Susan Bae
Moon Rabbit | Washington, D.C.
February 2026
Growing up, Susan Bae wanted to be a teacher. But after graduating from college, she realized that her passion for home baking had the potential to be more than just that. Bae enrolled in culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Los Angeles, California, and graduated in 2010. She then went on to work at Helms Bakery in Culver City under then Pastry Chef John Park, where she immersed herself in Southeast Asian flavors and baked goods.
Eager to learn more, Bae worked multiple jobs at once: she cooked in the kitchens of restaurants like Charlie Palmer and Animal at Jon & Vinny’s under Rising Stars alums Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. In 2015, Bae teamed up with Chef Kevin Meehan to open Kali as its pastry chef, helping the Los Angeles restaurant earn its first Michelin star while leading a team and stretching the boundaries of her creativity.
After two years, Bae moved to Texas to become the pastry chef at The Fairmont Hotel in Austin, diving into large-scale production and learning the importance of a tightly run kitchen. Soon after, Rising Stars alum Kevin Tien reached out to her on Instagram to help him open his Vietnamese restaurant, Moon Rabbit, in Washington, D.C. Though the two had never met, Tien took a leap of faith on Bae, who packed up and moved to the city without doing a tasting to help open the restaurant. At Moon Rabbit, Bae leads a team of all-female pastry chefs, creating progressive, savory-leaning desserts like her durian-white chocolate mousse with passion fruit, white chocolate-coated streusel, and dill. Beyond the kitchen, Bae works with organizations such as Chefs Stopping AAPI Hate, D.C. Central Kitchen, and Real Food for Kids.
2026 StarChefs D.C.-Maryland-Virginia Rising Stars Award Winner
