Turning exceptional ingredients into delicious food could be called Chris Yang’s raison d’être. Born in Alhambra and raised by parents who emigrated to the United States from Hong Kong and Vietnam, Yang grew up in a neighborhood that celebrated Asian flavors while reinterpreting them on American soil, a duality that informs his approach to cooking and hospitality.
Yang and his high school sweetheart, Maggie Ho, bonded over a shared love of food. After attending the University of California, San Diego together, Yang began working under Bryant Ng, then chef of the DTLA restaurant Spice Table, a homage to Southeast Asian street food. He later took a break to travel through Asia with Ho. Five months roaming the continent deepened their knowledge of regional cuisines and crystallized their dream of opening their own restaurant, one that would embrace the old-world dishes they grew up with while reinterpreting them through a Californian lens. Back in Los Angeles, they sat down with Ng, who had moved on to Santa Monica’s Cassia, to learn how to run a restaurant.
In 2019, Yang and Ho opened Yang’s Kitchen, a bright, minimalist restaurant on Main Street in Alhambra. It quickly drew attention for its reinterpretations of Chinese American comfort dishes and its ingredient-driven approach, sourcing produce from Food Roots, a collective of Asian farmers, and whole-grain flours from Pasadena’s Grist & Toll. Rather than replicating recipes from the motherland, Yang creates dishes that feel both familiar and new. Snap peas in XO sauce taste freshly harvested; potatoes with cumin and Sichuan chili flakes are calibrated for warmth rather than heat.
