Walking into the backyard, it feels like entering a closed set of “The Kardashians” — except instead of the reality stars, chef Jet Tila is slinging barbecue. The celebrity chef is filming a new YouTube series in partnership with Coyote Outdoor at his Calabasas, California, home. Amid the gorgeous backdrop of his recently renovated outdoor kitchen and built-in TV set, Tila is deftly whipping up meaty dishes for the camera.
His wife, Allison “Ali” Tila, is helping him bake bread in their outdoor oven for the segment. Though Tila attended French culinary school in his early 20s, there is no pretense of fussy tweezing or judgment here as he cheerfully prepares his dishes. “A comfort meal for me is cooking a burger,” Tila tells TODAY.
com between takes. He adds making pizza and pasta for the couple’s two kids — who are nine and 12 years old — to the comfort-food lineup. Tila says he makes pizza at least once a week, adding with a laugh that “as a , I buy dough.
” Much like Ina Garten, he agrees store-bought is fine. “Straight up, man,” he chuckles. “But at least we’re cooking with the kids! We’re having community around our kitchen.
” That kitchen community is one that has long shaped his family. His Thai Chinese parents were some of the earliest trailblazers to bring Thai food to America in the 1970s. The history isn’t lost on Tila, who says Chinese cuisine is more of a “legacy food” in the U.
S. — since it’s — but that Thai food is a .
