j o h n w e s l e y

c h e f + o w n e r

Born and raised in San Jose, Ca, John joined the Sons & Daughters team out of culinary school. Spending most of his career in the Bay Area and New York, most notably under James Syhabout at Commis, Bruno Chemel at Baumé, and Fredrik Berselius at the reopening of Aska. He returned to Sons & Daughters years later as Chef de Cuisine where he worked with Julianna Yang, his partner in Kiln.

j u l i a n n a y a n g

g m + o w n e r

Born and raised in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Julianna started her career in hospitality while attending college in Santa Barbara. On her return to San Francisco, she joined the Sons & Daughters team as a backwaiter and eventually captain, before managing the restaurant for the last several years. She and John left in early 2023 to open Kiln.

c a r l o s a n d r a d e

c h e f d e c u i s i n e

Carlos was born in Ecuador and grew up in South Korea. At 17, he moved to the U.S. to pursue his culinary career and attended the Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park. Upon graduating, he joined Momofuku Ko before spending some time in South America. His return to New York brought him to 2 Michelin-starred Aska, where he eventually became a sous chef. Following his move to San Francisco, he worked at Avery and Sons & Daughters before opening Kiln.

v i n c e n t b a l a o

b e v e r a g e d i r e c t o r

Vincent was born in the Philippines and grew up in Oahu. His career in hospitality began with Alan Wong’s in Honolulu. There he met the group of friends who would eventually get together to open Lucky Belly and later Livestock Tavern. His experience with building those concepts inspired him to further explore the hospitality industry, which led him to San Francisco in 2015. Since then, he has worked at Spruce, Benu and most recently Atelier Crenn as their Lead Sommelier, before joining the opening team at Kiln.

c a r l s o r i a n o

s o u s c h e f

Carl was born and raised in the Philippines. He moved to the United States after graduating culinary school in 2015. He worked and spend five years in Utah and moved to San Francisco in 2020 to gain more knowledge about food. So far, he has worked at Birdsong, Californios and Sons & Daughters, before joining the opening team at Kiln.