How L.A.’s Michelin-Starred Kato Is Upgrading a Traditional Taiwanese Banquet
On any given night at Kato, you’ll find diners enjoying artful plates crafted by chef-owner Jon Yao, whose highly curated and expertly polished fare draws from his Taiwanese heritage. But on Wednesdays, a single party of eight can experience a lavish new large-format meal with over a dozen courses—a take on the traditional Taiwanese-style banquet that Yao grew up enjoying with family and friends. The price for this exclusive, celebratory menu: $4,000, with a custom flight of six full bottles by co-owner and sommelier Ryan Bailey costing an additional $1,800.
Pān toh (or banzhuo in Mandarin) is a feast traditionally reserved to celebrate weddings, significant milestones, religious holidays, or community gatherings. In lieu of its familiar roadside setting, Yao’s elegant update is served in Kato’s light-wood-toned private dining room in the shadow of the James Jean artwork Quenelles. But he has preserved some traditions: There are still 13 dishes, and the meal is bookended by tea services, beginning with a sparkling Wen Shan Bao Zhong from Unified Ferments and ending with Nantou Four Seasons.
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The service is an answer to the many private-event requests the restaurant has received since moving to a larger space at the Row DTLA in 2022. But the relatively small team at Kato—which has retained a Michelin star for the past five years—wasn’t equipped to serve its tasting menu to large parties while keeping the quality (and temperature) of the food high.
“We wanted another creative outlet that was more traditional, because our tasting menu has generally leaned more modernist,” Yao says. So he, Bailey, and managing partner Nikki Reginaldo sourced bigger ceramics, designed a service model centered around the larger dishes, and trained dedicated staff for the meal. “I’m the one who’s hands-on, making the entire thing for you,” says Yao. “We’re not trying to redefine the tradition for anyone. We’re just adding our version to the tapestry of the experience.”
To mirror a conventional starter of cold cuts, Yao created a rendition of husband-and-wife salad, a popular Sichuan dish of thinly sliced beef and beef offal. Kato’s version dresses slices of pig-ear terrine, beef-tendon terrine, and braised Wagyu cheeks in a mustard and sesame sauce. A whole steamed fish pays homage to how Yao’s mother prepared a similar dish—in the microwave—when he was young. Now, he takes Tokyo negi (a type of scallion, here sourced from Girl and Dug Farm in San Marcos) and scalds it with ginger to make an aromatic dressing for the catch of the day. “Yesterday we did golden-eye snapper from Japan, which is so expensive right now, but it’s about pairing a really simple technique with the best thing we can find,” says Yao. The rice course is made with fresh and dried mushrooms, topped with a binchotan-grilled Japanese eel that’s brushed with a char siu marinade made with local wildflower honey and five spice, instead of the usual eel sauce. “Everything has a story or a very strong parallel,” he adds.
Bailey chose 2005 Domaine Henri Gouges Les St. Georges, a complex, elegant 20-year-old Pinot Noir from Burgundy, to pair with the mushroom rice’s earthy tones. A duo of Rieslings, including 2021 Keller Westhofener Kirchspiel GG, are deployed to balance the low amounts of acid in Taiwanese cuisine, which typically comes from vinegar. “Riesling is one of the most acidic wines that you can find, so it works really well because they balance each other out,” Bailey explains.
The banquet-style meal seems a natural next step for this restaurant, which takes frequent inspiration from Yao’s upbringing in California’s San Gabriel Valley. Celebrations marked by multicourse feasts enjoyed with loved ones around banquet tables are indelible in the culture, which means there’s plenty of nostalgia for Yao and his team to play with. But it’s their fearless reinterpretations of those traditions that make Kato one of a kind.
Home Plates
The team at Kato knew they needed larger ceramics to accommodate the shared banquet-size dishes for the pan toh service. So, they went back to their longtime source, ARJ Los Angeles, whose owners Ahrong Jung and Harry Kim offer Japanese and Korean wares blending Western farmhouse style with Eastern sensibilities.
The large-format meal called for serving vessels reflecting the restaurant’s minimalist aesthetic. “I like things to match but not purposely feel like a set, so there’s a kind of brand language from start to finish,” Bailey explains.
Ultimately, he and Yao chose Korean ceramicist Jiseungmin Gonggi’s Patina collection.
“They wanted a singular style and finish with many varied shapes to achieve a set that could be used for 13 courses. A must was large shapes for shared dishes, with rims to hold sauces from going over the edge,” Jung says. “The collection isn’t showy or dramatic, but it focuses on texture, shade, and materials.” In other words, it’s elegant enough for an award-winning restaurant but designed so that the food takes center stage.
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