Disneyland’s Club 33 Chef Gloria Tae is proud to be the first female head chef in the traditionally male-dominated world of fine dining — an honor she’s achieved at several restaurants over the past decade.
“But I’d rather be known as a talented chef as opposed to a talented female chef,” Tae told the Disney Parks Blog.
Tae was recently honored as a Woman of the Year by the California State Assembly for being the first female chef de cuisine at Disneyland’s private and secret Club 33.
Disneyland’s Club 33 Chef Gloria Tae was honored as a Woman of the Year by the California State Assembly. (Courtesy of Disneyland)
“I am totally surprised, over the moon and happy,” Tae said in a statement released by Disneyland. “This is totally unexpected, so I’m in a bit of a shock, but I feel so honored.”
Disneyland bills Club 33 as exclusive, world class and shrouded in mystery. Club 33 was inspired by the VIP lounges Walt Disney experienced at the 1964 New York World’s Fair where It’s a Small World and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln first debuted. The private Disneyland club opened in May 1967 a few months after Disney’s death in December 1966.
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Tae took the reins at the Club 33 kitchen in 2022. She is also the head chef at the 21 Royal private dining experience adjacent to Club 33 that costs $15,000 per dinner party.
Napa Rose chef Gloria Tae, center, describes one of the plant based dishes being served to a dinner for the media to unveil Disneyland Resorts new plant based menu in Anaheim on Tuesday, September 17, 2019. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Tae moved to the United States as an infant and grew up in La Crescenta. She learned her way around the kitchen at a young age making Korean noodles and other dishes for her sister while their mother was at work.
Tae dropped out of college when she realized she didn’t really want to be a doctor and took a job working as a prep cook in a hamburger joint.
“I wasn’t even flipping burgers,” Tae told the Disney Parks Blog with a laugh. “I was just forming the patties.”
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Soon she ditched the burger stand for a fine dining restaurant and threw herself into an exhilarating and energetic culinary career — opting for hands-on training rather than formal culinary school.
“Back then, culinary wasn’t as popular a career as it is now — this was before the Food Network,” Tae told the Disney Parks Blog. “But I knew that I really liked the energy and atmosphere of the kitchen. Fellow cooks were from all walks of life with so many personalities. It was exhilarating.”
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In 2001, she started as a line cook in the Golden Vine Winery with the opening of Disney California Adventure.
“When I first came to Disney, I thought of it as a theme park,” Tae told the Disney Parks Blog. “I had no idea there was a culinary mecca.”
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At Golden Vine, Tae caught the attention of Disneyland Culinary Director Andrew Sutton, who took her under his wing as his protégé.
“In the kitchen, her understanding of the classics within a multitude of cuisines is exemplary and makes her quite a force,” Sutton told the Disney Parks Blog.
Tae moved to Napa Rose restaurant in 2008 at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel where she ultimately worked her way up to chef de cuisine. Sutton made Tae the head chef at Carthay Circle when the fine dining restaurant opened in 2012 during the $1.1 billion transformation of Disney California Adventure.
