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Paul Gerard | Built by Fire

@chefpaulgerard2

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I cook with purpose.
Food is my offering.
Personal IG, business website here:

POSTS STORIES REELS

Here’s a taste of the show I worked on:
HUNGRY FOR MORE!

In a world where “wellness” makes people sick, we ditch the fads for a journey of self-discovery and delicious meals. Follow along as I navigate past hurt, heal, and have fun, one badass meal at a time, and many many beautiful people.

Let’s light up the consciousness revolution for the rebels who crave meaningful change.

No one said healing can’t be an amusing adventure!

Who’s with me?

#HungryForMore #Chef #healingjourney #TV by @chefpaulgerard2

When Bourdain called me “a degenerate line dog.”

He lit up telling me I was gonna love the line he wrote. And I did!

I’d been clean for one year—after a lifetime of using— when we shot the sizzle for Work The Line.

To have Tony slap a street-sanctioned medal of kitchen cred on me?
That was a badge of honor I still wear proudly.

He gave me permission to stay wild.
We all knew I had to give up the drugs and the destruction—but I could still be a motherfucker with purpose.

That set me on my mission: To learn how to walk through fire without setting everything ablaze.

Now, this once-feral dog is a faithful firekeeper—on a quest to feed the soul.

The new show I’m working on–A Cook’s Quest–keeps the edge, but seeks to eat well, heal deep, and stay wild.

Funny thing—now that I’m out in LA pitching it, people call me “the next Bourdain.”

Flattering? Sure.
But only a fool goes chasing the glory of the guru.

We didn’t compete, we conspired.

Tony wasn’t just a legend to me—he was my Executive Producer. Alongside Tom Colicchio, they championed Work the Line.

And when execs tried to sand down the edges, Tony sent this letter letting them all know how he felt about diluting the idea:

“This show is about Paul.
NOT anybody else.
Whatever your average TV executive would identify as not-ready-for-Prime-time about Paul is EXACTLY what we’re selling.
We are in the business of creating a market—not following one.
We are—and have always been—about everything we’re NOT—as much as what we ARE.
We’re always the other guys.”
—Tony

How fuckin cool is that?!

His words are my North Star.

Tony taught me that authenticity is the only path worth walking.

———

Big thanks to my partner/bestie Sisha @wireworks.newburgh and director extraordinaire @nickbrigden for the good memories, and to everyone else that made this experience possible! Onward!

#LineCookLife #ACooksQuest
#ChefStories #YesChef #StayWild
#Firekeeper #DegenerateLineDog
#KitchenBrotherhood
#FoodSavedMe #WorkTheLine
#KitchenCulture #FoodTravel by @chefpaulgerard2

The reel that made Bourdain and Colicchio say, “Yes, chef!”

Crazy, this was 2008. I’d been clean for a little over a year—still raw (with a lifetime of growing to do), but fired up!

I put an ad on Craigslist:
“Wanted: Budding Cassavetes”
I got a hungry kid from NYU, and for 400 bucks, shot this reel.

My friend Jonny Podell—a legendary rock-n-roll agent who’s repped everyone from Dr. John to George Harrison— helped me do it. With giant inspiration pouring out of his wiry frame and gravelly Bronx whisper, he said: “You’re a rockstar.”

Haha, that was all I needed! I thought that because I gave up drugs, I gave up dreams! I’d always played in bands, plays, and indie films with friends, and practically lived at the Nuyorican Poets Café. I was a downtown kid who loved creating. My poet soul still had a story to tell, and the rising fame of chefs gave me a shot at keeping that fire burning.

The Food Network was all pop tart energy, but the back of the house was all punk rock. It was blood, sweat & beers, and no one told the tale of the underdog! Tony captured that truth in his work, but culinary TV…Still hasn’t!

This reel got me signed with Tom, Tony, and Zero Point Zero, and Work The Line was in the fire line!

More on that when I post the next-level sizzle from ZPZ, but now, I want to send love to Alejandro.

He’s the cook with the sunshine smile, doing Capoeira in the alley. Alex was my friend and sous chef—he drowned surfing in Rockaway the day I shot at Craft Bar with Tom and Tony.

Crushed. I thought, I can’t do this today.
Then, I felt him. Urging me to go. Even in death, he supported me.

Alex was such a bright soul. Every morning, I’d come in and like he hadn’t seen me in a year, he’d beam:
“PAAAUUUULLLIIIIIEEEEEE!”

From the favelas of Rio, he was no one to mess with. Because he was so tough, he was light—all light.

Every week, I’d hand him his check, and we’d play the same scene:
“What’s this?” He’d ask.
“That’s your check for last week.”
He’d burst like a kid on Christmas:
“We get PAID to do this?!”

God, I love that guy.

I miss you, Alex.

I’m a better man for all the time we got to Work The Line together. by @chefpaulgerard2

Ahhhh nothing beats autumn in NY. As long as I have breath in my lungs and fire at my fingers - my family, friends, clients and all I cook for will eat well. by @chefpaulgerard2

I love a good stoop sit.

All day, every day, I have conversations with people who share experiences and wisdom better than anything I’ve heard on a paid retreat.

New York is full of street-corner saints. People with scars on their faces and serenity in their eyes.

They may have renounced the ego, but bitching about the Broadway local is fair game.

Even the head of the Vedanta Society of New York concurs: nothing like a good grumble.

@swamisarvapriyananda merci 🙏 thanks for your time and the laughs.

#newyorkstories #stoop #streetspirit by @chefpaulgerard2

Two generations of heavy-boozing chefs.
Times have changed.
For the better.

I got sober.
Brandon got better at saying “for the better.” 😂

@chef4short

#chefdayoff #newyorkstories #beerswithbourdain #worktheline #soberchef by @chefpaulgerard2

Wanna know what kills me about The Bear?

Where’s the laughter?

Sure, they nailed the stress, and it’s real. But my entire life in kitchens has been fueled by laughter and love.

The out of our mind hell-rides were always there. Bordering on homicide or suicide while mounting the bordelaise.

The funnest and funniest people I’ve ever met were in this insane business. Even the strictest kitchens, had their own humor. Like laughing in church. Because, if there’s no joy, what’s the point?

I just came across the old video from my place in Hoboken, and even on a packed Saturday, we always made time to pause in the rush, and shout to our line dog Beefcheeks: “kill em wit the shoulders Cheeks!”

Look at his face! That’s a smile that can’t be faked.

Food is love. We fight for it, to dance for it.

#foodislove #cookwithlove #laughmore #linecook #beefcheeks by @chefpaulgerard2

Walkin n talkin old New York with my son Frank.
Inspiration on every corner.

#sanremo #ginsberg #oldnewyork by @chefpaulgerard2

Happy birthday to my sweet baby Grace! Thirty-one! Good Lord, time flies.

I love you—and I love that, as time flies, you remain entirely you.

You really are so grounded in yourself, which, for a human being, is no easy task. Smart, funny, sassy, kind, adaptable, self-reliant, deeply empathetic, compassionate, generous…I could go on and on.

You do no harm, and you take no shit. I admire you.

Thank you for being you. The second slide of the card to your mom sums you up: Keep doing what you want. Because what you want is fueled by love.

And for the record—no one ever “let” you. There was simply no stopping you from being you.

The world is yours, beautiful. The planets are aligned in your favor.

Happy birthday! I love you.

@yung_greezy ❤️ by @chefpaulgerard2

@chefpaulgerard2 @thecafearoma @lavenderandtruffles by @chefpaulgerard2

Thank God @chef4short said it, because if I said it I’d sound like a scarred old man shouting, “Get off my fucking line!”

But as I calm the fires and get off my own line, I flip my collar like James Dean and, balanced somewhere between aesthetic and identity, ride off into the setting sun of not giving a fuck.

Brandon has the baton. Bash away!

Have fun with it, kids! Keep cooking!

#chef #cook #identitytheft by @chefpaulgerard2

I still love jumping borders like schoolyard fences, but when I’m home, I’m such a nester. by @chefpaulgerard2