The Real-Life Diet of NYC Line Cook Gio Luciano, Who Ate Dippin’ Dots With Addison Rae on the Staten Island Ferry

But then it’s like, 10:00 p.m. and I’m like, “Why am I eating this bread with honey butter right now?” And, “I’m going to eat this ’nduja sorrel plant with it.” Like, what? Why am I doing that at 10:00 p.m.? I mean, they give us protein and everything, but I’m still hungry. It’s hard work. You’re using your body the whole time.

I presume you also have to taste things as you’re cooking.

I have to keep eating. You have to taste everything. If you don’t, then it’s so underseasoned.

You also seem to eat and drink most things out of plastic quart and pint containers, which is very chef-coded. Do you also drink out of those containers at home?

It’s true. On Sundays [at the restaurant], they have wine that’s open and they’ll give it to the staff in quart containers. I show up at the bar with a whole fucking thing of wine and I’m just sipping on it.

At home, I should probably bring more quart containers, because I don’t drink enough water. Outside of work, I think I try to hone in my line-cook lifestyle when I’m at my house. But maybe I should start doing that, because I am dehydrated all the time.

No. I mean, what are we going to do?

That’s exactly how I feel.

[Laughs] I smoke cigarettes. I don’t care.

I was going to say: You love to finish off a meal with a cigarette. Is there any sort of functional component there? Does the buzz help get you through a shift, or is it purely for pleasure?

I think it’s getting you ready. It’s like prepping. [At the restaurant], everyone smokes a cigarette before service. It’s very wholesome. It’s like before a sport, and the team’s all meeting up trying to get hyped like, “Yeah guys, we got this.” They have a pack there for the staff. You kind of process [what’s going to happen during the shift]: “Okay, we’re chilling, we’re about to either get really rocked during service or it’ll be fine.” After service, if it was a really rough one, you’ll just see people go outside and just start smoking.

What is the best kind of family meal?

Anything that really doesn’t involve just rice and a protein and a salad. If you have, like, a yogurt dip, or some interesting thing from the market, or something fresh. Something [that says] you care about the staff. Like, it’s not scraps. You can see they really thought about it.

How do you cook for yourself at home? Do you go all out, or keep it simple?

It’s usually very light. If my roommates are hungry, I’ll be like, “Oh, I’ll make you this,” and then I’ll eat it too. But I like to cook for other people, that’s just how I am. Maybe [I’ll cook] for myself if I want to test something out, but I usually don’t cook that much on my days off, because I’m like, “Oh, I could just go to a deli and get a sandwich.”

What’s your deli order?

Recently I’ve been getting chopped cheese. I hadn’t had one in so long, and I went the other night, and he’s just staring at me, and I was like, “I’ll take a chopped cheese, just give me a chopped cheese.”

The classic.

At nighttime, I want something hot. I can’t eat a cold sandwich at night, for some reason.

I agree. Nighttime food should be hot. During your shifts, do you wear anything special that helps with the function of your work, whether that’s clogs, arch supports, wristbraces, anything like that?

I have Birks. Everyone has Birks. [In kitchens,] everyone usually has the black ones. I got new ones, because my other ones broke. But yeah, I just need those clogs and I’m okay.