YESS Restaurant

03/28/2026

F★ck Yess #2 la
Saturday, March 28
5PM - 11PM

F★CK YESS #2 is going to take place at our favorite Hollywood wine bar / restaurant .la

F★CK YESS is a pop up party designed to bring an absolute .restaurant experience, by Food, by Drink and by wonderful Guests. And this time we created new dishes such as Confit Black cod & Sopa de Ajo, Khinkali ( Georgian Dumpling ) with Melted Porcini Butter, inspired by the food we had in our own wine trip in Europe! We also decided to serve our Yess Classic such as Monk’s Chirashi-sushi to answer requests of many.
Please come and join!

Reservation

[MENU]

Bread and butter 6

Kumquat and sweet miso “Dengaku” 6

Date stuffed with smoked walnut 6

Pickles plate 6

Breakfast radish, salted mackerel and almond butter 6

Seremoni Grade Red snapper sashimi in perilla leaf 6 each

Oyster with chilled dashi vinegar, apple, daikon and shiso 6 each

Big market green salad with herbs, blood orange, green strawberry and miso vinaigrette 19

Almond wood seared Seremoni Grade tuna “Tataki” with mustard, fennel and lemon 23

Pork belly and cacao “Kakuni-Mole” with sweet potato and yellow tortilla 23

Monk’s spring “Chirashi-Sushi” with grapefruit, asparagus, peas, artichoke, fennel, almond, Shiso 28

Confit Seremoni Grade Black Cod with new season garlic, tomato and egg “Sopa De Ajo” 34

Chicken “Kinkali” ( Georgian dumpling ) with melted California porcini butter 45

Irish coffee and date “Kakigori” ( shaved ice ) 12

Strawberry, mochi and condensed milk “Kakigori” 16

03/03/2026

F★CK YESS POP-UP

MARCH 5TH
2pm - 5 om

F★CK YESS is a party designed
to bring an Absolute YESS experience,
by Food, by Drink and by Wonderful Guests.
F★CK YESS # 1 is going to take place
in our favorite westside restaurant

on this Thursday, March 5th
in the afternoon from 2pm to 5pm.
The Food concept is Japan meets San Sebastián,
think Japanese Pintxos!!!

[MENU]

- Oyster Martini 12
- Kampachi Yellowtail, Perilla Leaf “Temaki” 7
- Confit Black Cod Pan Con Tomato” 6
- Pork Belly & Cacao “Kakuni” 6
- Grilled Chanterelle, Cheese & Epazote Tacos 5
- Calamari, English Pea & Mint Kakiage-Tempura Tacos 6
- Yakitori Tacos 5
- Pickled Ginger & Preserved Mayer Lemon “Onigiri” ( Rice Ball ) 5
- “Ten-Musu” ( Tempura Prawn Rice Ball ) 7

- Irish Coffee, Date & Strawberry Meringue 6

02/06/2026

Relocating.

Yess Restaurant and Cafe2001 completed our final service on Jan. 25th, 2026 and safely our move-out.
And we are currently temporarily closed as we prepare to our next step.

Thank you so much again, for all your love and support. We cannot wait to see you in our next chapter.

We will post updates on our website and instagram soon as soon as we are ready.

01/25/2026

Dear Moeko,
Your Salt Painting “Eleven faced”was created through a process: pouring dissolved salt—the same salt we use in our restaurant—onto the canvas, letting it dry, and then repeating this process over and over to build countless layers. It is a masterpiece created over a long period of time.

We are deeply grateful to have spent the past three years surrounded by these eleven grand pieces. Your thoughts, wishes, and prayers are woven into this work. We all have been truly protected and healed by the strong yet pure and quiet spirit you poured into them.

Thank you so much with all our love and respect.

Only a few more days until .restaurant moves to a new location. For the memory/record of Eleven-faced at this location.

I first met the Team YESS in the elevator, where we began chatting. After a while, they shared with me the YESS project they were planning and offered me a wonderful opportunity to create a painting for their wall. Through visits and conversations, we arrived at the size and placement of the paintings together.

Eleven-Faced consists of ten separate panels. Each panel represents a different element—soil, water, fire, life/death, the spirit of YESS, energy, sound/vibration, light, and nothingness/everythingness. The work was inspired by the Eleven-Faced Kannon. Each panel becomes one face and represents one element, with the eleventh face being each person who enters the space.

After three years of hanging above the kitchen area, each paintings started to grow with them and changing its own faces now, which I love and enjoy to see every time I visit.

I would like to thank the Team YESS for inviting me to create this work for the restaurant, and for allowing the paintings to grow with them. I also extend my gratitude to everyone who helped bring these paintings into being.

As the restaurant prepares to move from this location in just a few days, I feel truly excited for their new chapter.

With much love and gratitude

-

Eleven-faced

2021 - 2023

11/14/2025

Porcini “Sawani” AKA Hunter’s Soup
Sawani is a traditional Soup in Japan, originated in Hunters’ culture. They used to bring a salted pork with them when they go hunting in the mountain, where they cut the meat and vegetable thin and boil them together to make a soup. Today you can see the “Sawani” quite often in Kaiseki course meal as a simple and elegant soup dish.
Since I’m also a hunter, I practice this .restaurant with my recent catch of Sierra Porcini Mushroom. I use Pork which is raised beautifully at the food of Sierra mountain where those Mushroom grows.
Porcini and Pork are the great combination anyhow. Let alone this soup. Can’t love enough this simple dish.

11/13/2025

This has been rolled up for almost a year. Mostly because I’ve been too lazy to pick up a hammer and glue and find some string and get a small Japanese saw to cut the perfect stick. Sometimes everything has been ready but you’re just waiting for some friends to hang out with to climb a ladder with you. The SPAM gyotaku scroll is finally hung at .restaurant - go and see it! It’s hanging from a California elderberry branch from the garden. (I guess the stick needed to dry out for a year. Or did it?) Gyotaku is a Japanese tradition where fisherman would ink fish to record their catches. I did it with SPAM, imagining I caught a can of SPAM in a sea where American colonial post war militarism blends with local cultures and traditions and is carried down generations and into new places in migrations and diasporas (yes it’s true if you come to my kitchen you will find a plexi SPAM musubi mold in a drawer - I’ve always wanted to cast this in bronze…). Hawai’i, Okinawa, Korea, The Philippines. Little Tokyo, Gardena, Sawtelle, Crenshaw, Jefferson. I’ve told this story before but in Sawtelle there was an old market called Granada that I suspected was named after the Colorado town where the Amache internment/incarceration camp was. Where my grandmother was. Kiyoko. I knew the market would close soon. Their shelves would get emptier and emptier. But everyday there were fresh SPAM musubis. Every time I walked by the market I would buy one. I did this until it was finally closed and turned into a craft beer store. (What is the craft of erasing histories?) Ok. Also need to thank of course Hannah and Sophie who actually did all the work while I just looked and licked my lips from our lunch next door at .la - thank you .populations / always thank you to I am now in love with elderberry sticks. I hope you like it ! (And thank you to Ryan for the Japanese saw! And to for the paper, ink, and glue!)

11/13/2025

08/21/2025

Thank you so much Jasmin .ourtable for this beautiful words. We are always so happy to have you here. 😊

——————
an unforgettable evening .restaurant last month

it has become more and more rare to return to a place and see familiar faces, especially in a city like los angeles. i do not take for granted the warm smiles and twinkling eyes that are still there, creating an atmosphere of familiarity and grace

each time i am here, i am more in awe of ‘s intentions and profound respect for nature’s rhythms. these form the foundation of his exquisite cuisine, which i describe as minimal intervention and maximum pleasure for the palate and the senses
the curated wine list is full of gems. my dear friend and i couldn’t forget the invigorating, lyrical and ephemeral imanol garay ixilune 2022
it was a privilege to be in this temple to beauty, nature’s bounty and the pursuit of passions in life. needless to say i was overwhelmed to see chanterelle brimming with joy and energy, and witness the love between her and junya

until next time!

07/26/2025

We are happy to announce our next Pop Up with
Snail Bar Oakland

Wednesday, August 6th, 2025

One Night Event!
Only Dinner!
Don’t miss it!

Reservation now on Resy😎

Special Collaboratopn Menu
7 courses + 2 snacks
$90 /person

- Mussel “Surf ’n Turf “
Smoked Beef Fat, Shellfish Crema, Pimentón, Sherry

- Pickled Momotaro Tomato
Tamai Farm Momotaro Tomato, Vegan Dashi, Tamari, Ginger, Sansho Pepper

————

- Crudité Free Style & Koji Soy Dip
Market Vegetable Crudite x 5 Different preparations

- Walla Walla Onion Ring & Plum Ketchup
Tamai Farm Walla Walla Sweet Onion Tempura, Ken’s Top Notch Farm Plum Ketchup

- Bluefin Tuna Tostadas
Local Bluefin Tuna Akami, Chutaro, Brownaw Avocado, Salsa Macha, Ceviche Mix

- Grilled Baby Squash, Corn & Raw Scallop
Char-grilled Baby Squash, Garlic Corn, Miso Beurre Monté, Scallop, Umeboshi, Yuzu Ponzu

- Roast Pork & Jimmy Nardello Tonnato
Slow Roasted Peads and Barnetts Pork Loin, Jimmy Nardello Pepper, Sage, Confit Tuna Aioli

- Tuna Belly Carpaccio Rice
Charcoal Kissed Tuna Belly, Comte Cultured Butter, Soy, Wood Fire Cooked Rice , Egg Yolk Sauce, Scallion, Juls Brother Chilli Crunch, Freshly grated Mt Shasta Wasabi, House Ponzu

- Snail Bar Special Kakigori
Vanilla and Coconut Sweetened Condensed Milk, Raspberry Mezcal Sauce, Fresh Raspberrie, Creme Fraishe, Balsámico, Clive Oil

07/24/2025

07/21/2025

Thank you so much for the opportunity to cook for your wonderful event. We had great time and so much fun. 😊

just gave us the film back from our Kaiseki extravaganza on Thursday (to celebrate the launch of our Summer Japan Box, sourced entirely from Japanese farmers and makers). It was led by master chef Junya Yamasaki, — the visionary behind .restaurant a restaurant in downtown LA responsible for the most quiet, yet ambitious cooking in our city. He has a gentle soul and an enormous grace, both of which emulate into his cooking. He made our bellies full and our hearts softer.

When chef Junya arrived in LA and couldn’t source fish that were dispatched using his preferred technique (called ike jime and shinkei jime) he taught local fishermen how to do it. He is a devoted fisher and diver himself, and he’s since continued to teach this method — creating a more efficient supply chain and seriously improving the quality of fish in our region. Of course, his seafood is incredible, and we were so lucky to have it at our table. It was the most masterful Kaiseki dinner I’ve ever had.

Much love to our friends who joined us under such a big glowing moon and a balmy LA night. and I appreciate every one of you. Kampai x Richard