[vjk800]

I have absolutely no knowledge of how well chefs in Seattle are paid, but I've heard from elsewhere that operating a high-end restaurant is far from a money machine.

Head chef, unlike senior software developer or something, is a job that doesn't scale much. A rock star chef in a posh neighbourhood is only so much more productive than a mediocre chef in cheaper neighbourhood so, economically speaking, the salaries are not expected to scale all that much.