About this episode
Paul Smith’s deeply ingrained love of both cooking and West Virginia can be traced back to his earliest days — standing alongside his grandfather helping stir the sauce for the large Sunday dinners so common among Italian families who had settled in the coalfields. From those beginnings, Paul’s passions for food and his Appalachian home have taken him on a culinary journey that he is proud to share with his community. After graduating from Charleston Catholic High School, Chef Paul immersed himself in learning the hospitality industry and the finer points of great cuisine. With his BA from West Virginia State University, he formally trained at New York’s prestigious Culinary Institute of America (graduated with honors) and CIA’s Greystone campus in Napa Valley, California, where he studied pastries and wine and graduated as Valedictorian. Paul has worked around the country, from The Ritz Carlton Resort in Naples, Florida, to the world-renowned Biltmore Estates in Asheville, North Carolina, to The Windsor Club in Vero Beach, Florida. Taking the tastes and techniques of every stop along his culinary journey he longed to return to his roots and tell these culinary stories through the traditions and flavors of Appalachia. When the Mountain State pulled at his heartstrings, he returned to West Virginia where he served as the Executive Chef at the University of Charleston, and Corporate Chef for Buzz Food Service. Today, he has multiple restaurants in Charleston, West Virginia’s capital: The Pitch Sports Bar & Grill, and 1010 Bridge Restaurant & Catering, which quickly gained a reputation as one of the state’s premiere dining destinations. He believes strongly that a rising tide will lift all boats, and has served as an advisor to multiple food and hospitality businesses in West Virginia. Paul’s ultimate vision is to give back to the state he has always considered home through his gifts of great food and warm hospitality. Chef Paul was named a Semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef of The Southeast Award and became an official nominee the same year and is the first West Virginia chef to receive that honor. He was also named West Virginian of the year in 2023. In 2024 he was honored again with a nomination for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef of The Southeast Award and on June 10th 2024 in a ceremony in Chicago he became West Virginia’s very first James Beard Award winner. He continues to champion West Virginia and his community in all he does, and loves few things more than the way food brings people together.