One look at this highly praised chef makes the question he always gets predictable. Almost everyone wants to know why the triple James Beard Foundation Award nominee of Black and Puerto Rican heritage cooks Korean cuisine.
“It’s always about passion. I tell people it’s something that I love. I love the food and the culture. I never tell people I’m an expert on Korean food. I’m a student of Korean food, and every single day I learn and ask questions,” says Angel Barreto III, chef and partner of Anju restaurant in Washington, D.C.
Passion for Korean Food
The talented chef can’t help but wonder why people are so surprised at his passion for Korean food. In his mind, it should be evident that love for the craft inspires any professional to excel in their chosen field, regardless of race or ethnic background. “My goal is essentially to be a propagator of Korean food, to explain Korean food to people and to do my due diligence in learning about Korean food,” states Barreto.
As the son of parents who served in the U.S. military, Barreto grew up eating Korean food on an American base in South Korea and in his mother’s kitchen. “She really enjoyed a lot of Korean dishes and talked about Korean food at home. “One of my mom’s favorite dishes was budae jjigae. It is a Korean soup called Army stew. It has ramen noodles, hot dogs and kimchi,” the chef says. “It is a really rich stew they had on military bases at the time, eaten by Americans and Koreans.
Besides sharing their love of travel and different cultures, Gloria and Angel Barreto II taught their son not to let the perceptions of others define who he is or what he could do in life. The co-owner of the celebrated Anju restaurant never planned to be a chef. His dad worked at the White House, and Barreto thought he wanted to follow his father’s career path into international relations.
A short stint as an intern at a lobbying firm changed his mind. “I talked to a friend about it and told him I wanted to go to culinary school. I went to L’Academie de Cuisine in Maryland and studied French food. I thought it was a good foundation for gaining knowledge about cooking,” he adds.
After graduating in 2012, Barreto began to explore his interest in Asian cuisine. He joined the staff of The Source, Wolfgang Puck’s first restaurant venture in D.C. and worked his way up from cook to executive sous chef. His cooking skills earned him the chance to serve a seasonal six-course Korean tasting menu at the Source. “It was like a chef’s counter. The guests sat in front of me. We were doing Korean-style barbecue dishes at the table. It was super fun and interactive,” Barreto recalls.
The response to his Korean tasting menu sparked Source executive chef Scott Drewno to offer Barreto a position with the Fried Rice Collective. In 2017, Drewno and his partner, Danny Lee, opened CHIKO, a fast-casual Chinese/Korean eatery.
They also had plans for Anju, a full-service Korean restaurant. Barreto was CHIKO’s corporate chef and did catering while developing recipes for Anju. “I wrote over 65 recipes for the restaurant to start. I was instrumental in creating all the menus and building the directions for the food along with my partners,” says the chef.
Barreto became a partner in Anju a year ago, partly because of the critical acclaim for the restaurant when it opened at 1805 18th Street, NW, in 2019. “We had lines around the block of people trying to get in. The feedback was initially very, very good. We got a three-star review from the Washington Post,” recalls the restaurateur.
The next year, Washingtonian magazine named Anju #1 on its annual “100 Very Best Restaurants” list and it is still on the list at #13. The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) gave Baretto the 2020 RAMMY for Rising Culinary Star of the Year. Anju was also a finalist for the 2023 RAMMY Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year.
Continue reading over at Cusine Noir.
By Phyllis Amstrong
Cuisine Noir Magazine is the country’s first Black food publication, launched in 2009 and dedicated to connecting the African diaspora through food, drink and travel. To read the rest of this article and more, visit www.cuisinenoirmag.com.
