Jon Yao, the Taiwanese American chef behind Michelin-starred Kato in the Arts District, took home one of the top prizes at the James Beard Foundation Awards—the only nominee in Southern California to do so. The annual awards ceremony, which takes place in Chicago (almost) every year, recognizes excellence in restaurants, bars and food media, including books, broadcast media and journalism and is widely understood as the Oscars of the (American) food world.
In 2016, Yao first opened Kato inside a West L.A. strip mall, and moving the restaurant to the Arts District in 2022. Immediately, the then-scrappy restaurant attracted the attention of critics for its uniquely Asian American spin on fine dining. Over the years, the self-taught chef has honed his craft and grown into one of the city’s best restaurants, at least if you ask me. In 2022, Kato earned its first Michelin star; last year, the restaurant was named as “one to watch” by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants organization, which has yet to name any L.A. eatery to its prestigious annual list.
In his acceptance speech, Yao thanked his staff, past and present, and acknowledged the ongoing immigration raids happening across Los Angeles and the nation. “L.A. is a city built by the toils of immigrant communities, and right now, those same communities are being ripped apart,” he said.
“As the children of immigrants, I’m sure many here can imagine a scenario where we couldn’t be here to celebrate this all together," Yao continued. “But we all deserve the freedom to pursue our dreams, to determine our own futures and to be treated with equal dignity and respect. And everyone in this room tonight has the ability and voice to amplify that message through their own stories in their own communities, and I urge all of us to please use that voice and platform.”
“The restaurant and the food we serve [at Kato], it’s really a medium for storytelling. It’s representative of a lot of immigrant stories,” Yao said, elaborating on his points further in a backstage interview. “There’s a lot more restaurants like ours. It’s not just ours. We’re very proud to be part of that fabric.”
Like last year, just one L.A. restaurant or bar has taken home a national James Beard Award. In the spring, five other local restaurants, bars, bakeries and writers were nominated for various awards, including Long Beach’s Gusto Bread for “Outstanding Bakery” and Tobin Shea, bar director behind Redbird in Downtown L.A., for “Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service.” L.A. native, historian, cookbook author and former Los Angeles Times food writer Toni Tipton-Martin also received the foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award for her decades of work bringing Black foodways to the forefront of America’s culinary conversation and uplifting early-career food writers.
While no local food publications received recognition at the separate media awards ceremony held over the weekend, three other L.A. based writers also took home media awards. On Saturday, newly L.A. based writer and native Angeleno Jeff Gordinier earned the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award for “The City that Rice Built,” a long-form piece featuring Charleston, South Carolina in Food & Wine alongside artist and fellow co-author George McCalman. Two more L.A. based writers, Andrea Freeman and Nicola Twilley, also won book awards for Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to School Lunch and Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves, respectively.
When it comes to James Beard Foundation’s recognition on the culinary front, however, it’s still just the Kato show here in L.A. Yao’s Arts District tasting menu spot is already a popular destination among wealthier, in-the-know L.A. diners and fine dining fans from far and wide, but it’s been a surprisingly easy reservation to book most days of the week. That is, at least until now. If you haven’t yet booked a table at Kato, right now might be a good time to do that—before everyone else does.
Curious about what to expect from a meal at Kato? Read our full starred review to find out more.