• by Melynda Fuller , August 4, 2020

Los Angeles Times is bringing the communal dining experience online with its TimesDinner Series, set to launch September 5.

Restaurants Kato and Nightshade, along with their respective chefs Jon Yao and Mei Lin, collaborate for the first menu, which highlights their restaurants’ Taiwanese and Chinese influences. Dishes include smoked kanpachi and charred scallion and pork-belly ssam with fish sauce caramel. A cocktail pairing is available for the event.

LAT food columnist Luca Kwan Peterson hosts the first event, bringing together dinner guests and chefs over video chat. A discussion accompanies the meal.

Kato and Nightshade both appeared on the Times 101 Best Restaurants of 2019.

The series is sponsored by City National Bank with Project Angel Food stepping in as its charity partner.

Hosted by the Times Food staff, the series features two types of events that rotate between chef collaboration meals. They include a curated three-course takeout meal culled from two L.A.-based restaurants and a celebrity dinner party, featuring a three-course menu and an online get-together attended by special guests.

Tickets for the first Times Dinner Series meal are $175.

The next dinner is slated to take place September 12.