted to keep their restaurant afloat in a suddenly uncertain world.
One day, she was sitting outside a coffee shop after another night of far too little sleep, trying to ignore her body and mind’s constant cries for rest for a moment before returning to the building that she left only a few hours before. In an attempt to ready herself for the work day, she closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath and inhaled the sweet smell of bread baking in the oven. At that moment, happiness didn’t seem so far away.
She knew then that there is no better healer of any ailment or worry than the smell and taste of bread right from the oven.
