Meet the 'Brokeass Cooks' who started a pop-up in their Oakland backyard
Like many cooks in the Bay Area, Bilal Ali, Hoang Le and Keone Kokiare lost their jobs when the pandemic hit. But instead of flipping a middle finger to the restaurant industry and leaving forever, they strapped on their aprons and started grilling jerk chicken in the West Oakland backyard they shared. The name for the three chef-roommates’ new pop-up restaurant came naturally: “Brokeass Cooks.”