Angel Roque IN at Cuba Libre

Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar has a new executive chef in Angel Roque.

A native of Havana, Cuba, Roque started at Cuba Libre in January 2015 as sous chef, having met the restaurant's chef-partner Guillermo Pernot in 2010, when Pernot was visiting the island. Now, less than two years later, he's taken over at Cuba Libre as executive chef.

Roque has had quite the culinary career back in Cuba, cooking Italian food at his own private restaurant in Havana and also logging time as an executive chef at the country's prestigious Restaurante Café del Oriente. He also opened his own restaurant, Ajiaco, in 2011.

2012 marked the firstime Roque visited the U.S. — and in 2013, he logged some time at Cuba Libre's Orlando location. Cuba Libre Restaurant & Rum Bar is a small chain with outposts in Philadelphia, Atlantic City and Orlando in addition to its D.C. location, which opened in 2010.