Chef Jon Yao showcases the Taiwanese flavors of his childhood in a fine dining setting at Kato, with a menu inspired by the food he grew up eating in the San Gabriel Valley. One signature is the yóutiáo, a Chinese doughnut filled with sea urchin and a brown butter emulsion, topped with a slice of jamón and a healthy dollop of caviar. This just might be the best bite in L.A. Kato currently has one Michelin star, but they’re clearly pushing towards a second. This is one of the most technically precise, unique, and delicious fine dining experiences in Los Angeles right now. Kato also has one of the most impressive wine programs in North America, featuring the largest Champagne selection outside of France. They also serve one of the most creative house-made non-alcoholic pairings we’ve tried. Want to dip your toes in without committing to the full tasting menu? Book a seat at the bar for an abbreviated menu.
Looking for more L.A. recommendations? Check out our full Los Angeles guide!
Kato
Address & Contact Information
777 S Alameda St Building 1, Suite 114, Los Angeles, California
Website
Why Kato Is One of the Most Exciting Restaurants in Los Angeles
Kato in Los Angeles is a Taiwanese fine dining restaurant led by chef Jon Yao. The menu is inspired by his family recipes and the food he grew up eating in the San Gabriel Valley, reimagined in a fine dining format. We first visited Kato back in 2019, when it was tucked away in a strip mall. The restaurant moved to the ROW in downtown L.A. in 2022, and with each visit since, the food has become more refined, more confident, and more personal. This is actually the fine dining restaurant we’ve visited the most in L.A. – and watching it mature over the years has been incredibly rewarding. We can confidently say that this is the best Kato has ever been.
Jon Yao won the James Beard Award for the Best Chef in California in 2025, and Kato currently holds one Michelin star, but we think they deserve more. And if you want to experience Kato without committing to the full tasting menu, keep reading – we’ll tell you how to do it for half the price.
The Tasting Menu at Kato
The first dish was a fresh crudo of aged amberjack with salted cucumbers, cilantro relish, and sesame. The flavors are inspired by Taiwanese cold noodles with a sesame-peanut dressing, but here it’s reimagined with raw fish instead of noodles. A hit of Szechuan peppercorn left our lips tingling.
The Yóutiáo – Kato’s Signature Dish
Next came a Kato signature – one that can never leave the menu: the yóutiáo, a Chinese doughnut filled with sea urchin and a brown butter emulsion, topped with a slice of jamón and a healthy dollop of caviar. This just might be the best bite in Los Angeles – light as air, warm, and absolutely packed with butter. As it exploded in my mouth, I was already wondering when I could eat it again.
Seafood Courses Inspired by Taiwanese Flavors
The next dish was Kato’s take on Szechuan fish with sour vegetables. Here, cold-smoked trout was served in a smoked fish broth, with spring peas and trout roe. It was smoky, savory, spicy, and umami-rich. We honestly haven’t had anything like this on a tasting menu anywhere in the world – the flavors and combinations felt completely unique.
The following course instantly transported us to the San Gabriel Valley. Yao’s childhood memories of basil stir fry inspired this dish, featuring grilled sablefish with a clam and basil sauce, alongside grilled abalone and raw geoduck. Every bite left us wanting more!
We added a supplement dish to the menu: lightly battered spiny lobster topped with a salted egg yolk relish, finished with a sauce made from caramelized lobster shells and lobster fat. The flavors were distinctly Asian, with a fiery afterburn from the Scotch bonnet chilies. We loved the meaty texture of the lobster, balanced by the aromatic curry leaves.
AD
Join Our Food Community!
Join our members-only, worldwide food club – The Hungries! Our community of international food lovers is made up of hundreds of members, based all over the world. Chat with us daily on our online forum, ask for travel tips and recommendations, and join us for meals at some of the world's best restaurants!
Meat Courses – Quail and Wagyu
The meal continued with the first of two meat courses: quail from Brent Wolfe. The birds were cooked Peking-duck style – dry-aged, sugar-brined, lacquered, cold-smoked, and roasted. The sweet, smoky quail breast was served with a lemongrass sauce, ginger sticky rice, Taiwanese pepper, and marinated mushrooms. The quail legs were pure flavor – we ate them straight off the bone. This was one of the highlights of the night.
The final savory course showcased wagyu beef cheek with puffed beef tendon, fermented chili bean paste, and cilantro flowers. The rich, tender meat was served with a sidecar of fluffy milk bread glazed with garlic and honey, topped with seaweed and sesame. You’re not leaving Kato hungry, that’s for sure! They suggested making a cheeky beef sandwich, which was the best way to enjoy this main course.
Dessert at Kato
After so many intense flavors, we freshened things up with a palate cleanser: a cherimoya semifreddo with mandarin juice soda. It was tropical, fresh, fizzy, foamy, and slightly sweet.
With dessert, we enjoyed an old fashioned served from a tableside trolley featuring Kato’s private barrel whiskey, Taiwanese black sugar, angostura bitters, and hand-carved ice.
Kato’s seasonal dessert was all about parsnip…? Yes, parsnip! Trust us, we were just as surprised as you, but this parsnip crepe cake with parsnip cream, brown butter caramel, roasted parsnip ice cream, and a parsnip tuile was absolutely delicious. It’s amazing how much natural sweetness they were able to extract from those veggies to create a truly unique and compelling dessert.
Of course, we couldn’t leave without ordering Kato’s signature dessert – the only dish that made the move downtown from the original strip mall location. It’s a classic for a reason: bonito yam tapioca balls, salty cheese foam, and shaved brown butter sablé. Is there anything better than brown butter melting on your tongue? We first had this in 2019 and it was one of the best dishes of the year for us. It’s still one of the best desserts out there.
The Bar Tasting Menu
Kato also has a bar area, where they serve a condensed tasting menu – six courses for $185 featuring a collection of classic Kato dishes. It takes about half the time and costs half the price, and the dishes are completely different from the dining room menu. This is a great option if you want to dip your toes in the water and experience Kato without going all in.
It’s also a perfect place to start or end your night, with one of their creative cocktails.
An Award-Winning Beverage Program
What really sets Kato apart is that they take drinks just as seriously as the food – even when there’s no alcohol involved. Kato was one of the first restaurants in L.A. to offer a house-made non-alcoholic pairing, and they still serve one of the most creative we’ve tried. These are ingredient-driven drinks crafted by the bar team – some with shaved ice, some carbonated, some fermented, others steeped with Taiwanese teas, and some served warm, like mulled wine.
Kato also has one of the most impressive wine programs in North America, featuring the largest Champagne selection outside of France, affordable bottles starting at $30, and some of the rarest wines in the world, priced up to $17,000.
Is Kato Worth It?
Kato serves some of the most original, technically precise, and deeply personal food in Los Angeles. It simultaneously feels so one-of-a-kind – and yet somehow, it still feels comfortable and familiar. It tastes like my hometown, it tastes like L.A.
And it’s not just the food. The bar program is one of the most thoughtful anywhere, and the non-alcoholic pairing is still among the best we’ve tried. But the hospitality, led by Nikki Reginaldo and Ryan Bailey, is what keeps us coming back. This is a team that genuinely cares, and it shows in every interaction.
We’ve been visiting Kato for almost a decade, and watching it grow into what it is today has been incredibly meaningful. This is the most confident, most complete version of Kato we’ve ever experienced. Kato holds one Michelin star right now, but we know it’s just a matter of time until they earn their second. It’s our favorite fine dining restaurant in Los Angeles. It’s a place we’ll keep returning to, not just because the menu is constantly in motion, but because the team always makes us feel at home. We can’t wait to come back.
Have you been to Kato? Let us know how your experience was in a comment below.
Our Michelin road trip series
We visited Kato as part of our Michelin road trip along the California coast, bringing Alouette from Copenhagen to Los Angeles for a collaborative pop-up. Watch the full Michelin road trip series.
Kato is good, but the upselling we experienced was revenue raising 101.
We were a table of international chefs and restaurateurs – and we were glad we tried it, but once was enough…
Sorry to hear about your experience! Personally, we can’t go here without at least adding on their donut.