In 2017, Lee got a call: the original Mandu location had been destroyed by fire. He decided to stay and rebuild, but it was time for a new concept. He’d also founded The Fried Rice Collective, a restaurant and hospitality group, with his fellow James Beard Award nominee, chef Scott Drewno, who had been running the popular D.C. restaurant The Source. Drewno, originally from the Finger Lakes, spent the majority of his career with Wolfgang Puck. Lee and Drewno opened Anju in 2019.
Their vision for Anju was transformative: a substantive, heritage-minded homage to classical Korean cuisine, but with the confidence and curiosity to continually test and redefine what “classical” means. There was, yes, fried chicken, but also Cornish hens stuffed with sweet rice and dates. It drew devotees, but also critics, expecting more “traditional” fidelity to expected dishes.