Chef

Joshua Skenes

Chef and Co-Owner, Leopardo

Discipline: Chef
Venue: Leopardo · Restaurant

Portrait of Joshua Skenes

i. Biography

Before Joshua Skenes took over Leopardo in Los Angeles, the work was already defined by a narrow set of tools: hearth, fire, smoke, heat. That language came into focus at Saison in San Francisco, where he served as chef-owner after first opening the restaurant as a pop-up in the Mission District, then moving it into a permanent home in the South of Market neighborhood. Read that way, the career is less a sequence of moves than a repeated application of the same temperatures to different rooms.

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The Climb

At Saison in San Francisco, California, U.S, the progression from chef to founder and chef marks a shift from running a kitchen to shaping a restaurant’s framework as well. Joshua Skenes’s path there tracks with the way the project itself changed, from restaurant operation to something more fixed in place, while keeping the same elemental focus. The role change did not alter the underlying method: build the room, define the use of heat, and let the structure do some of the work. Today, Joshua is chef of Leopardo (since 2024) and chef of Happies Hand Made (since 2025). The throughline is construction as much as cooking, with each position treated as another way to work with space, scale, and flame.

Today

Skenes is chef of Leopardo in Los Angeles, where the project shifted as the room demanded more of it. Speaking about the expansion from the original idea, he said, "We wanted to do a pizza joint, and we found a great space. It just happened to be a little bigger than what we expected. So, I had to make more of it. It had to be more than pizza for a space that size." That is a practical way to describe restaurant development: the room sets the terms, and the kitchen answers them. At Leopardo, the work begins with size and use, then moves outward from there, with the dining room itself setting the limits and the possibilities.

In Their Words “We wanted to do a pizza joint, and we found a great space. It just happened to be a little bigger than what we expected. So, I had to make more of it. It had to be more than pizza for a space that size.”

Career - chef — Leopardo, Los Angeles, California, U.S. (2024–present) - chef — Happies Hand Made, Los Angeles, California, U.S. (2025–present) - chef — Saison, San Francisco, California, U.S. - founder and chef — Saison, San Francisco, California, U.S. - opening chef — Angler, San Francisco, California, U.S. (2018–2019) - founder — Angler, San Francisco, California, U.S. (2018–2019)

Recognition

Joshua's honors include Michelin star, Michelin Guide three Michelin stars (2014), and Best New Chefs. The list is short, but it points to the kind of attention that follows work built with a fixed vocabulary and a clear hand, from Saison to Angler and now through Leopardo and Happies Hand Made.

FAQ Where did Joshua Skenes work before? Joshua Skenes's earlier career included Saison, Saison, and Angler. What recognition has Joshua Skenes received? Michelin star (2018).