‘The Bear’s’ Jeremy Allen White fuels hot line cook summer
This summer, gals about town are trying to kiss the cook — the line cook, that is.
The humble station chefs are stepping into the spotlight, following Jeremy Allen White’s lauded performance as an overwhelmed would-be restaurateur on FX’s culinary drama “The Bear.” Now, the greasy-haired, tatted-up, chain-smoking guys who work the line say their love lives have never been hotter.
Ryan Faber, a 23-year-old line cook at Mediterranean restaurant Amali on the Upper East Side, felt like a piece of meat during a recent outing with a friend of a friend.
“As soon as she got in the car, she was like, ‘You’re a chef, like in “The Bear”? I love that show — [White’s character] is pretty hot,’ ” Faber, who lives in Bushwick, told The Post.
For Faber, working 13-hour days at a scalding-hot stove has become his biggest flex in the dating world. His profile photos on Hinge and Tinder feature him apron-clad in the kitchen — an image that beckons, “Do you cook?” from matches, who come from as far as Long Island to meet up with him in Brooklyn after his shift ends.
His boss said Faber’s appeal boils down to an intoxicating blend that’s one-part helpless Bushwick romantic, another part tequila-drinking playboy.
“[He’s] Anthony Bourdain mixed with Pete Davidson,” Amali Executive Chef Alex Tubero said, of the Institute of Culinary Education-trained badass who usually has a pack of Marlboro Reds nearby. Peeking out of his chef jacket are his tattoos: an orchid that he said “looks like a vagina,” three stars and a snake.
He’s single by choice: Commitment issues come with the culinary territory.
“I just go from seeing this person, to seeing this person, to seeing this person, because I’m just constantly at work. I don’t have time for a relationship or anything like that,” Faber said.
Other chefs have also seen their dating lives heat up.
“I’ve seen a few ‘yes, chef’ DMs come in since the show aired,” Maximiliano Rivero, a 28-year-old head chef at Rebel Cafe & Garden in Bushwick, told The Post.
While the buttoned-up, Michelin-starred, clean-shaven chef has gotten the star treatment in food movies like 2015’s “Burnt,” starring Bradley Cooper, viewers have proven that there’s an appetite for humble line cooks, too.
“I’m actively in therapy to help me stop falling in love with men who look like this but The Bear on Hulu is worth the mental set back,” one woman tweeted.
“He’s just stone cold sexy,” another responded.
Even the New Yorker has tipped a toque to hot cook summer. Last week, the highbrow magazine ran Emily Flake’s cartoon featuring a couple laying in bed with the caption, “So … what was all that ‘Yes, Chef’ stuff about?”
Lauran O’Neill is on the hunt for own kitchen confidential moment.
“My dream guy is a cook,” the single 29-year-old told The Post. “I always thought it was one of the sexiest jobs.”
The Hoboken, New Jersey-based attorney, who just started watching “The Bear,” said she was hooked on chefs after experiencing an intimate tasting menu at a U-shaped open kitchen at a restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee. The food wasn’t the only feast for the eyes — she had hers set on a sous chef she later tried to find on Instagram — sadly without luck.
Ever since then, she’s preferred chefs jackets over suits.
“A man that can cook, works under pressure and has that je ne sais quoi is goals,” said O’Neill, who has been dining out plenty this summer.
Dating experts say that anyone who can work with their hands has always been a hot ticket.
“A guy who can take care of himself and can cook is very appealing to women. It can feel really intimate and erotic when you’re watching someone massage ground beef, pound chicken — there’s very much this sexual energy that can be connoted through chefing in the kitchen,” Bela Gandhi, host of “The Smart Dating Academy” podcast, told The Post.
And Faber said the ladies eat it up.
“I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m a chef,’ and they’re always like, ‘Oh my God, cook for me sometime.’ Sometimes people are like, ‘I’m vegan by the way, and I’m like, ‘God damn it, that sucks for you.’ ”
If Faber really likes someone, he’ll “usually make cavatelli” and potentially spend the night after a hookup.
“The thing that usually gets them is the fresh pasta. They’re like, ‘Oh, you made this with your hands?’ Pasta with some simple s – – t. They’re like, ‘Wow, this is the best pasta ever.’ ”
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