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MoCA Asian Bistro, an Asian-fusion restaurant chain that is opening a 26,000 square hub in Westbury, has named Jeff Lee as its executive chef.
The hub will serve several purposes, including as a central kitchen and on-site event venue that can host and serve full-course meals to as many as 50 guests. The hub, known as the MoCA Center, is the organization’s “most ambitious project” since its founding in 2006, according to the company, which has locations in Woodbury, Hewlett and Forest Hills.
Lee brings expertise in a number of areas, including as an international five-star chef de cuisine, and with multiple executive chef experiences throughout New York City, as well as Asian cuisine experience he gained at his family restaurant, according to MoCA Group.
His most recent roles include head chef at Ba – Boldly Asian, an Asian fusion restaurant at Fairmont The Palm and at Canary Club, both in Dubai. His work at top Dubai restaurants began in 2011, when he was appointed executive chef at the OKKU luxury Japanese Restaurant & Lounge of the H Hotel. He moved to the Address Hotel in Dubai as chef de cuisine in 2015.
Lee expressed enthusiasm about his new role with MoCA Group at its time of expansion.
“After meeting their enthusiastic team and touring the fabulous kitchen of the brand new MoCA Center, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to move back to New York,” Lee said in a statement.
Lee grew up in the restaurant businesses, including at the one his family started in Queens after relocating from Seoul in 1998.
“New York was a huge revelation to me about what is possible in the kitchen,” Lee said. “Every country is represented in New York’s restaurants, and a trip to Japan or China or Thailand became as easy as a walk down the street when my family moved here. I became fascinated with the differences and similarities that could be found in the dishes of Korea’s neighbors.”
Lee was drawn to a local fusion restaurant led by a Japanese chef, Koji Kagawa.
“I realized how much care and creativity could be put into every dish, and asked to work with him so I could learn,” Lee said. “After running the kitchen at my own family’s restaurant, I suddenly became a student again. But it was a great decision. My apprenticeship introduced me to cooking and preparing meals with creativity and precision methodology. I learned to appreciate every ingredient and how to combine them based on their qualities. And I learned how to appreciate and combine different cultures, too.”
Lee developed a lasting relationship with Kagawa and other mentors, who increased his responsibilities over time, leading executive chef roles at several locations in Manhattan, including Vela, Maru, and Sushi Samba, before relocating to Dubai.
Lee said he is glad to join MoCA.
“I knew that MoCA had a very experienced team when I was invited to join,” Lee said. “MoCA’s top chefs have been with the company from the beginning, serving dishes that attracted more and more customers, growing from one to four locations including MoCA Center. They have built on success after success with their core team so it means a lot to be asked to lead the next phase of MoCA’s growth.”
The company credits its growth with a “foundation of perfecting dishes that our customers like while constantly developing new dishes to excite curiosity and adventurousness,” according to a press release. And while it says its dishes were “perfected over many years,” the company believes this is a process, with Lee aiming to take those dishes to “the next level.”
Lee described his culinary style as “precise, generous, fresh, inventive and comforting,” qualities that resonate with MoCA, the company said.
With that mindset, MoCA said it encourages diners to ask what’s new, as it highlights new dishes and menu changes.
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Image and article originally from libn.com. Read the original article here.