How Edward Lee is pioneering mission-driven fine dining

The latest project from the LEE Initiative, Edward Lee’s new nonprofit, D.C.-based restaurant SHIA, features a seven-course tasting menu.

Edward Lee certainly qualifies as a celebrity chef. He has appeared on both Top Chef and Iron Chef America and earned a daytime Emmy nomination for hosting the third season of the PBS series Mind of a Chef. But his high profile didn’t make it a snap to raise the $2 million he needed to fund his latest project, the Korean-cuisine restaurant SHIA in the Union Market District of Washington D.C.