Taste of Korea

Event Description:

3-time James Beard Award nominee and Executive Chef at Anju, Chef Angel Barreto brings his signature style of Korean food to Great Oak Manor.  For Chef Angel, striking a balance between traditional and modern dishes is core to his vision as a chef.

Chef Angel will educate guests during special tastings, hands-on cooking experiences, and group meals.

$500/person – Event Activity Fee Sold Separately from Room.

Highlights and Features:

• Group Meals prepared by the Great Oak Manor Culinary Team
• Cooking Demonstration and Tasting with Chef Angel Barreto
• Fireside Chat with Chef Angel Barreto
• Hands-on Cooking Experience with Chef Angel Barreto

As an Army brat, Angel Barreto spent his childhood moving around the country until his father settled into a more permanent post at the White House. Barreto learned about Korean cuisine from his mother, who loved to recreate all of the dishes from her time living abroad. He picked up her passion for cooking and enrolled in L’Academie de Cuisine in 2011.

When he graduated in 2012, Barreto cut his teeth at Vermilion under Rising Stars alum Anthony Chittum before moving on to Wolfgang Puck’s The Source. He spent six years at the Pan-Asian restaurant where he worked his way up to executive sous chef under Chef Scott Drewno. Barreto’s insatiable desire to learn more about Korean cooking led Drewno and his business partner, Chef Danny Lee, to recruit Barreto for a new project: a Korean restaurant named Anju.

Soon after Barreto helped open Anju, which serves “eclectic Korean cuisine,” accolades started pouring in. In 2019, the Washington Post’s food critic, Tom Sietsema, called him “a talent to watch.” The following year, Barreto was a finalist for DC’s RAMMY Award for “Rising Culinary Star of the Year.” In 2021, Washingtonian magazine named Anju #1 on its annual “100 Very Best Restaurants”

In 2020, he was a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s “Rising Star Chef of the Year” award, and months later, Food & Wine named him one of the country’s best new chefs. In 2022, the James Beard Foundation again nominated Barreto in two categories, “Emerging Chef of the Year” and “Best Chefs.” And this year, the foundation put Barreto back on its list, this time for Best Chef Mid-Atlantic. He is also a Culinary Ambassador for the United States.