About MaryAnn
The Heart Behind the Pie
Mrs. Gee is the heart behind the warmth and hospitality that define the Paulie Gee's experience. Known for her grace, generosity, and unwavering support, she has played an essential role in fostering the welcoming spirit that has made the pizzeria feel like a second home to so many.
For MaryAnn, great food has always been about more than ingredients — it's about people. Her encouragement and partnership have been a constant source of inspiration, helping transform a simple love of pizza into a place where friendships are formed and stories are shared.
Though she prefers to stay out of the spotlight, Mrs. Gee's influence is felt in every detail — from the warmth extended to guests, to the sense of authenticity that defines the brand. Her quiet strength, kindness, and belief in doing things with heart continue to shape the culture and values that surround Paulie Gee's.
How It All Began
He Cooks. She Can't. And Here We Are.
It was November 12, 1976. A disco in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Paulie walked up to me and said, "I know you. I see you on the RR train." I said, "Likely story." He still insists he remembers the tan coat I wore to work. His friends dragged him into our car that night, and by the time we got home, someone had shoved my phone number into his hand. He called. We went for a burger. That was 48 years ago.
For most of those years, Paulie worked at AT&T, I worked, we raised a family in New Jersey, and our friends begged Paulie to open a restaurant. His response every time? "I want no part of it." This may be one of the funniest things he's ever said.
What changed everything was a backyard oven. In our late forties and early fifties, Paulie became obsessed with wood-fired pizza. He went online, found oven plans, and one day came home with a brick cutter. I told him: "Okay, but you better still have your two hands when I get back." He did. And what came next — the backyard pizza parties, the homemade limoncello, the food bloggers, the investors, the leap of faith — became Paulie Gee's.
The Restaurant
From Backyard Oven to Greenpoint, Brooklyn
We opened Paulie Gee's at 60 Greenpoint Avenue in Brooklyn — a former restaurant space that had burned down and sat empty, with no "for rent" sign, that Paulie tracked down the landlord for anyway. The second he walked in, he knew. It was the scariest day of his life. It was the right one.
We're not businesspeople. We're people people. We don't have funding or a restaurant group behind us. What we have is an instinct for hospitality — for connecting with our community, learning our guests' stories, and sometimes even recommending other great pizza places when we think they'd love them. That's just who we are.
Today, Paulie Gee's has grown to include franchises and slice shops — but MaryAnn and Paulie are still up front every night, talking to guests, playing music, and doing what they love.