MEET THE CHEF
Asiate Chef de Cuisine Chef Angie Berry developed her passion for cooking early in life,
combining her talent for art with her love of fresh flavors to produce sought-after and celebrated cuisine.
BY LANEE LEE
W
hat do a simple girl from Galveston Island, Texas, and a renowned
New York City restaurant have in common? More than one would
guess. In fact, this self-proclaimed country girl is at the helm of Mandarin
Oriental, New York’s Asiate restaurant and finds it the perfect match for her
culinary inspirations. Meet Chef de Cuisine Angie Berry.
FARM-TO-TABLE BEGINNINGS
Some of Berry’s earliest and fondest childhood
memories were centered on food. Living on the Gulf
of Mexico in a fishing community, she would check
the family’s crab traps in the backyard before going to
school. After school, she’d be out shrimping and oyster-
ing with her dad.
On the weekends, she went to her grandparent’s
farm in the country, where she helped out in the garden
or kitchen. Her grandparents, as Berry touts, were do-
ing the farm-to-table eons before it was trendy. “I loved
my grandmother’s cooking. Everything was made from
scratch,” Berry says.
In fact, grandma’s cooking was monumentally in-
fluential in Berry’s life. When asked who her greatest mentor is in the kitch-
en is, she proudly names her grandmother. Favorite meal? Berry prefaces the
answer with, “Remember, they lived in the country and they went hunting.
But I have to say my favorite meal of my grandmother’s was squirrel and
dumplings. And it was good!”
THE CULINARY PATH
Although an appreciation for cuisine was deeply rooted within Berry,
she chose to pursue art instead. While she was studying to become an art
therapist at University of Texas at Austin, an unusual pastime for a 19 year-
old college student took shape.
She began throwing seven-course dinner parties for her friends. Foie
gras. Oysters. Truffles. Berry spared no expense at these elegant affairs in her
tiny apartment. With a grin on her face she says, “I couldn’t afford to throw
these parties as a college student, but I just got addicted to food.”
In reality, this hobby started more than decade before. Growing up in a
home with a working mother, meals were simple and quick, like meatloaf or
tacos. Eight-year old Berry decided to help out by making the family dinner.
She consulted a Betty Crocker cookbook and found a recipe that sounded
exotic and elegant—beef stroganoff. “I laugh about it now, but I remember
being so proud of that dish because I thought it was ‘fancy,’ ” Berry recalls.
And it was the fanciful nature of these student feasts that prompted a
friend to plant the culinary school seed in Berry’s mind. Within no time,
she dropped out of art school, trading paintbrushes for paring knives, and
enrolled in the culinary arts program of The Art Institute
of Houston. “Everything just fell in place. I didn’t choose
a culinary career, it chose me,” says Berry in a quiet, but
unabashedly joyous tone.
After graduating from culinary school in 2000, chef
Berry headed for America’s capital of culinary: New York
City. She did not have a job secured but simply went
equipped with her newly earned degree and a dream to
work for Gotham Bar and Grill. She accomplished her
goal and got hired on, working tirelessly in the competi-
tive, male-dominated kitchen.
In 2003, her courtship with Mandarin Oriental,
New York began. She was recruited by Chef Nori Sugie
to be part of Asiate’s opening team. She rejoined the team
full-time as Chef de Cuisine in 2009.
“Asiate is home to me, and I finally felt ready to do my own food,”
Berry explains.
ART ON THE PLATE
According to Berry, food reviewers often describe her dishes as “art
on a plate.” Albeit short lived, her art training still influences her cooking.
She designs a dish like a sculptor would—visually. Before one ingredient
is actually put into play, Berry envisions the way it should look and then
constructs the recipe to suit her design.
Like the sprawling views of Manhattan from nearly every table at Asi-
ate, Berry’s innovative culinary concepts are equally expansive. They come
at the strangest times—like on the subway—and sometimes even in dreams.
“I have so many ideas. My brain is constantly going,” Berry explains.
But where does the fluid creativity come from? Nature and music are
her two greatest inspirations for inventing new dishes. For example, a pic-
turesque landscape might inspire the design of the plate. Music is the ap-
proach in the kitchen. According to Berry’s theory, food is like music. It
should not just be one note, but layered with flavors and techniques, meld-
ing modern and traditional.
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