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2026 Foodelicious Night

AANHPI Foodways & Culinary Demonstration

Join us for a standout AANHPI Heritage Month event featuring live cooking demos by DC-based AANHPI chefs showcasing diverse culinary traditions. Guests can enjoy samples after the demonstration.

Please use promo code FOOD2026 to register.

Meet the Chefs!
   

Rahul Vinod, RASA Chef & Co-founder

Rahul Vinod is the co-founder of Washington, D.C.'s emerging fast-casual Indian restaurant brand, RASA. A former Wall Street Investment Banker at BNP Paribas turned chef + restaurateur, Rahul grew up in the industry as the son of one of the nation’s prominent Indian chefs, KN Vinod.

As a child, Rahul continuously saw a number of barriers to trying Indian food for most Americans. This unique upbringing led him to partner with childhood best friend to fulfill a lifelong dream of sharing the Indian flavors he grew up loving in a more approachable way.

RASA has received critical acclaim including being recognized as the Best Concept Mid-Atlantic by Starchefs in 2022 and was named Best New Restaurant and Best Fast Casual by Washington City Paper in 2018, among others. He was named an Eater Young Gun in 2018 and was the recipient of the 2021 Rising Terp Award from his alma mater, the University of Maryland. Rahul’s support of the community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic led him to be recognized as a Thrillist Local Hero and a Local Changemaker by the Washington City Paper.

Rahul received his Bachelors of Science from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Operations Management. Rahul enjoys traveling and eating his way around the world. When not in the restaurant, he can often be found on a golf course.

Tim Ma, Lucky Danger Chef & Founder

Tim Ma is a critically-acclaimed chef and food & beverage entrepreneur. Growing up in a family of restauranteurs, Tim's family pushed him towards an engineering career as he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Masters of Science from Johns Hopkins University. After a successful 8-year engineering career, Tim decided to pursue his passion for restaurants and left it all behind - selling everything he owned and moving to New York City - to attend the French Culinary Institute, now the International Culinary Center.

Following an externship at a 2-Michelin Star Momofuku Ko, and cooking at the highly regarded Momofuku Ssam, Tim moved to St. Thomas, USVI to cook and formulate the plan for what would be his first restaurant. In 2009, Tim purchased a restaurant found on Craigslist with his last remaining credit card, remodeled it with dear friends and family, and opened Maple Ave Restaurant on August 15, 2009.

Fast forward to 2013, Tim opened his second restaurant, Water & Wall, to rave reviews and Maple Ave was ranked the #1 restaurant in Northern Virginia. Always on the lookout for a sandwich, Chase the Submarine - Tim's dream vision for a craft sandwich shop - was brought to life in November 2015. March 2016 saw the opening of Tim's first DC restaurant, Kyirisan, which offered creative Chinese-French cooking in a modern, home-like setting, winning awards such as Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand, and an annual recurring spot in Washington Post’s Best Restaurants Dining Guide.

Today, Chef Tim has opened a Lucky Danger in the Washington Nationals Stadium, and opening a whopping six more restaurants, including a all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant called Sushi Sato, a taco bar called Tacocat, pan-asian cocktail bar KATA, a flagship location of Lucky Danger with a mah jong overproof whiskey bar, and a second and third Any Day Now.

Shurou Pu, Toimoi Bakery Chef & Founder

Shurou (Annie) is a Chinese-born baker whose love for the craft has taken her from the pastry kitchens of Paris to the farmers markets of the DMV and everywhere in between.

Her training began at a culinary school in Paris, where she fell in love with the precision and poetry of French technique. That foundation led her to Maison Kaiser in New York, where she sharpened her skills in one of the city's most celebrated boulangeries.

When the pandemic reshaped the world, Shurou and her husband Gabriel saw an opportunity. Together they began selling Asian-flavored croissants at local farmers markets, and something unexpected happened. Customers didn't just buy her pastries; they shared stories. A grandmother who hadn't tasted pandan since childhood. A first-generation immigrant who recognized the scent of black sesame before he could explain why.

That spark became TOIMOI Bakery, the husband-and-wife business they built from scratch, where French technique meets Chinese heritage, in mooncakes, mochi, milk bread, and laminated pastries that carry the memory of two cultures at once.

For Shurou, baking has never just been about bread. It's about belonging. It's the way food holds nostalgia, bridges generations, and invites strangers to feel, even briefly, like they're home.

To request reasonable accommodations or translation, contact MOAPIA 7 days in advance at moapia@dc.gov or call 202-727-3120.

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