Chef Tae Strain

On April 28, 2025 we announced that Chef Tae Strain was joining my sisters Lisa Hinton and Ashli Johnson and me as a chef partner at Burnt Hill Farm. It marked an important moment for us and brought a long arc into focus. Burnt Hill is a project that has been taking shape for ten years. The land, vineyard, animals, and broader vision were all there, but the culinary piece required patience. We wanted to create a kitchen that functioned as an extension of the land itself.

From the beginning, we believed the food at Burnt Hill had to be rooted in ecology, systems, responsibility, and people. A kitchen here needed to reflect seasons, animals, weather, and the work of those tending the farm. That kind of approach required a partner with creative vision and a deep respect for process and culture. Someone who could help shape the identity of the place.

Chef Tae Strain brings that perspective to Burnt Hill. He has spent years in kitchens where excellence was the baseline expectation, including leading Momofuku for David Chang in Washington DC and The Progress in San Francisco under Stuart Brioza. He also created his own successful Ggoma Supper Club, where he explored heritage and identity through food. All of that skill and experience is present here, but what matters most to Tae now is the people inside his kitchen and the systems that support them.

Tae and his wife Beth, who is equally talented and kind, chose to return to Maryland to be closer to family. Tae grew up here after being adopted from Seoul. As a Korean American adoptee, his personal experience informs his cooking in a practical, honest way. He is not interested in performance. He is interested in expression that feels true.

Our connection to Tae came through our sommelier and longest tenured non family teammate, Joey Fox. Joey attended one of Tae’s Ggoma dinners several years ago and was deeply impressed. He later reached out to Tae to offer his sommelier services, and the two collaborated on a series of dinners together. Through that work, Joey came to respect not only Tae’s cooking, but the way he listens, teaches, and leads.

At the same time, my own life had taken a very different direction. From 2022 through 2024 I spent 450 days at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore battling acute myeloid leukemia. At one point I was given a five percent chance at a cure. I underwent two bone marrow transplants, one from each of my sisters, and received extraordinary care from the doctors at Hopkins. By the grace of God and the support of many people around me, I reached remission and began regaining my strength in the summer of 2024.

That period brought clarity. I felt a renewed urgency to bring Burnt Hill Farm to life, but also a clear understanding that I could not do it alone. The culinary vision in particular demanded the right partner. Joey spoke highly of Tae, describing him as exceptionally talented, kind, organized, and deeply respected, with a leadership style grounded in empathy and systems. He believed Tae could contribute something meaningful here.

In August 2024 Tae visited Burnt Hill for the first time. My sister Ashli and I walked him through the farm, sharing both what existed and what we hoped it could become. Tae immediately connected with the land, but he was clear that he was not looking for a traditional job. I shared that we were not looking to hire an employee, but to explore a partnership. From there, the conversation shifted toward what it would mean to build a kitchen on a farm from the ground up together.

Over the following months we continued those conversations, discussing values, creative freedom, leadership, and long term vision. In January 2025 we formalized our partnership, with Tae beginning his work at Burnt Hill in April.

From the outset, the Burnt Hill experience was designed around three stunning barns on the hilltop, each with its own personality and service style. The Tasting Room offers a guided estate wine experience. The Lounge provides a more relaxed, convivial setting for shared plates and conversation. The third barn houses the kitchen and Tae’s Chefs Counter.

Once Tae joined, we moved quickly into designing kitchens, refining spaces, developing menus, and building systems and service styles across the property, all leading up to our grand opening on August 8, 2025.

The food currently served in the Tasting Room reflects Burnt Hill in its first phase. It is rooted in the farm and the Chesapeake Bay foodshed, leaning Maryland in style and designed to pair naturally with estate wines. The full estate tasting includes three reserve wines, stone milled bread service, and seasonal garden snacks, and a la carte gems like a Mangalitsa pork torchon, served on handcrafted ceramics made from Burnt Hill soils by local artisan Katie Aldworth of Material Things.

The Lounge expands that hospitality into a more generous experience. The space is warm and inviting, encouraging guests to linger. After a guided tasting, the menu opens into shared plates including cheese and charcuterie boards, seasonal salads, sourdough focaccia pizzas, and a dessert board meant to stretch the evening.

The Chef’s Counter is different. Opening in early 2026, it will feature a ten seat, multi course tasting menu shaped directly by Tae’s Korean American perspective and grounded in the Burnt Hill ethos. This will be the most personal expression of his cooking, focused, intentional, and deeply connected to both his heritage and this land.

Burnt Hill is a 117 acre regenerative polyculture farm and vineyard. We raise Mangalitsa pigs, Leicester Longwool sheep, and pastured poultry. We grow heritage grains, mushrooms, fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, and fifty thousand grapevines. All of it feeds into the kitchen. Tae works closely with me, our Chef de Provisions, and the farm crew, translating what the land produces into dishes that are precise, seasonal, and grounded in place.

Building a kitchen on a farm is slow and complex. But there is also autonomy. Tae has full creative control and the rare opportunity to build a program directly tied to what the farm produces. That work requires patience, clarity, and intention.

Tae’s leadership reflects those same values. He listens first. He expects excellence, but not at the expense of dignity. He evaluates systems to improve them, not simply to critique them. He believes kitchens should educate, empower, and build capability. His approach has helped shape Burnt Hill as a living kitchen, one rooted in people as much as in place.

I am deeply excited for this next chapter. I am honored to be part of this project and grateful to be Tae’s partner. Burnt Hill Farm is stronger because of the kitchen he is building, and because of the care and intention he brings to it every day.

— Drew Baker

Farmer, founding partner and creator.

Chef-partner Tae Strain brings Korean American heritage cooking to life at Burnt Hill.