"This One's Mine"

"This One's Mine"

Chef Gator and the Knife He Carries Everywhere

Chef Gator and the Knife He Carries

People keep walking into our stores asking for a knife they saw at a dinner. It is almost always the same knife, and it almost always belongs to Chef Gator.

"They always want to buy mine," he says, "and I say, 'No, you can't have mine. This one's mine, but you can certainly go pick one up.'"

Chef Gabriel "Gator" Guilbeau runs craft services for Taylor Sheridan Productions, from Yellowstone to Landman, cooking for 300 to 600 people a day on set. He is a New York Times bestselling cookbook author. He hosts eight to twelve private dinners a year all over the country. And he carries one knife: the Yellowstone BBQ, the 10" Bowie-style chef knife he designed with founder Corey Milligan.

We sat down with him ahead of the holidays.

It started with a gift

Gator's first New West knife came from Taylor Sheridan: a Chris Kidder Special, given as a wrap gift during the first season of Yellowstone.

"I'd never held anything so precious before," Gator says. "It was like getting Excalibur. I felt like I had been chosen."

A year later he walked into our Park City store and bought a couple more. A few more came as gifts. Within two years, he was collecting.

A driveway in Victor, Idaho

When his cookbook came out, Gator's team reached out about doing something together. We invited him to our factory in Victor, Idaho.

He was already in the neighborhood. "I said, 'I'm right outside of Victor, Idaho right now. I'll see you guys tomorrow.'"

He arrived in the middle of the night with his RV, a trailer, a boat, a bunch of motorcycles, and his dog, and parked in Corey's driveway. They went fishing. They talked knives. They designed the Yellowstone BBQ.

"If you're an enthusiast like I am of toys and things, the number one rule is you have to use it if you get it, or else it is not worth buying."

 

One Knife for Everything

One Knife for Everything

The Yellowstone BBQ is a barbecue gun: Texas BBQ culture meets Wyoming Western craft. CPM S35VN particle metallurgy steel. A Desert Ironwood handle so dense it sinks in water. A leather belt sheath and a chef roll for the road.

Gator puts it through all of it. "I use mine to fillet fish and take down whole animals and cut steaks and do my vegetable chopping. I'm not particular about paring knives and vegetable knives and serrated knives. I like to use my one knife for everything."

It holds up to a commercial kitchen. "I can chop all week with those knives and I don't even lose an edge on my knives."

And it never goes unnoticed. "Every time I take it out, people's eyes sparkle, and they gasp and say, 'Now that's a knife!' I'm all about showmanship, and that's what that knife is about."

Outdoor Life agreed: "It is an unbelievable slicer, an extension of your hand, and unparalleled in the kitchen."

Every Yellowstone BBQ is made start to finish by one individual knife maker at our factory in Victor, Idaho, in the shadow of the Teton Range. No assembly line. Hand sharpened before it leaves our shop.

The gift you'd want for yourself

Gator can't keep New West knives on his wall. He gives them away.

"I was always taught the best gift you could give somebody is something that you'd really want for yourself," he says. "It's timeless. That's for life."

He knows exactly who it's for. "If your dad is a brisket guy and he makes brisket every year for the Super Bowl or whatever his event is, that's going to be his special knife. 'Don't touch my knife. This is only for brisket.' He keeps it up in the top cabinet where no kids can touch it. It's special. People cherish these things."

Shop theYellowstone BBQ

New West Manufacturing

Elk Yellowstone BBQ

$850.00
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Available on backorder. Ships in 4-6 weeks.
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Grill Greatness with the BBQ Boss Set

Born for backyard fire and forged with Jackson Hole grit, the BBQ Boss Set is the ultimate tribute to open-air cooking. Whether you're flipping bison burgers or coaxing the perfect char on bone-in ribeye, this set blends fine American steel with hand-crafted functionality.

BBQ Boss Set

BBQ Boss Set

$1,290.00
$0.00 USD $1,290.00
Sale Sold Out

Level up from journeyman to pitmaster with the Yellowstone BBQ Set — handcrafted tools built for serious outdoor cooking. Anchored by the Yellowstone BBQ knife, co-designed with Chef Gator Guilbeau, this set honors our Western roots with bold performance. Paired with the versatile Petty Knife, forged Carving Fork, and American-made Turner Spatula, it’s everything you need to own the grill.

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