Our Stories
“It is only when we have plenty to eat—plenty of everything—that we begin to understand what freedom means. To us, freedom is not an intangible thing. When we have enough to eat, then we are healthy enough to enjoy what we eat. Then we have the time and ability to read and think and discuss things. Then we are not merely living but also becoming a creative part of life.” - CarlosBulosan
Amber & Aaron sitting at the Chef’s Counter. Photographer: Charity Burggraaf
We began this journey in May of 2016 with the trademark of our “identity.” We then traveled to the Philippines to explore the land of our ancestry, and though we found the islands make up a part of who we are—they did not define us fully.
In the US they call us Filipino, in the Philippines, they call us American. We exist in this in-between of identities, always looking one way or the other. But on this long journey, we learned that we are the product of our parents’ struggles. The product of our creative adventurous parents, who left the Philippines to expand and grow their islands—to create their own culture and identity in this Pacific Northwest land that we call home. Together, along with so many others, our experiences have shaped this region. We and the land are synonymous. We are here and now, we are Filipino Americans.
— Amber & Aaron
Amber Rosario Manuguid | the experience
Amber Manuguid | the experience
Amber Manuguid is a Seattle-based artist, designer, restaurateur, and mom whose life's work is building experiences that uplift and empower the Filipino-American community. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Amber grew up in Silverdale, Washington — a military community with deep Filipino roots — before studying Filipino American History under Professor Rick Bonus and earning her degree in Digital Arts and Experimental Media at the University of Washington. That academic foundation, paired with over a decade of experience creating fun and meaningful experiences for organizations ranging from Mattel and Pokémon to Nordstrom, earned her an Honorable Mention from Fast Company's Innovation By Design Awards in 2019, a recognition given to those who solve problems "as simply and as beautifully as possible."
Amber's creative voice extends well beyond the restaurant: her work has screened at the SF Indie Film Festival, the Filipino American Film Festival, and SIFF. She also spent over two years as a core contributor to Filipinx U.S. History, a community-built curriculum book developed alongside Dr. Third Andresen, Annabel Garcia-Andresen, Genevieve Fernandez, and Vince Reyes. Drawing on her design expertise and the historical framework she had cultivated through years of work at Archipelago, Amber designed and laid out the book while helping shape how its stories were told and presented — ensuring the material was as accessible and compelling as it was rigorous. The curriculum now lives inside Seattle Public Schools as a living, community-owned resource.
At Archipelago, the restaurant she co-founded with Aaron Verzosa in December 2018, she serves as the architect of the full experience — weaving together ambiance, narrative, and design into what she describes as an intimate, immersive moment in time. As a co-founder of the ILAW coalition and a long-standing volunteer with The Filipino Community of Seattle and Seattle Public Schools, Amber has spent years championing under-represented communities and using her platform to encourage others to dream big. At Archipelago, she merges all of her passions — family, art, history, and food — in service of the community that has always inspired her most.
Aaron Verzosa | the food
Aaron Verzosa | the food
Aaron Verzosa is a chef, scholar, and 2026 James Beard National Semifinalist for Outstanding Chef whose work is defined by one driving purpose: the reclamation of history through food. A Filipino American born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Aaron studied Philippine History at the University of Washington under Professor Vicente L. Rafael — who taught him to read food as a text capable of recovering a whitewashed past — before attending the Seattle Culinary Academy and honing his technique at Seattle's Basque-focused restaurant, The Harvest Vine. In 2010, he joined Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine team as an R&D Chef, a chapter that took him to Paris to stage with Michelin-starred chef David Toutain and deepen his understanding of progressive gastronomy. He has since been recognized by Phaidon as one of the Top 100 Emerging Chefs From Around the World, and in late 2025 was invited to speak at the American Academy in Rome, where he addressed food resilience and culinary tradition in the face of climate change.
In December 2018, Aaron and his partner Amber Manuguid opened Archipelago in Seattle's Hillman City neighborhood, where the fine-dining table has become what they call a "community classroom." His Zero-Import philosophy — sourcing exclusively from the Pacific Northwest — is not a constraint but a framework for innovation: by working with every stage of an ingredient's life cycle, from ferments and black garlic to house-made bagoong and fish sauce, he maintains a distinctly Filipino flavor profile without relying on tropical imports, proving that Filipino brilliance is not tied to a geography but to a resilient set of values. His seasonal, multi-sensory menus are each a cited work of primary research, developed in partnership with the Filipino American National Historical Society, illuminating stories long absent from American history — from the Alaskeros whose labor activism in Pacific Northwest canneries helped transform workers' rights nationwide, to the broader truth that the Filipino-American experience has fundamentally shaped the American majority.
Guided by the mentorship of Filipino culinary icons Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan, and informed by an early background in Global Health, Aaron views the dining table as a site of communal well-being — one where every guest, regardless of dietary need, deserves to eat with complete peace of mind. A co-founder of the ILAW coalition and a committed partner with the Filipinx U.S. History Curriculum in Seattle Public Schools, Aaron has spent nearly a decade building Archipelago into something larger than a restaurant: a living, edible archive of the Filipino diaspora's essential role in the American story.
