Yoko and Kota will open on Tuesday, Dec. 22.
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Bruner-Yang named his latest restaurant after Yokota Airbase, where he lived from 2nd through 4th grade. Though he was young, he still has fond memories from his time in Japan and calls it the first time he really understood his “Asian American identity.”
On Sundays his family would let him ride his bike into town to pick up food at a market. “I was obsessed with motorcycle culture there,” Bruner-Yang says. “This is grade school in Japan you could venture off into the city because it was so safe.” He adds that Yoko represents his younger self while Kota represents his bike.