Yang’s Kitchen

The inspiration

Yang's Kitchen began as a dream that chef Chris Yang and his high school sweetheart Maggie Ho shared while dating, eating their way through new restaurants and cooking at home together¹ . The kitchen aims to source local, sustainable and organic ingredients when possible, cooking everything from scratch² .

Who's behind it

Chef and co-owner Chris Yang was born and raised in Alhambra, and he learned professional cooking under Bryant Ng at the Spice Table before becoming sous chef at Cassia^3,1 . Co-owner Maggie Ho, who runs the front of house as general manager, brings Taiwanese roots to the table alongside Yang's Cantonese and Vietnamese heritage^1,4 .

What to order

Popular dish

Cornmeal mochi pancake⁵

a brunch essential made from blue cornmeal and mochiko rice flour, nearly spanning the whole plate

• Cold sesame noodles: a menu mainstay through every era, with local spaghetti in a slurpable sesame sauce, cucumbers, pickled carrots and peanuts, plus housemade chile crisp for heat⁵
• Hainan fish rice: dry-aged sea bass over chicken fat rice enriched with chile butter, served with ginger scallion sauce and pickled cucumbers^5,4
• Dan dan campanelle: curly noodles wrapped in a rich peanut-sesame sauce with scallions and chili crisp, and it happens to be vegan⁴

What people are saying

Critics keep returning to the restaurant's ingredient-driven sourcing, with a menu board naming the farmers and producers behind each meal and a stated commitment to living wages and sustainable food systems^6,4 . Reviewers also track its evolution from a daytime counter to a full dinner service with natural wine, and The Infatuation calls the current version the most exciting yet^6,5 . Diners and critics alike have loved the food since it opened in 2019⁴ .

Why you should try it

Yang's Kitchen offers inventive Asian diasporic plates in a bright, minimalist room on Main Street in Alhambra^5,3 .