Shunning the spotlight, soft-spoken executive chef Jessie Yan nonetheless deserves center stage: She was one of Washington’s earliest female chefs, and she brought the first Asian noodle house to the metro area. Who can forget the noodle-eating frenzy downtownwhen Yan’s Oodles Noodles opened on 20th St. NW in 1995.

“Even from the first day, the restaurant was packed,” she says. “We couldn’t handle the business, day and night. People were willing to share tables. People even ‘bought’ a table for $20 because they didn’t want to wait in line. The concept and the menu items were so new that people wanted to try everything.”