Review: Yess

Dining at the contemporary Japanese Yess Restaurant is a spiritual experience. Located in Los Angeles’s colorful Arts District in a former bank, the space is large, tall-walled, and minimalist in design and decor. And despite the room’s massive size, dinner is an intimate affair. Diners sit side by side at a long cypress counter as they face chef Junya Yamasaki and his team—dressed in all-white garb like some sort of culinary cult—work their magic in the kitchen, slicing sashimi in silence or gently grilling skewers of freshly foraged mushrooms, twisting and turning until just cooked. The meal is a meditation on restraint, where less is more and ingredients take center stage on the plate. Somehow you’ll leave Yess feeling like a healthier human. —Omar Mamoon