After three nominations, a local D.C. spot can now say it has a James Beard award-winning chef.
Susan Bae, the head pastry chef at Vietnamese fusion restaurant Moon Rabbit in downtown D.C., took home the gold with the title of Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker.
She was the only D.C. chef to take home an award from the prestigious ceremony in Chicago on Monday.
Bae called the nomination “surreal” in an interview with News4 earlier this year when she made it to the semifinals.
“It is such humbling and honorable moment for all of us here at the restaurant,” Bae said.
Pastry chef Susan Bae spoke with News4 about Moon Rabbit’s selection as a semifinalist for the James Beard Award.
Moon Rabbit offers an innovative take on traditional Vietnamese cuisine. Bae serves up mind-blowing pastries where she focuses on Vietnamese flavors she loves, often incorporating savory elements as well.
News4’s Eun Yang profiled Bae back in 2024 as part of her Food Fare series where she showed the process behind creating her desserts.
“Usually, I pick out one flavor that I really love and then just think about what works with this, how do I play on this?” said Bae.
She says she hopes people feel open-minded and challenged after they try one of her savory desserts.
“Once they try it, I think their open-mindedness is what I hope to achieve at the end of it,” Bae said. “That they’ll willing to go and try something that’s out of their box.”