Kato’s Jon Yao Wins Best Chef in California at 2025 James Beard Awards

Jon Yao of DTLA’s Kato, a Michelin-starred restaurant serving Taiwanese cuisine, has been awarded the prestigious James Beard Award for best chef in California.

The ceremony was held on June 16, 2025, in Chicago. Four other chefs — two from San Francisco, one from San Diego, and one from San Juan Capistrano — were also nominated in the same category.

Highlights

• Jon Yao has become the third winner of the James Beard Best Chef: California award to hail from Los Angeles.
• Yao runs the acclaimed DTLA Taiwanese eatery Kato.
• In his acceptance speech, he highlighted the raids happening nationwide.

Jon Yao Becomes the Only LA Chef to Take Home a 2025 James Beard Award

Jon Yao runs Kato, in Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA), an upscale Taiwanese restaurant with one Michelin star. It is a highly acclaimed eatery that has earned rave reviews from critics worldwide. However, the place had its humble beginnings at a tiny West LA strip mall in 2016. Yao served food inspired by his Taiwanese heritage, infused with influences from his San Gabriel Valley upbringing.

Yao moved Kato to the Arts District in DTLA in 2022, in a space formerly occupied by M. Georgina, a modern, industrial-chic restaurant. Yao talked about wanting Michelin recognition as early as 2021. In 2022, his evolving 12-course tasting menu, priced at $325 won him their first Michelin star, in addition to many other accolades.

During his acceptance speech, which was livestreamed via Eater by the James Beard Foundation, Yao paid tribute to his roots in LA and drew attention to the raids happening all over Los Angeles and the country. He said, “L.A. is a city built by the toils of immigrant communities, and right now, those same communities are being ripped apart.”

“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. 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,” he continued.

This was Jon Yao’s first James Beard Award and LA’s only at this year’s ceremony. Last year, too, LA took home one James Beard Award when chef Lord Maynard Llera of Kuya Lord won Best Chef: California.

Other nominees in the category, alongside Yao, were Daniel Castillo of Heritage Barbecue in San Juan Capistrano, Richard Lee of Saison and Kosuke Tada of Mijoté in San Francisco, and Tara Monsod of Animae in San Diego.