Jet Tilakamonkul, known professionally as Jet Tila ( th, เจ็ท ติลกมลกุล; ), is an American celebrity chef, author, restaurateur, and restaurant developer.

Early life

Tila was born in Los Angeles to

Thai Chinese Thai Chinese (also known as Chinese Thais, Sino-Thais), Thais of Chinese origin ( th, ชาวไทยเชื้อสายจีน; ''exonym and also domestically''), endonym Thai people ( th, ชาวไทย), are Chinese descenda ...

parents who immigrated to the United States separately in 1966. His family traces their ancestry to the southern Chinese island province of

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

Restaurant and culinary career

Jet Tila is the chef of the restaurants ''The Charleston'', and ''Pakpao Thai,'' both are located in Los Angeles, California. Tila is the restaurant developer of ''Dragon Tiger Noodle Co.'' with three locations in Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada. Tila has acted as a restaurant developer and minor partner for the chain restaurant Pei Wei Asian Kitchen (also known as Pei Wei Asian Diner, LLC). Tila was given a ceremonial title of a "culinary ambassador" for

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, appointed by the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Los Angeles. Tila has also been part of several novelty food-based records, including world's largest stir fry, world's largest seafood stew, world's largest fruit salad and world's largest California roll.

Filmography

He has appeared on television series including ''

Beat Bobby Flay ''Beat Bobby Flay'' is an American cooking competition show on the Food Network. It features various chefs competing against Bobby Flay. The show is taped in front of a live audience. Format In the first round, two guests, often a celebrity che ...

'', ''

The Best Thing I Ever Ate ''The Best Thing I Ever Ate'' is a television series that originally aired on Food Network, debuting on June 22, 2009 (after a preview on June 20). The program originally aired as a one-time special in late 2008. After being cancelled by The Food ...

,'' ''

Chopped Chopped can have the following meanings: * Chopped and screwed Chopped and screwed (also called screwed and chopped or slowed and throwed) is a music genre and technique of remixing music that involves slowing down the tempo and deejaying. It ...

'', ''

Cutthroat Kitchen ''Cutthroat Kitchen'' is an American cooking show hosted by Alton Brown that aired on the Food Network from August 11, 2013 to July 19, 2017. It features four chefs competing in a three-round elimination cooking competition. The contestants face ...

'', and ''

Guy's Grocery Games '' Guy's Grocery Games '' (often nicknamed ''Triple G'') is an American reality-based cooking television game show hosted by Guy Fieri on Food Network. Each episode features four chefs competing in a three-round elimination contest, cooking food ...

''. Tila is a regular on the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

television channel. He was a contestant on '' Iron Chef America'' but lost to The Iron Chef. In 2018, he returned to ''Iron Chef America'' as the floor reporter. Tila appeared on Gods of Food, a satirical food mockumentary by

Collegehumor CollegeHumor is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles. Aside from producing content for release on YouTube, it was also a former humor website owned by InterActiveCorp ( IAC) until January 2020, when IAC withdrew funding and the websi ...

. his appearances, Tila won $20,000 as the victorious competitor in ''

'' "Delivery: All-Star Noodles" (2021). Tila is one of the co-hosts of the new Food Network show, Halloween Cookie Challenge.

Personal life

Tila is married to his wife Allison; together they have two children, a daughter, Amaya, and a son, Ren.

Publications

References

External links

* * Chefs from California American male chefs American people of Chinese descent American people of Thai descent American restaurateurs Food Network chefs Living people 1975 births People from Los Angeles Chefs from Los Angeles {{chef-stub