Ali Tucker’s love affair with food began over 50 years ago when, as a young child, she would join her maternal grandfather on the low tide flats out on the Cape Cod shore and dig up the fresh clams for the evening’s pot of steaming chowder. A Lemont resident for the past 28 years, she opened her first cafe at 209 Stephen Street in the historic downtown area in 1998 and then transitioned into full-time catering and event planning in 2001. She has celebrated the joy of eating with more than 3000 corporate, organizational, non-profit, and personal customers including Argonne National Laboratory, Northwestern Medicine, the Diocese of Joliet, and the Monte Bello Estate. She is known and revered for her creative meal planning, dazzling displays, and hands-on customer care.