Ally Smith was born in Tucker, Georgia, and raised in Hampton, Virginia.  After high school, she moved to Athens and attended UGA, where she studied Anthropology and Advertising. While she was working in various service industry jobs, she was at a dinner party with some other Athens foodies and met Daniel Ray, who told her that he was expanding the Old Pal staff and was willing to train her from the ground up. Ally became a bartender and fell in love with the role. In 2017, after working at Donna Changs, moving into a managerial role at the Old Pal, and working as a bar manager and leader of the cocktail program at The National, Ally and her partner Pete Amadhanirundr started a food and cocktail popup called Side Hustle with three friends, including Pretty Boy chef Kenny Nguyen. This small operation paved the way for their restaurant, Puma Yu’s, a wine and cocktail forward bar serving small plate Thai food, which opened in 2022. Ally and Pete are co-owners, and Ally heads the beverage program. The restaurant also occasionally hosts pop-up events and benefits for charities close to their hearts. Ally lives in Normaltown with Pete and their two rescue dogs, Baja and Papaya. 

 

What do you love most about the work you do?

 

Now as an owner of a business, there’s a lot of things coming to the surface that I didn’t realize I liked as much as I do. I am still loving the creative side of it, like coming up with flavors that people might not necessarily think go together. I really love incorporating what’s directly around us into what we’re doing and making Puma feel like a home – I like creating an ambience and energy for people to enjoy dining. I’ve taken a lot of pride in how Puma Yu’s presents itself aesthetically which has been really fun for me. We live in a town full of talent and beauty because of the university and our surrounding landscapes, so it’s easy to connect with other creatives here to make Puma all the more glorious. It’s rewarding to be able to tell our guests that the little touch they’ve noticed comes from somewhere/someone local. It connects us.

I never considered myself an artist, and I still don’t, but I do think that in owning the space, Puma Yu’s is a vessel for a tangible form of art to put out to people. It’s another level because not only are you mentally and emotionally taking it in, you’re physically able to take in this form of art in a sustaining way. It’s been really fun to see what people are into, shift ideas and not have to be in a certain box.

 

When you’re not working, what do you like to do in and around Athens?

 

When I’m not working, I honestly don’t leave my house much. The main thing Pete and I do when we’re not working is taking the dogs to the Sandy Creek dog parks multiple times a week. We consider it our family time because the four of us aren’t all together much during the day. I’ve been going to Total Training Center for a few years now, and I go to M3 for yoga. That’s something that’s non-negotiable for me during the week; it helps me reset my brain and be a better boss for my amazing staff. We also do a lot of backyard house hangs on Sundays. It’s an amazing day to have off.  A bunch of us just got Pete a Roccbox so we’ve been making pizzas. We have a fenced-in yard so we hang in the yard, drink wine with friends and make meals that we can cook casually over the course of hours, which is a nice change of pace from being in the bustling restaurant. We love to make our house a home, and we really like hosting.

 

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? 

 

There’s a few places right now that I really want to go to, that I haven’t been to yet. There’s other places that I go to every year and am longing to go again. I still think about Mexico City a lot; we were there last January and I think about it all the time. I’d hop on a plane tomorrow and go back. But in terms of places I haven’t been yet, I’d love to go to the Amalfi Coast. Portugal is also on our list for sure. 

 

But the biggest one is Thailand because I’ve never been there. I feel like I’m doing myself a disservice by co-owning a Southeast Asian restaurant and not going. Obviously I try to absorb as much as possible from Pete’s parents and Pete and eating with his family who love cooking. I’m fortunate to have really authentic, amazing Thai meals that you can’t get at a restaurant, especially in Georgia. But I just need to go to Thailand for so many reasons. Pete hasn’t been back since he moved here and his parents are about to move back, not forever, but for a while. So we’re thinking about trying to tack it on to that. 

 

If you could see any musician or band, anywhere, who would you see and where?

 

There’s two actually that are tied. I wish I could have been at the Alice Coltrane show at Carnegie Hall. They just released the recording of it on Spotify, and I love Alice Coltrane. We listen to a ton of jazz and I don’t really listen to music with words in it before 1 pm. I think she’s so in tune and intentional, and she’s helped me many times when I’m hitting creative roadblocks. So the Alice Coltrane show at Carnegie Hall, I wish I could have been there. Stevie Wonder is my other favorite artist; I’d love to see him play any album start to finish. I’d love to see him in a very intimate space, it doesn’t really matter where. Rolling up to Vaughn’s in the Bywater in New Orleans and realizing that Stevie Wonder was playing Songs In the Key of Life would be pretty magical.

 

What advice would you give to your younger self?

 

To not be so hard on myself in terms of what my life path needed to be, because it figured itself out and I’m really thankful for where I am now. And I probably should’ve listened to my gut a little more. I solely listen to my gut now and it makes me feel a lot more in tune with what’s going on. If I’d listened to my gut a little more when I was younger I probably wouldn’t have had certain levels of heartache and uncertainty.. 

 

Do you have a favorite book, or one you often gift or reference?

 

There’s one I like to gift. It’s more like a coffee table book. It’s called Wabi Sabi. It’s really inspiring to see how people set up their spaces and I think there’s a lot of value in feng shui and how you exist in the space where you spend most of your time. I just read, and half of our staff just read this too, Unreasonable Hospitality [by Will Guidara] which tells the story of Eleven Madison Park, and how they became the best restaurant in the world. That book changed so many things about my perspective about the restaurant and how to manage people. I really benefited from that. Pete read it, our sous chef read it, our bar manager and front of house manager read it, our lead line cook read it. It’s been amazing to have us all connected in this way that our perception of what we can accomplish has changed as a collective. 

 

What is your favorite movie?

 

I have a lot of favorite movies but it kind of changes with where I’m at. There’s certain movies that are nostalgic and I love them for that, but it’s not that I necessarily go back to them. But I love My Best Friend’s Wedding. That’s one of my favorite movies ever. Another comfort movie for me is absolutely Pineapple Express, it’s so stupid. I can quote the whole thing. I don’t have to think about it when it’s on and that’s valuable, especially after a long shift or week. My favorite movie when I was a kid was The Parent Trap. 

 

If you could put any message on a billboard what would it be?

 

I’m walking around my house looking at my dogs… and I feel like I’d want to put “Go pet a dog.” It makes everything better. If you go and pet a dog you’re probably not going to be as much of an asshole. 

 

If you could have lunch with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and where?

 

I would love to have lunch with the person that came up with Chartreuse because of the fact that it is such a coveted thing and monks made it and nobody really knows the recipe. There’s a lot of hype around it but like, deserved hype. I’d love to talk to the first monk that decided to do that. I’d probably take him to a little coastal restaurant in Morocco. When I was in college I studied abroad in Morocco and we went to this one restaurant that was on the coast near Spain right on the water on the cliff. I think maybe the monk would open up and let me know how he came up with Chartreuse if we were soaking in that vibe. 

 

What are three words or phrases that come to mind when you think of the word home?

 

Comfort. Safety. Relaxation. Because when I am home I do not take my work with me. I try to keep that at the restaurant.  When I’m at home I’m chilling.  This is new, and it’s really working for me.