Master Chef: Featuring Celebrated Chefs Amy Brandwein (Centrolina) and Pichet Ong (Hiraya) SOLD OUT!

Award-winning Chefs Amy Brandwein and Pichet Ong lead a very special collaborative class featuring home cooked dishes based on seasonal produce and pantry, highlighting the traditions of  the globally beloved cuisines of Italy and China. Amy and Pichet will talk about their travels, their shared common bond of all things culinary, as they showcase pasta making, braising and roasting, composing a flavorful dish of hearty vegetables — all prepared with a personal twist —  and ending by building a simple cake into a gorgeous dessert.  The class will include some hands-on cooking and ample delectable winter tastes. Complimentary wine and beer will be available.

Amy Brandwein and her flagship restaurant have earned many accolades, including James Beard Foundation Award finalist for five years (2022, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017) in the Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic category; nomination for 2019 Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington RAMMY Awards; 2018 Chef of the Year at the RAMMY Awards (2018); as well as previous RAMMY Award nominations, including Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year (2018), Chef of the Year (2018, 2017, 2016), and New Restaurant of the Year (2016), in addition to Rising Culinary Star (2007).Piccolina was also recognized as one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in 2019.

In spring 2015, Brandwein opened Centrolina to fanfare not just for her appealing approach to Italian cuisine, but also because of her business savvy and the then-distinctive position of being a sole female chef and owner. Brandwein soon realized her accomplishments meant she needed to play a larger role for the culinary industry: to be an example for women chefs to visualize and realize their own success. In 2017, Brandwein accepted the James Beard Foundation’s prestigious Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program fellowship. She earned additional scholarships from the foundation, as well as the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

Eating and cooking are Pichet Ong’s hobby and heartbeat. As a chef, Pichet combines fond flavors of his childhood and travels with classic techniques to create sweet and savory foods that are pure, whimsical, and experimental, yet nostalgic. His food can be found worldwide, from New York to Sydney, Istanbul to Beijing, Tokyo to Washington, DC. Pichet is a self-taught chef. He is a Top Ten Pastry Chefs in America in Pastry Arts & Design. He’s been named “Rising Star” by Starchefs, a “Pastry Provocateur” by Pete Wells in Food & Wine. He has been featured in Saveur, W, Elle, Vogue, Tatler, and O, the Oprah magazine. He headlined “The Chef” column in The New York Times for 8 weeks. His desserts have received multiple 3-star reviews in the New York Times, a Michelin star, and placement in Pellegrino’s the Worlds 50 Best. He is a 9-time nominee for the James Beard Award in different categories. He is a resident and guest judge on Food Network’s Cake Wars and Sugar Dome, Cake Wars, Halloween Wars, and Bravo’s Top Chef. In 2019, he was a finalist for the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef. During that period, he opened Mama Chang with chef Peter Chang in Virginia that was named best new restaurant in Washington, DC, and NiHao in Baltimore, named  #4 best new restaurant in America in Esquire and landed as a James Beard award finalist for best new restaurant in 2022.  Ong joined forces with legendary Chef Peter Chang and his daughter Lydia Chang to open Chang’s first DC restaurant, Chang Chang near Dupont Circle, which Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema declared “a joyous occasion,”  and instantly became one of his “ favorite places to eat.”  Pichet is currently dividing his time between Bangkok, producing farm bean to bar chocolate, Kad KoKoa, and DC, with the newly opened Hiraya, with chef Paolo Dungca.

PLEASE NOTE: Tickets are non-refundable. We apologize for any inconvenience.