Jon Yao

Jon Yao is the chef and owner of Kato, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Los Angeles that he opened in 2016 in a strip mall space originally leased by his parents in Sawtelle near UCLA. A first-generation Taiwanese American raised in Walnut, California, he has no formal culinary training but staged at various restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles before transforming the space into a fine-dining venue focused on Taiwanese-inspired tasting menus featuring dishes like steamed fish and three-cup abalone. Kato has been named #1 by the Los Angeles Times in 2019, 2023, and 2024, earned a Michelin star in 2019, the Resy One To Watch Award from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2024, and debuted at #25 on North America’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2025; Yao personally won Food & Wine’s Best New Chef, was a James Beard finalist for Rising Star Chef, Forbes 30 Under 30, Michelin Guide’s California Young Chef Award in 2021, and James Beard Best Chef: California in 2025.