Chris Ono Is Bringing Heisei Home to Culver City, Where He Was Born

A fourth-generation Japanese American chef, an era name for a restaurant, and a return to the city he was born in.

Chris Ono is opening a permanent Japanese American restaurant called Heisei on Washington Boulevard in Culver City, with an October target. A banner has gone up in the window, which is how most of Los Angeles found out.

It is a homecoming in the literal sense. Ono was born in Culver City.

Where he has cooked

The resume is serious and unusually international for a chef opening a neighborhood restaurant. Ono has worked at Eleven Madison Park in New York, RyuGin in Tokyo, Mori Sushi in Los Angeles and Providence, Michael Cimarusti's three-Michelin-starred seafood restaurant on Melrose.

Since 2022 he has run Hansei, a tasting menu pop-up inside the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center at 244 S. San Pedro Street in Little Tokyo. Reservations there have sold out quickly and consistently.

The concept

Hansei translates as self-reflection, and the menu was built around exactly that. As Sunset described it, Ono presents a modern interpretation of LA Nikkei cuisine, following Japanese seasonality while leaning on California farmers market produce, all filtered through his experience as a yonsei, a fourth-generation Japanese American.

Heisei is expected to shift somewhat from that format in a permanent home, though details have not been released. The name continues the thread. Heisei is the Japanese era that ran from 1989 to 2019, and the characters translate roughly as achieving peace.

The part that is not on the resume

The Rafu Shimpo profiled Ono in 2022, and the piece is worth reading for what it says about why this opening matters locally. He is active in the Venice Japanese American community and stepped in to help the Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Temple when it could not hold its annual Obon festival. A temple treasurer described him as even-keeled throughout, and framed that as what it looks like to be a top chef.

A chef with that resume could open anywhere. Opening in the city he was born in, a short drive from the community he has supported, is a choice.

Visiting

One thing to confirm before you drive out. The address is reported inconsistently. The Infatuation lists Heisei at 1028 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232. Local blog Toddrick Allen, who spotted the banner in the window, lists 11028 Washington Boulevard. Given that Culver City's Washington Boulevard numbering runs in the thousands through the downtown stretch, the longer number is the likelier one, but neither is confirmed and the restaurant does not yet appear in mapping services. FJM will lock the address down before opening.

• Target opening: October 2026.

• Format: Japanese American, expected to evolve from the Hansei tasting menu concept.

• Meanwhile: Hansei has operated at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, 244 S. San Pedro Street in Little Tokyo, with reservations selling out fast.

What we have our eye on: whether the tasting menu survives the move. A pop-up inside a cultural center and a permanent Culver City dining room are different businesses, and the interesting question is how much of Hansei carries over. FJM will report back after opening.

Follow along with more LA restaurant news, see what else has opened in our guide to new restaurants in Los Angeles, or browse our picks for the best food in Los Angeles.