Team

Our Team

At Woven, our mission is to bring the flavors of the Pacific and the culture of the Puyallup Tribe to your plate. A task this important requires rare skill, experience, and precision so that it pays the proper homage to its rich culinary traditions.

Enter, Chef Founder Roy Yamaguchi and Executive Chef Dexter Mina.

A James Beard Award winner, founding member of the Hawaii Regional Cuisine movement, and the chef and founder of over 40 critically acclaimed restaurants, Chef Roy Yamaguchi is a fixed star in the firmament of Pacific cuisine. His culinary philosophy of unifying unique cultures reflects his upbringing; Roy’s father was born in Hawaii , his mother was born in Okinawa, and Roy himself was born and raised in Tokyo.

Chef Roy has showcased Hawaii-inspired cuisine to the world for over 40 years, eclipsed in length only by his lifelong love of cooking itself. Not only has he accomplished this showcase through his restaurants, he has done so through television (Top Chef Masters, Iron Chef) and through numerous philanthropic initiatives, including the Hawaii Food & Wine Festival, Roy Yamaguchi Annual Golf Classic, and the Tom and Warren Matsuda Scholarship Fund at the Culinary Institute of the Pacific.

Executive Chef Dexter Mina joins Chef Roy in bringing the bounty of the Pacific and its islands to your table.

Born and raised in Hawaii, Chef Dexter is a proud second-generation Filipino. He brings years of kitchen leadership and expertise to Woven, including Executive Sous Chef roles at Roy’s® Hawaii Kai and Roy’s® Waikiki. Chef Dexter has an expansive repertoire – not only was he brought up in the worlds of Filipino and Hawaii-inspired cuisine, he also worked at several Italian restaurants in Seattle, including a Sous Chef role at Autumn.

Chefs Roy and Dexter are the needle and thread of our culinary fabric, and we are grateful and humbled to join them in partnership with the Puyallup Tribe to weave indigenous flavors and traditions into the story of our restaurant.