In the D.C. region, conversations often start with, “What do you do?” WTOP’s series “Working Capital” profiles the people doing the work that makes the region unique.
“You are catering to a standard that exceeds anything you’re used to, especially when you come up in Silver Spring,” said Sharpe, recounting the two years he spent cooking for members of the Saudi royal family when he was in his 20s.
He got the job when a friend of his lured him away from a restaurant in Georgetown to a private catering company that specialized in cooking on private jets.
“That’s where we met the prince,” summed up Sharpe. “The prince came in and he told us we were the best catering company in the world. Chef called me one day, he’s like, ‘Look, I got a job. You want a job?’ Next day, I was on a flight to LA with them, and I never turned back.”
From Los Angeles he would go on to travel to Riyadh, Japan and France. He visited nearly every continent except, for some reason, Sharpe said never made it to South America. He particularly loved Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
“It was a completely different world,” he explained. “I had a little five by five kitchen, and as soon as the wheels went up, I was cooking.”
When you’re at altitude, it takes water longer to boil and food in general needed longer time to bake. He did all the shopping ahead of time, and as you would imagine, cost was never a consideration.
“So they say, ‘Hey, we’ve got 75 people. We’re flying to Morocco tomorrow. Wheels up at 2 o’clock. Put a menu together,’” he recounted. “Then you kind of go off the needs of the people you’re with. They’ll give you a profile of who you’re cooking for.
“So it kept me on my toes, and you only had a few hours to turn it around,” he added.
“If somebody’s favorite dish was spaghetti Bolognese, I would actually get to go to one of the palaces and worked with the chef in there, and he would show me how to make that dish for the prince,” Sharpe said. “And if I didn’t make it correctly, I was in trouble. But I spent the whole day learning how to make spaghetti Bolognese his way.”
He never ran anything by special taste testers first, or anything like that. And over time, the number of complaints he got about a dish not being prepared the right way would decline. But the excitement and the spontaneity, did not.
“You never knew where you were going,” Sharpe said. “That 30 days you’re on call, you’re ready to go at a moment’s notice.”
He flew with kings, queens, presidents, he said he even flew with Nelson Mandela. It was two incredible years of jet setting in his 20s that few could imagine.
“You’re talking life-altering,” Sharpe said. “Just a shock, culture shock as well. Because I’m a local kid. I’m from the area, so it was really great to see the world, to get paid to see the world was amazing.”
‘The royal family was a cakewalk’
Today, he oversees meals for the older adults who live in the building. The kitchen is much bigger and the recipes naturally have to be a little different.
“You’re doing a lot more low sodium. You’re doing things that are a little healthier — less sugars,” he said. “You’re catering to a population that has that has specific needs, and you have to be able to meet those needs, because their health, and well-being is important.”
And how do the expectations of those seniors compare to the royal family?
“Compared to the royal family? The royal family was a cakewalk,” he said with a smile and eventually a laugh. “The standards in here are a lot different. They know what they want, they say what’s on their mind, and they don’t mince words. They’ll tell you if they don’t like something.”
He lasted two years with the royals living a life that can’t be sustained when you have a wife and kids. He’s spent the last 15 years in Chevy Chase.
“I was looking for a place to land, and seniors, older adults — it was always something in the back of my mind that I had a passion for,” he said. “So when this opportunity opened up, I jumped all over it.”
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