Hi, I’m Ali.
I spent a decade cooking in San Francisco — on the line at Nopa and Octavia, then as executive chef of Andytown Coffee Roasters — before trading restaurant kitchens for content creation, two kids, and a recent move to Los Angeles.
Now I make food content the way I actually cook: real recipes and real meals from a professional chef who’s also feeding a toddler and a baby on a Tuesday. My husband, the love of my life, is from India — and while you’ll find some classic dishes in my work (usually South Indian ones), that’s not really how his side of our table shows up. It shows up everywhere: curry leaves in the seasonal California cooking, chaat masala where you wouldn’t expect it, restaurant technique tangled up with the flavors of our blended family. It touches nearly everything I make.
You might know me from tinned fish date nights, everything-I-ate vlogs, or the recipes on my TikTok and Instagram. The full versions of those recipes — plus grocery lists and the occasional life update — live in my newsletter, Hooke’d.
I’ll never tell you something is great that just isn’t. I won’t recommend a place that’s just mid — I simply won’t post it. If I’m giving you a recipe, it’s proven delicious. If I’m working with a brand, it’s one we genuinely use at home.
For partnerships and press: team-ali@mrdncreative.com