Chef Aaron London, who once had a Michelin star at his Mission restaurant AL's Place, walked away from the hospitality industry in 2022, and now we know what he's been up to in the years since.

Some of us may still be mourning the loss of AL's Place, which was certainly one of the more consistently interesting and delightful of San Francisco's Michelin-starred pantheon of recent years. But chef Aaron London was burnt out after many years in professional kitchens, and seven years running his own spot, and decided he wanted to actually see his kids grow up, so he moved on.

Now we finally know what he's been up to: a new boxed cookie brand called AL's Real Goods, which launched today in stores including Bi-Rite Market, Faletti's, Gus's Community Market, and Luke's Local — a total of about 90 locations in the Bay Area and Portland. He gave the story to the Chronicle today, on launch day, and there hasn't even been a press release yet — nor have I made it out to grab a box to try.

But the cookies, made with real butter, are retailing for $9.99 a box, and should last six months on the shelf. The initial three flavors in stores are chocolate-chip, double chocolate and "Ginger Smack" — and from the looks of the company's landing page, the fourth flavor that will debut next month is white chocolate-macadamia.

The tagline: The OG crave remade.

London tells the Chronicle that the ginger cookie is based on a ginger-molasses cookie recipe of his grandmother's, with a special spice blend and a ton of molasses.

And the inspiration for this whole endeavor came from his own love of cookies — though he has never been a baker or a pastry chef by trade. He says he found himself "grief eating" some fancy store-bought cookies after the closure of AL's Place three years ago, and he realized there was a hole in the market for something in between an expensive Tartine or artisinal cookie, and something boxed on the grocery store shelf made with seed oils and generally inferior.

He promises that the chocolate chip cookie has a "classic Tollhouse bake-at-home flavor profile" — I will be the judge of that and update this post once I've tried it.

One could easily see the AL's Real Goods brand, if it's successful, expanding into other chef-quality retail goods. But for now, it's going to be cookies, and London has plans to expand into the Seattle and SoCal markets as well.

Check out the cookies at a local store near you, via this store locator map.

Previously: Acclaimed, Michelin-Starred Mission Restaurant AL's Place to Close Next Week After Seven Years