Page 6 - Confessions Week 1

Cooking Confessions

CHAPTER ONE

North Bouvier Street

"Nothing like it..." are the famous words from the great lyricist

Beanie Sigel. There truly are no words to describe North Philly, there’s

just NOTHING LIKE IT. Because it’s near impossible to articulate what it

IS, the better thing to do is to share what it is NOT. It is not white picket

fences and two parent households. It’s not backyard cookouts and

yellow busses pulling up to corners of well‐fed and well‐dressed

children. It is not set bedtimes and peaceful walks around the block.

And it’s for damn sure not a place that wants you to make it out alive.

Or sane. Or even beyond poverty. Every bad and horrible thing you've

heard about North Philly is correct.

I credit God and North Philly with my success. They both

contributed greatly to the man I am today and all I have accomplished

thus far. Collectively they have taught me so much and I would have

never made it out of North Philly without God in my life, especially

during those moments I didn’t even realize that He was there. I was

built from the toughest steel, and that's exactly what's needed in this

place they call "the restaurant industry". Much like North Philly, the

restaurant industry will chew you up and spit you out if you let it. If you

don’t fight back, and work, and stay focused, and learn all you can, and