THE TEAM
ADAM SINDLER
OWNER / PARTNER | SHŌ
Adam Sindler is a Japanese-American restaurateur and the owner of SHŌ. A fourth-generation operator, Adam grew up immersed in the family business, Kamehachi, which his great-grandmother opened nearly six decades ago as Chicago’s first sushi restaurant. By the time he was 14, he was bussing tables, running carryout, and learning the rhythms of restaurant life from the inside out.
Kamehachi remains a beloved fixture in the city, and Adam always knew he’d return to it — but not before stepping out to earn his stripes.
In 2019, he joined the team at Roister under the Alinea Group, working alongside a newly appointed executive chef. His role as expediter — liaising between front- and back-of-house — quickly evolved into a crash course in Michelin-level precision and high-volume service. It was there that he caught the itch for fine dining and developed a deeper understanding of how food, space, and storytelling could collide.
That appetite for innovation ultimately became the foundation for SHŌ, a modern omakase concept in the heart of Old Town (just next door to Kamehachi) that reimagines the format through a bold, innovative lens. With an artist father and a long lineage of restaurateurs on his mother’s side, Adam’s instincts have always straddled the creative and the operational, bringing a design-minded approach to every touchpoint of the guest experience.
SHŌ is the culmination of that journey: a space that bridges legacy and innovation and reflects a new kind of hospitality that is intentional, immersive, and built to resonate beyond the plate.
MARI KATSUMURA
EXECUTIVE CHEF | SHŌ
Mari Katsumura’s approach to cooking is equal parts creativity and discipline, a reflection of her singular path from art student to Michelin-starred chef. Raised in an apartment above her family’s beloved Lakeview restaurant, Yoshi’s Café, she was immersed in hospitality from the very beginning.
Drawn to all forms of creative expression, she originally set out to study Studio Arts and Art History before feeling a gravitational pull back toward the world of food. Pivoting from her liberal arts education, Katsumura went on to study at Le Cordon Bleu and the French Pastry School in Chicago, where she discovered a new kind of canvas — one that allowed her to translate artistic training into a culinary language all her own.
She quickly rose through the ranks in some of Chicago’s most demanding and decorated kitchens. Early on, she joined the opening team at Grace, helping the restaurant earn its three Michelin stars. She continued to hone her patisserie pedigree at Paul Kahan’s Blackbird. That momentum carried her into Entente, where she served as Chef de Cuisine and Pastry Chef; the restaurant earned a Michelin star in 2018 and cemented her reputation as one of the city’s most promising culinary talents. Her most prolific chapter to date came at Yūgen, the contemporary Japanese restaurant in the West Loop, where she served as Executive Chef and led the team to earn a Michelin star within its first year.
Now, at SHŌ, Katsumura leads a genre-defying omakase experience that reflects her Japanese heritage, French training, and an unwavering commitment to omotenashi — a hospitality philosophy centered on humility, care, and quiet generosity.
At SHŌ, her ten-course tasting menu anchors the intimate dining room, delivering a sharply edited expression of Japanese tradition reimagined through a modern, distinctly personal lens.
DAN CHA
CHEF DE CUISINE | SHŌ
As Chef de Cuisine at SHŌ, Dan Cha brings a foundation in French technique, an affinity for Korean and Japanese ingredients, and a conviction that food should be fun. Working closely with Executive Chef Mari Katsumura, he helps shape the restaurant’s evolving menus through a steady exchange of ideas, experimentation, and tasting.
A childhood calling, nurtured in the kitchen alongside his mother, led Cha to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. There, he completed a four-year program in culinary science and business, deepening his understanding of both the craft of cooking and the ways restaurants connect with people.
He built his career in Chicago fine dining, working at Blackbird, Moto, and Entente before serving as Chef de Cuisine at the Chicago Athletic Association. His collaboration with Katsumura predates SHŌ, bringing an established creative rapport to their work at the counter. Along the way, he has also developed pop-ups across the city, creating opportunities to explore his own ideas and share them with new audiences.
At SHŌ, Cha oversees quality and consistency while pursuing a particular interest in fermentation and preservation. Guided by a zero-waste approach, he explores how each ingredient can take on different forms, extending its life and finding new uses as its flavors develop.
In SHŌ’s intimate kitchen, that resourcefulness carries into how he leads the small team. He holds himself to everything he asks of his staff, anticipates challenges, and steps in wherever needed, with the understanding that no one is above the work.
PRESTON SMITH
GENERAL MANAGER / SOMMELIER | SHŌ
Smith built his career in Chicago’s fine dining scene, holding combined sommelier and management roles at Cherry Circle Room and Beity Chicago before joining SHŌ. As General Manager and Sommelier, he oversees both the guest experience and the wine and sake program, a dual responsibility that demands equal fluency on the floor and behind the beverage list.
His program is built on conviction. Every producer practices biodynamic or sustainable farming, and every selection is chosen to work in service of Chef Mari Katsumura’s intricate cooking rather than alongside it.
Smith prioritizes female brewers and winemakers wherever possible, a value embodied by his favorite sake: Ine Mankai, a rosé sake from a fully female-led brewing team that has anchored every pairing menu since SHŌ opened.
He approaches the program less as a formal pairing exercise and more as a carefully sequenced playlist, where each pour earns its place.
PEPE PEREYRA
MIXOLOGIST | SHŌ
Pepe Pereyra is a Chicago-based bartender and the mixologist behind SHŌ’s beverage program. A proud Mexican, he traces his approach back to a family where cooking and entertaining were the natural language of care. Feeding people, and pouring for them, was how affection got expressed. That belief still anchors his work. A drink should be made with heart and shared with the people who matter.
Pereyra began his career in Chinese and Japanese kitchens across Colorado and Texas, studying at EPOC Culinary Arts before finding his place behind the bar. In Chicago, he served as Lead Bartender at River Roast and The Cherry Circle Room, with additional roles at After Lounge and Milk Room, the intimate eight-seat bar inside the Chicago Athletic Association recognized among North America’s 50 Best Bars.
At SHŌ, Pereyra builds cocktails that draw on Asian ingredients and cuisine, taking classic flavor profiles and treating each drink like a remix. His kitchen background lets him pull components from Chef Mari Katsumura’s menus and rework them in the glass, celebrating those flavors and tightening the interplay between food and drink. Harmony and balance guide the program: combinations that seem unlikely on paper come together with clarity and purpose.
A guitar player and woodworker who cooks constantly, Pereyra enjoys the experimentation and hands-on work that each pursuit allows. At SHŌ, that curiosity finds expression in drinks that explore the meeting of sweet, savory, and umami, as well as the possibilities of non-alcoholic cocktails.
He sees the program as an ongoing exchange with colleagues and guests, shaped as much by listening as by testing new ideas.