User:Ggcvegas/Jet Tila

Jet Tila is an American chef, restaurateur and media personality. Born in Los Angeles to a Thai and Chinese family, Tila grew up working in his family’s markets and restaurants. As a child, he learned to cook alongside his Cantonese grandmother, and continued his food education at the California School of California Art. From the earliest stages of his career, Tila has cultivated a reputation as a media contributor as well as a developer and consultant, fashioning a diversified role in the food and beverage industry.

CAREER

Tila’s parents moved to Los Angeles from Thailand in the early 1970s and opened Bangkok Market, the first Thai grocery store in the United States, and the Royal Thai restaurants, some of the first Thai restaurants in the country. The largest Thai population in the world outside of Thailand resides in Los Angeles, and its Thai Town area is often referred to as the “77th Province” of Thailand. After growing up in his family’ s businesses and emerging as a nationally renowned chef, Tila has been referred to as the “Mayor of Thai Town.”

While formalizing his culinary education at Le Cordon Bleu California, Tila made a name for himself at the age of 22 when the LA Times featured his backyard cooking classes. He began working in the newspaper’s test kitchen and writing for the food section. Tila balanced cooking classes and demonstrations with various consulting and private chef gigs, including the opening of Pacific Cafe at Google headquarters in Silicon Valley. He spent some time moonlighting at several restaurants including Grace and Hungry Cat, and began consulting and developing with corporations including Bon Appetite Management, Lee Kum Kee, Kikkoman USA and Compass North America.

In 2008, Tila moved to Las Vegas to open the restaurant Wazuzu at Encore Las Vegas, Steve Wynn’s new casino resort on the Vegas Strip. During his three years as executive chef at Wazuzu, Tila built a name for himself in the Vegas food scene, contributed writing to Las Vegas Weekly, and delivered some of the first pop-up dinner experiences in Las Vegas at the Fukuburger food truck, and restaurants Marche Bacchus and Origin India. He also appeared on national television several times including a stint on Iron Chef America and launched a successful Asian frozen food line with Schwan Food Company's Home Service.

Tila returned to Los Angeles in late 2011. Having already launched the successful Bistronomics pop-up dinner series there, he continued to develop new concepts with the Spring 2012 opening The Charleston in Santa Monica, a speakeasy-style nightlife venue with a menu of modern American comfort food.

NATIONAL MEDIA APPEARANCES

In 2007, Tila appeared on Anthony Bourdain’s acclaimed Travel Channel show No Reservations. The episode spotlighted the local cuisine of Los Angeles, with Tila giving Bourdain a tour through Thai Town. Tila also has been featured on the Food Network shows The Best Of and The Secret Life Of spotlighting “Fiery Foods”), on PBS’ Visiting With Huell Howser, HGTV’s Smart Solutions, and on TLC’s Take Home Chef.

Tila has been a frequent guest on National Public Radio’s Good Food with Evan Kleiman.

In 2008, Tila joined with Veria TV to launch an ongoing internet video cooking series called Chasing The Yum, giving the chef an opportunity to share his recipes and knowledge of Asian cuisine.

In 2010, Tila appeared on Food Network’s Best Thing I Ever Ate when his Drunken Noodles dish was chosen as a favorite by Giada De Laurentiis.

In 2011, Tila appeared on Iron Chef America, challenging the legendary Chef Masaharu Morimoto in “Battle Seaweed.” It was a close contest, but Morimoto edged Tila by a few points.

In 2012, Tila appeared on Cooking Channel’s Easy Chinese with Ching-he Huang and cooked in his own Los Angeles backyard.

In fall 2012, Tila was scheduled to appear as a judge on several episodes of Food Network’s Chopped.

AWARDS & RECORDS

In 1999, Tila was awarded Best Recipe of the Year from the Los Angeles Times for his Tom Yum soup. Also, his Tom Kha Gai soup was named one of the Ten Best Recipes of 2000.

In 2009, Tila’s Las Vegas restaurant Wazuzu was named to Conde Nast Traveler’s Hot List. It also was featured by Las Vegas Weekly for its Korean-style short ribs dish.

In 2010, Tila set a new Guinness World Record for the World’s Longest California Roll, a 422-foot sushi roll created from 650 sheets of nori, 200 pounds of rice, 200 pounds of crab, and 100 pounds of avocado. The record was set with the help of 300 volunteers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

In 2010, Wazuzu was voted “Best Asian Restaurant” by the readers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal in its annual “Best of Las Vegas” poll.

In 2011, Tila set another Guinness World Record at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, this time for the World’s Largest Stir Fry. A 14-foot wok was used to cook 4,010 pounds of vegetables and chicken.