Before becoming a household name and popping up on Food Network shows like, “Guy’s Grocery Games,” or “Cutthroat Kitchen,” Chef Jet Tila was working as a chef at Sur La Table.

It was there, in a knife skills class, that he met his future wife and partner-in-cooking, Chef Ali Tila.

“He was the hot teacher,” Ali says. And the rest is, as they say, history!

Well, not totally.

Together, the two manage their growing culinary empire, which includes restaurants in Los Angeles and Dallas; a national fast-casual concept; a culinary consulting business; online cooking demos; and, of course, Food Network.