Dragon Lady is the inaugural event from Orcas Island’s Woman in the Woods Productions. The one-woman play from award-winning Seattle actress Sara Porkalob comes to Random Howse on Oct. 14 and 15. Coming with her will be Chef Aaron Verzosa, whose four course menu of Filipino foods complements the story of Porkalob’s Filipino grandmother. It’s Madame Dragon’s 60th birthday, the audience are her guests, and Verzosa’s cuisine delivers authentic flavors of a Filipino gathering.

Verzosa is a Filipino-American chef born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. After graduating from the University of Washington, Verzosa attended the Seattle Culinary Academy while working in the Basque focused Spanish restaurant – The Harvest Vine.

After leaving the restaurant in 2010, Verzosa joined the Modernist Cuisine team (led by former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold) working as a research and development chef there for over five years. During his time with MC, Verzosa had the opportunity to travel to Paris to stage with Michelin-star winning chef David Toutain.

Verzosa has been engaged in the Filipino-American community for many years, and is presently working on empowering Filipino businesses as a cofounder of ILAW: A Coalition of Filipino Food and Beverage Professionals in the Pacific Northwest. Together with his wife, Amber Manuguid, the two will be working over the next several months to build a new fine dining concept in Seattle. Their restaurant, Archipelago, will focus on Pacific Northwest cuisine viewed through the lens of progressive Filipino American flavors.

Tickets to Madame Dragon’s Birthday Party are available at The Office Cupboard.