Angela Dimayuga
Angela Solita Dimayuga (born 1985) is an American chef. She was an executive chef at Mission Chinese Food New York, and help build the restaurant in the early years. Dimayuga was included in the Zagat's "30 Under 30" List in 2015 as an upcoming culinary star and was also part of 2015 class of Eater Young Guns. She was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award in 2016 and named a 2017 Rising Star Chef for her work at Mission Chinese Food New York. As of 2018, she worked with The Standard hotel, which opened in London  in 2019. Biography. Angela Dimayuga was born and raised in San Jose, California into a Filipino-American family, she is one of six siblings. Her father was born in Batangas, Philippines and her mother was born in Pampanga, Philippines, her parents met when her mother was touring with the Filipino national folk dance troupe. She studied hotel and restaurant management at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), and humanities at University of Strathclyde and San Francisco State University (SFSU). Dimayuga joined the NYC culinary scene in 2007, when she moved to Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. At age 22, she started as  a line cook at "'Vinegar Hill House" in Brooklyn. She credit's Vinegar Hill House's Jean Adamson as a mentor, who helped launch her career. She is a multi-disciplinary food industry creative, who worked as Mission Chinese Food's executive chef in New York. She is also a contributor to "Bon Appétit" magazine, a food stylist, media personality, and interested in the intersection of politics in her work. In April 2018, Dimayuga was hired as creative director of food and culture for the Standard International hotel group. Mission Chinese Food. In 2012 she was cold-called by Danny  Bowien to help open the first New York City iteration of his San Francisco restaurant, Mission Chinese Food. Dimayuga helped design the menu and interiors for Bowien's subsequent three Manhattan restaurants: Mission Chinese Food on Orchard St, Mission Cantina, and the new Mission Chinese Food (after the closure of the Orchard Street location) on East Broadway. Dipping into her Filipino roots, Dimayuga's menu at Mission Chinese Food was what she called "New American"; a cuisine not simply about Asian fusion or even Asian-American, but rather, reflective of the kind of hybrid dining, relevant to today's New  Yorkers. At MCF, Dimayuga was not only the executive chef, but helped to contextualize the restaurant within the culture of the surrounding Lower East Side and Chinatown neighborhoods, through various artist collaborations. Dimayuga commissioned a network of creatives to design work for the restaurant and its external pop-ups and collaborations. In addition, she selected musicians to play in the restaurant, as well as worked with friends and fellow artists to design a signature streetwear line for the restaurant. In late October 2017, she resigned from Mission Chinese Food claiming "[her] sphere of ambition is just different and bigger." IvankaTrump.com . In 2017, she was contacted by the website IvankaTrump.com asking if she would be willing to do an interview, this interaction had "a viral response" after it was posted on Instagram. Dimayuga wrote with help from activist Shakirah Simley, a thoughtful response turning down the offer and her reasons why. She was quoted as saying: Notable collaborations and events. Dimayuga has worked with and created collaborations and pop-ups for La Buvette, restaurant Noma, Le Chateaubriand, Frankie's Prime Meats, Dimes, Lyle's, Pok Pok, Sqirl, Night + Market, Saison, Lil' Deb's Oasis, Attica, Husk, among others. Awards. Under  her watch, MCF was awarded 2 stars and "Restaurant of the Year" in 2012 by "The New York Times". In 2015, she was named "Best Chef" by "New York". The James Beard Foundation named her a "rising star chef" in 2016. In 2017, StarChefs publication named her one of their rising stars. In 2016, she was the keynote speaker at Restaurant noma's global, "MAD Food Symposium". Her speech, "Burning the Candle at Both Ends," focused on the maintenance of work and life balance as a chef.