This L.A. chef was named the best in California at the James Beard awards
'We tell stories,' said Kato chef-partner Jon Yao, 'stories of immigrants, diaspora, endurance and perseverance.'
Yao won the 2025 category of best chef: California. At his fine-dining restaurant in the Arts District — No. 1 on the L.A. Times 101 List for the last two years in a row — he serves a pioneering tasting menu evocative of his Taiwanese heritage seen through an L.A. lens.
Yao's win marks the third year in a row that a Los Angeles nominee took the title of best chef in the state. In 2023 Justin Pichetrungsi of Anajak Thai won the category, while last year the honor went to Kuya Lord chef-owner Lord Maynard Llera.
Yao is the only Los Angeles or Orange County nominee to win an award at this year's Restaurant and Chef Awards ceremony.
The Kato chef was a semifinalist or nominee in the rising star category in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Yao, a child of Taiwanese immigrants who grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, thanked everyone on Kato's team, both past and present. He underscored the importance of immigrant cuisine not only for Kato but Los Angeles.
'L.A. is a city built by the toils of immigrant communities, and right now, those same communities are being ripped apart,' Yao said in his acceptance speech. '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.'
The culinary contributions of immigrants could be heard in acceptance speeches through the night, across a range of cultures. Chefs, restaurateurs and food media regularly praised America's diversity of flavor, widely crediting immigrants.
'All food is immigrant, and immigrants make America great,' Miami chef Nando Chang said when he won best chef: South.
'We're gathering at a time of challenge and fear,' Clare Reichenbach, chief executive officer of the James Beard Foundation, said in the ceremony's opening speech.'That's why it is so important to remember the agency we possess, that hope and empathy are an active choice we can make, and that we're connecting tonight in our shared humanity and in the celebration of food and its unique power to unite. … America's food scene has never been more dynamic, more diverse and exciting — and in large part, we owe that dynamism, that vibrancy, to the immigrant communities that lead and underpin this industry in every way. We get to taste the world because of them.'
Washington, D.C., chef Carlos Delgado of Causa and Amazonia accepted the award of best chef: Mid-Atlantic and voiced his support of immigrants while his colleague proudly carried a Peruvian flag to the stage.
San Juan's Identidad won Best New Bar, and its owners carried a Puerto Rican flag for their acceptance speech. 'I want this to serve as an inspiration to all Puerto Ricans — and Latinos — that it can be done,' co-owner Stephen Alonso said.
Best chef: Great Lakes winner Noah Sandoval of Chicago's Oriole, couldn't attend the evening's ceremony, so a friend read a statement in his stead: 'Thank you, and deepest respect to all the nominees and winners tonight. Also, f— ICE.'
When Kumiko owner Julia Momosé accepted the award for Outstanding Bar, she underscored the importance of immigrants not only to her own Chicago establishment, but also the industry. 'Every day we are a team of immigrants,' she said. 'We are children of immigrants … your perspective is your strength.'
Los Angeles native, former L.A. Times food writer and community activist Toni Tipton-Martin received the lifetime achievement award, celebrating her decades of contribution to food journalism by raising African American culinary voices and platforming young writers.
Last year Ruth Reichl, another Los Angeles Times Food vet, received the lifetime achievement award. Tipton-Martin thanked Reichl in her own acceptance speech for helping to guide her culinary voice early in her career.
Though most of Southern California's nominees did not win this year, their contributions to the county's culinary fabric were still recognized.
'You are not just an incredible pitmaster, but you're incredibly creative, and you're sort of creating a style of barbecue that you call Southern California barbecue,' food journalist and red carpet host Francis Lam told Daniel Castillo before the ceremony. 'It's not Texas barbecue, it's not Carolina barbecue, but Southern California barbecue.'
Castillo co-owns San Juan Capistrano's Heritage Barbecue and Santa Ana's Le Hut Dinette, and was nominated for best chef: California, which Yao won. San Diego's Tara Monsod, of Animae and Le Coq, was also a nominee in the category.
Gusto Bread, the Long Beach artisanal panadería from owners Arturo Enciso and Ana Belén Salatino, was nominated in the category of outstanding bakery as it also was in 2024. The lauded bakery did not win this year; that award went to JinJu Patisserie in Portland, Ore.
Anaheim's Strong Water is widely celebrated for its spins on classic tiki drinks as well as its ambitious nonalcoholic program. Like Gusto it was nominated in 2024, but this year's award for outstanding wine and other beverages went to Charleston in Baltimore, Maryland.
Redbird bar director Tobin Shea was nominated in the category of outstanding professional in cocktail service, which went to Ignacio Jimenez of New York City's Superbueno. Whether he was going to win or lose, Shea previously told The Times that he would be celebrating: This year's awards fell on the week of his 50th birthday. 'It's going to be a great week,' he said.
On Saturday night the foundation held its annual media awards, which celebrate the year's top culinary books, articles, television, radio and more. Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Bill Addison, columnist Jenn Harris and Food senior editor Danielle Dorsey all saw nominations this year.
Andrea Freeman — a professor at L.A.'s Southwestern Law School — took the award in the category for food issues and advocacy with her book 'Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to School Lunch.'
L.A.-based journalist Jeff Gordinier, along with artist and designer George McCalman, won the M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award for Food & Wine article 'The City That Rice Built.'
Another Los Angeles-based author, Gastropod podcast co-host Nicola Twilley, also won an award. Her book 'Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves' led the category of literary writing.
The full list of the 2025 James Beard Media Award winners can be found here.
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Buzz Feed
3 days ago
- Buzz Feed
13 Stars Who Lied Their Way Into Famous Roles
Constance Wu pretended to speak another language. Early in her career, the Crazy Rich Asians star tried to land a role as an extra in a project. The extra was responsible for yelling out one line: "Run Away"...but it needed to be done in Korean. Despite not knowing how to speak the language, the Taiwanese-American actor learned the line phonetically and delivered it. When asked to improvise in Korean, she could only make nonsensical sounds. "I'm not Korean, and I don't speak Korean," Constance said in a 2018 The Late Show with Stephen Colbert interview. "I speak Mandarin Chinese. But it was only like one word, like two words. So, you know, I asked a friend, and they told me, I learned it phonetically and I put all of my heart into that one line." Constance revealed she doesn't remember how to say the line, because the audition turned a little tricky. "No, it's like a traumatic experience. Because what happened next was the casting director was like, 'That was so great. Can you improv a little in Korean?' And I said, Yep!' And then I just made noises." Liam Hemsworth lied about his volleyball skills to star alongside Miley Cyrus. Liam starred alongside his ex, Miley, in the 2010 romance The Last Song. He played a popular beach volleyball player named Will Blakelee, but in reality, Liam didn't known how much about the sport. "I can't play volleyball in real life," Liam told Tribute Movies in 2010 about the differences between his character and himself. "I'm really bad." "The volleyball was the most intense [training]. We were playing about three times a week for a couple of hours a day. Yeah, it was really tough." In another interview with NBC San Diego, Liam revealed one of the most challenging moments came when they had to film a tournament scene in front of 300 fans. He was meant to play against extras willing to let him win, but it wasn't as easy as Liam thought."They made us look stupid," Liam laughed about the other team. "I'd throw a spike down and expect to get a point, turn around to high-five my buddy. And I'd look back and the ball was coming back." At one point, he even asked director Julie Ann Robinson for a stunt double because he was having trouble perfecting the skills, but he eventually "got better.""It takes a lot of skills to play that game, and I didn't have them," Liam added. "We did good against the extras who hadn't played before." Gillian Anderson deceived casting directors with her age to win the role of Dana Scully on The X-Files. "I lied about my age on the first audition," Gillian told NPR in a 2020 interview. "So I said that I was 27. So that's how you get that job." But even though series creator Chris Carter was convinced he'd found his leading lady, Gillian revealed the network wasn't. So, they kept bringing in actors to replace her, including Cynthia Nixon and Jill Hennessy. "But I was sent in on an audition, like any other audition," she continued. "And then kept getting called back and, eventually, you know, went to network with all the other girls who were also trying out for the role, going to network and getting to read with David Duchovny, who they had by that point chosen as Mulder. But they weren't convinced - Chris Carter, who created the series, was convinced that I was his Scully, but the network wasn't." "And so all of a sudden, they started to fly in all these other actresses from the theater community in New York. And I'd been living in LA for a little while when I did this audition and had been living in New York beforehand, auditioning with all these young women in the theater community. And all of a sudden, they were being flown in because I wasn't good enough for The X-Files (laughter). And so I was auditioning, suddenly, with Jill Hennessy and Cynthia Nixon and all these women."She landed the role. Gillian was actually 24 at the time. Ben Hardy claimed to be a talented musician on his resume. Before landing the role of Roger Taylor, the former drummer in the rock band Queen, in the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, Ben said he told a "big lie" just to be considered for the gig. 'I worked with [director] Bryan Singer before on X-Men," he said in a 2018 People interview. "And I sent him an email when I heard about [Bohemian Rhapsody] and in the nicest way possible was like, 'Can I do this?'" 'He had reservations based upon the fact that he wanted the person who played Roger Taylor to be able to play the drums because you can cheat the other instruments with camera angles, but in the wide shots you can see if the drum is out of sync. So I told him I could play the drums — which I couldn't at the time.' Ben was expected to send in a tape of himself playing the drums to a Queen song, so in order to prepare for the lie, he enlisted in a grueling 2-week training session. He recruited a local drummer to teach him and dealt with 10-hour practice days just to nail the techniques. 'I wanted the job really bad. Who doesn't want to play a rock' n roll star? So I told him a little white lie — slash — big lie, that I could play the drums. So he was like, 'Great, can you put this song on film for me to show to the producers?' I went away in a massive panic. There wasn't enough time. I bought the cheapest drum kit I could find and found a drum teacher locally, and was like, 'Look, here's the deal: I need to learn to play this song as soon as possible. What can you do?'" 'Bryan messaged me and was like 'Where's the video?' I was like, 'Here is the moment, gonna have to do it, so I put it on film and just prayed,' he recalled. And it worked! Drew Barrymore revealed that when she was working as a child actor, it was very common for people to lie about their talents, and she was no different. During an April 2024 episode of her daytime talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show, with special guest Valerie Bertinelli, the two discussed growing up in Hollywood, and the lies they'd list on their headshots to get an audition. 'You'd get an 8×10 glossy," Drew said. "And on the back of the 8×10 glossy was your resume and you would have to say, 'I can sing, I can tap' — all lies. I couldn't do any of the things it said that I could do. It was like singing, dancing. You put like all your skillsets as a child that you don't really have.' Valerie admitted to doing the same thing: 'You can roller-skate. You can skateboard,' she said. 'And that got me in trouble because then I did a movie in London — something about Charles Dickens going back and forth in time — and I had to ride a skateboard. And it said I could ride a skateboard. I'm like, 'Oh my God. I actually have to ride a skateboard.'' Idris Elba pretended to be American during his auditions for The Wire. Idris Elba revealed in a 2019 Hot Ones interview that Alexa Fogel, The Wire's casting director, told him to pretend he was American, rather than British, because creator David Simon didn't want any non-American actors cast in the Baltimore-based series. He kept up the act for a while, until it came to his fourth audition, where he was asked about his childhood. "My parents told me not to lie," Idris admitted. "You gotta look someone in the eye and be honest. I have lied. It's never worked out for me." So, he did the respectable thing and told the truth. "Don't fire Alexa, she told me not to tell you guys." Although he initially went out for the role of Avon Barksdale, Simon gave him the role of Stringer Bell instead. Avon was ultimately played by Wood Harris. Anne Hathaway also lied about her horse-riding skills when she starred as Lureen Newsome in the 2005 film Brokeback Mountain, mainly because, apparently, they were nonexistent. Anne told Out, "My parents have given me a lot of gifts in my life, and one of them is: If you're ever asked if you can do anything, say yes. You can learn anything in two weeks if you're motivated enough." She told director Ang Lee that she knew how to ride in order to book the role. "So I'd never been on a horse, and I replied, 'Oh yeah, I'm a really good rider.' So I knew I had to learn to ride, and I got really, really, really good." Despite learning the ins and outs of horseback riding, it didn't stop Anne from having an embarrassing moment on set, when the horse refused to listen to her commands. "I went to a rehearsal in front of 300 extras, all of whom work in rodeos," she continued. "And the horse wouldn't do a damn thing I wanted it to. And at the end, it threw me in front of everyone." George Clooney went to extremes to try to earn his SAG-AFTRA card, the membership that signifies an actor's affiliation with the Screen Actors Guild. When George was still a budding actor in Hollywood, he was eager to get his credentials. To expedite the process, he lied to a casting director about his SAG status in order to boost his chances of starring in the project. George told her he had worked on the movie Cat People. Well, funny enough, the casting director for this project just so happened to be the same casting director for Cat People. She knew she didn't hire him for that film, but seemingly impressed by his tenacity, she gave him a role in a different project. Unfortunately, that film was never made. Despite the movie getting canned, it ultimately earned George his SAG card. Mila Kunis shaved several years off to land the role of Jackie Burkhart in That '70s Show, but the producers eventually figured it out. She was just 14 (a freshman in high school) at the time of her audition. "Legally, I was 14, but I told them I was a little bit older. I told them I was gonna be 18," Mila said in a 2012 interview with Jay Leno. "It's not technically a lie, because at one point, given all things went right, I was gonna be 18." Mila admitted to having a fake ID at the age of 16. She went by the name Jiffy Perez on the ID, who was listed as being 21. She revealed the producers found out about her real age, but it didn't cause any issues, so she continued filming. Jason Isaacs claimed to be a big fan of The White Lotus despite never watching a single episode. 'I'd said that it was my favorite show, that I thought it was a work of brilliance, and that Mike was a genius,' Jason said of The White Lotus to Decider. 'Now, I do think Mike's a magnificent writer and director, because I've followed him since I was at Sundance when he first emerged with Chuck & Buck. I'd watched everything he'd done film-wise ever since, but I hadn't seen The White Lotus. So, of course, I watched it, and I became a huge fan after the fact.' 'I told him what a huge fan of White Lotus I was, what utter genius it was, and 'how the richness of the characters,' and all the other things I picked up from the reviews I'd read because I'd never seen a frame of it,' Isaacs recalled to Collider. 'I watched all of them in like a day and a half,' he told People magazine. 'I basically sat and stewed in my own filth, watched it, and realized why people had made such a fuss. And then I was a fan.' Sadie Sink exaggerated her roller-skating skills when asked about her background for another challenging sport. Before earning the role of Max in Netflix's Stranger Things, Sadie claimed she was a confident rollerblader, to make up for the fact that she didn't know how to skateboard. "They wanted a girl that had skateboard experience," Sadie told Coveteur. "And I didn't have skateboarding experience at all. They asked me, 'Oh, do you have any rollerblading experience?' I was like, 'Uh sure I do,' which was technically not a lie because I have rollerbladed before. In reality, I probably haven't [roller]skated for a year.' She recalled panicking after seeing a pair of skates in the corner of the audition room, but it turns out she didn't end up needing to use them. Paul Mescal's agent didn't want him to lose out on the role of Connell in Normal People, so he told a little lie about the status of Paul's driver's license. "My agent was like, 'We are not losing this job over you not being able to drive," Paul told Entertainment Weekly. "'So, I'll tell production that you can, and in the meantime, you go off and rattle through as many lessons as you can.'" And if you're a fan of the show, then you probably remember seeing Paul behind the wheel quite frequently, so it looks like the lessons paid off. Lastly, Phoebe Dynevor showed immense enthusiasm for riding horses while preparing to star as Daphne Bridgerton in the hit Netflix historical drama, despite being scared of them. "And I've always said — I don't know why — that I didn't like horses and was scared of them," Phoebe told Glamour in 2021. "But in the audition, when they asked me, 'Have you ridden a horse before?' I was like, 'Yeah, I'm amazing. I've ridden so many horses. I'd be perfect for this role!'" But after a few lessons, she learned to love it more than she anticipated: "I actually loved horseback riding by the end of it and would love to get back on a horse as soon as possible, so that was fun. I felt very much ready to enter the marriage market by the time I finished with everything."
New York Post
4 days ago
- New York Post
Instagram beauty influencer, Liz Lin Ruoyu, dead at 36
Popular beauty influencer Liz Lin Ruoyu, who had boasted more than 144,000 Instagram followers, has died at age 36. The Taiwanese content creator's death was announced by her husband on Sunday, who shared a heartfelt tribute on her social media page. 'Liz has always been a girl with a smile, sunshine and love,' he wrote on Instagram. 'Although Liz has quietly left, the beauty and love she left behind will always be with us.' Advertisement 4 Popular beauty influencer Liz Lin Ruoyu, who had boasted more than 144,000 Instagram followers, has died at age 36. Liz Lin Ruoyu/Instagram A cause of death has yet to be revealed. Despite sharing content on social media since 2012, Ruoyu had never seen herself as an 'influencer,' according to her husband. Advertisement 'On social platforms, she never saw herself as an 'influencer' but as a friend to everyone,' he wrote. 'She always tried her best to respond to every message just because she really cared and really appreciated everyone who supported her.' 'She was always curious about new things, especially about small animals, with infinite gentleness and care,' he continued. 'She always had a unique and fascinating taste, always able to use her vision and creativity to add beauty and inspiration to the world.' Advertisement Ruoyu's friends and fans rushed to social media to pay their respects, with fellow beauty content creator Nancy Tsai sharing a series of snaps of the pair over the course of their 15-year friendship. 4 The Taiwanese content creator's death was announced by her husband on Sunday. @hehehaha1989/Instagram 4 Despite sharing content on social media since 2012, Ruoyu had never seen herself as an 'influencer,' according to her husband. @hehehaha1989/Instagram 'We have so many memories worth smiling together,' she wrote on Instagram, revealing that the pair traveled to Singapore, Los Angeles and Tokyo. 'On the next part of the journey, be able to continue smiling from the heart. Love you always.' Advertisement Meanwhile, Ruoyu's frequent collaborator Hannah Yang added, 'Still miss you so much.' The social media star often shared beauty tips and tricks with her loyal fanbase. Her most recent upload was on June 3, which saw her try on various different sunglasses during a shopping spree. 4 The social media star often shared beauty tips and tricks with her loyal fanbase. @hehehaha1989/Instagram The influencer often engaged with followers directly in the comments section and was known to have built a close connection with her fans. In addition to her work as a beauty guru, Ruoyu had also recently launched a music career. The aspiring singer released her debut single, titled 'Mist,' in 2022.
Tom's Guide
5 days ago
- Tom's Guide
Netflix drops first trailer for one of my most anticipated dark thriller shows — and it's a bold twist on revenge
Every week, I like to scroll through Netflix's page for new and trending releases to see what's coming and what to keep on my radar. Months ago, I spotted the dark thriller series 'The Resurrected' in its coming soon section, with nothing but a mysterious cover image and a very brief synopsis. Even with just those scraps of information, my interest was piqued. 'The Resurrected' is a Taiwanese revenge thriller in which two desperate mothers resurrect the deceased ringleader of a telecommunications fraud ring to avenge their kidnapped daughters. It's not a premise I've ever come across before, as bringing someone back to life solely for revenge is a pretty wild hook. After months of waiting, we finally have our first trailer, along with a release date of October 9. That's pretty perfect timing for the Halloween lead-up. On death row, Chang Shih-kai (Fu Meng-Po) is strapped to the execution platform. His mother, Yueh-sin (Chung Hsin-ling), wears an unsettling smile as she looks on, while two women, Wang Hui-chun (Shu Qi) and Chao Ching (Sinje Lee), the relatives of his victims, watch with cold detachment. The execution is over in moments. For Wang, it brings no closure, only a sharper edge to her grief and fury. In a cruel twist, death feels less like justice for Chang and more like an escape. Refusing to let him slip away so easily, Wang and Chao perform a forbidden ritual that pulls him back from the grave, but only for seven days. In that brief span, Chang finds himself stripped of freedom and trapped in their unrelenting quest for vengeance, enduring both physical torment and moral reckoning. Of course, resurrecting such evil comes with consequences, and the trailer makes it clear that their revenge soon spirals out of control. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Along with the trailer and release date, we also got a longer synopsis: 'Set in the fictional city of Benkha, The Resurrected centers on two mothers united by hatred, seeking revenge for their daughters caught in a fraud and kidnapping case. 'With help from a mysterious goddess, they revive the deceased ringleader of the fraud scheme to punish him. Yet, despite inflicting relentless pain, their fury remains unquenched. As dark secrets unravel, their alliance is tested, forcing them to confront the limits of justice and their own morality.' Helmed by Leste Chen ('Eternal Summer') and Hsu Chao-jen ('Living'), this revenge thriller brings together a strong creative team. Leading the cast are internationally acclaimed actresses Shu Qi and Sinje Lee, making their first appearance in a Chinese-language Netflix series. The lineup also includes a special guest role from Golden Horse Award winner Alyssa Chia. Shu Qi said (h/t Variety): 'I'm really looking forward to it. When I first received the script, I felt it was a bold and groundbreaking story — not just for me as an actress, but also for Chinese-language series in general. I've already seen some rough cuts during dubbing, but when I saw the teaser, I still went, 'Wow!'' Sinje Lee also added: 'I've never encountered a female-driven story that's so intense, a little wild, and deeply emotional. It was such a thrill to be a part of it, and of course, I'm even more excited for the day we get to share it with audiences around the world.' 'The Resurrected' is already on my must-watch list, and I'm even more excited for the colder months to roll around. Being a Halloween lover, I'm always on the lookout for darker thrillers to dive into, and Netflix is delivering with this supernatural series dropping at the start of October. Even better, the first two episodes will be showcased at the 30th Busan International Film Festival this September, so we're bound to start seeing early reactions and buzz well before the official release. The premise alone has me hooked because it feels fresh compared to the usual revenge thrillers. The idea of bringing someone back to life for revenge is a bold concept and one I haven't really seen before. With such talented directors and actors involved, I'm confident it's going to be intense and emotional. Stream 'The Resurrected' on Netflix starting October 9. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
