Chef Danny Lee explored various careers, including musician, biologist and legal assistant, before finding his calling in the culinary world. Restaurants were the family business while Lee was growing up. His mother, Yesoon Lee owned Charlie Chiang Kwai at Reagan National Airport and Danny Lee worked there before moving to the kitchen at Rob Klink’s Oceanarie.
In 2006 he opened Mandu with his mother where they quickly earned the title of “Best Korean” restaurant by the Washington City Paper in 2010 and were recognized in the first Michelin Guide’s issues in Washington, D.C. in 2016 and 2017. Lee later co-founded The Fried Rice Collective with Andrew Kim and Chef Scott Drewno, where they opened CHIKO in 2017, a restaurant offering modern Chinese and Korean cuisine, followed by Anju which was names #1 in The Washingtonian Magazine’s Top 100 restaurants of 2020 and Lee became a James Beard Semifinalist.
Social Media
Education
- University of Virginia, 2002
Previously Worked At
- Oceanaire (Closed), Washington D.C.
Previously Worked For
- Rob Klink
Awards
- James Beard, Best Chefs, Semifinalist, 2020