V · The Lovers
Two founders, one table
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We got married upstate, at a cider barn with a tap room and a table long enough for everyone. This magic is what happens when the two of us keep planning experiences after the wedding is over.
Jess
Jess is a New York–based chef, writer & creative whose career spans professional kitchens, hospitality leadership and more than 15+ years in marketing and design.
She moved to NYC in 2020 and began at the very bottom of restaurant kitchens…working her way from line cook to sous chef to head chef in a short, intense stretch of under two years. By 2023, she was Executive Chef at North Miznon and was tasked with opening a new concept, Malka, which remains one of the hottest restaurants, most sought-after reservations in NYC. She’s run high-volume kitchens, built teams, developed menus, and learned where systems break under pressure and how to build ones that don’t burn people out.
Her work is rooted in hospitality as a language…one that tells stories, creates belonging, and turns everyday moments into something considered & memorable.
Jess’s work is seasonal and farm-to-table by nature, Southern-rooted with Mediterranean instinct, and increasingly shaped by the various flavors of the world she’s been learning to cook with and love. She thrives at the intersection of her fine dining discipline and her lived experience of motherhood, loss, reinvention & rebuilding.
Jess writes about all of it…the food, the pivot, the building, the philosophy…on Substack, The Table Between.
Yas (enterprise search, brought home)
Yas Haque spent seven years in enterprise SEO: iProspect, then BrightEdge, then Head of SEO at Hearts and Science and at Omnicom Media Group, running search for clients like P&G and Warner Bros. He closed seven-figure contracts and nearly doubled the revenue of the department he ran.
In 2023 he stepped out to consult under his own name on SEO, AI search and analytics, and became the strategic half of the studio. His work focuses on creating digital ecosystems that provide long-term visibility and sustainable performance.
He brings rigor, insight, and calm to complex systems, helping businesses be found, understood, and trusted over time. He built the site you are reading.
The Table Between
The Freckled Fork was born out of that journey. It carries everything Jess has learned: the Southern table she grew up at, the visual precision she spent years developing, the kitchen rigor she earned & a hospitality philosophy she believes in the way some people believe in laws.
She writes about all of it…food, motherhood, ambition, belonging and building something sustainable…on Substack, The Table Between. Chef multi-hyphenate living in the space between who she was and who she’s becoming.
I The seekerAlways tasting for what is missing.
II The partnerTwo palates, one pot, and the argument about salt.
III The brideThe dupatta, the hands.
IV The detailsA pinch more, a minute less, the lemon zested last.
V The joyThe hour before service, pans warming, everything still possible.
VI The next generationSmall hands on the counter, learning what warm smells like.
VII The groundedStart with the soil. The heat can wait.
VIII The connectionHand in hand.
IX The celebrationAny day is reason enough to set another place.
X The kingThe jacket, the window.
XI The starEverything on the plate gets tasted for her first.
Jess is the ultimate chef!! Her food is always beautifully presented and delicious. She cooks a wide variety of foods and each one is tastier than the next. She is extremely talented and knows her stuff. She is priceless!
J. O'Rourkecatering client This was our second time eating with Chef Jess in under a week. She doesn't disappoint. The four of us decided to go omakase and let her choose our dishes. It was all absolutely delicious. Chef Jess is a star!
K. Arutyunyancustomer Jess is a food magician! She puts so much love into her craft of creating the perfect dishes and it truly shows in the flavor of every bite... Her personality and ability to connect with everyone in the room is the icing on the cake!
Gabriellecatering client
As seen inKarjaka MagazineCharlotte ObserverMadame ArchitectAs heard on The Edward Show (2025, 2026)
Questions people ask
Who are the founders of The Freckled Fork?
Jess Haque, executive chef and creative director, and Yas Haque, chief of strategy. They are married and they run the studio from the Upper West Side of Manhattan, NYC.
What is Jess Haque's background as a chef?
Self-taught in Charlotte, then line cook to head chef in under two years, then head chef of multiple restaurants in NYC. Her cooking is seasonal, Southern-rooted with a Mediterranean instinct and global influences.
What is Yasir Haque's background in SEO?
Seven years in enterprise SEO, ending as Head of SEO at Omnicom Media Group, with Fortune 500 clients. Since 2023 he consults on SEO, digital marketing, AI search and analytics.
How did a chef and an SEO strategist start a hospitality studio together?
The Freckled Fork began as Jess's food blog and home-based catering brand in Charlotte in 2017. When she and Yas married in 2025, his search genius and her hospitality philosophy became one collective growth studio.
XII The cornerYas against the brick wall, the shopping at his feet.
XIII The shadeYas in sunglasses, against the wood.
XIV The boyYas, as a boy.
XV The couchJess on the couch with the blue plate.
XVI The vowsThe kiss, from the wedding frames.
XVII The selfieJess and Yas, close, the patterned wall behind.
Elsewhere in the deck
A room. Set aside. For the stranger who hadn't arrived yet.
Jess, Good Bones, on The Table Between