Born and raised in an Italian family east of Los Angeles in California, Bobby Matos remembers family gatherings centering on food. \u201cI would go fishing with my grandfather, and learn to make pizza with my grandmother,\u201d he said. \u201cFood brought us all together \u2013 it was the center of our family. I remember the Italian saying \u2018if there aren\u2019t any leftovers, you didn\u2019t make enough\u2019 being true for us!\u201d<\/p>\n
With humble culinary beginnings in place, Matos went on to study recreational administration at California Polytechnic State University, when he realized it was the restaurant industry and learning new cooking techniques that made him come alive. Upon graduation, Matos spent time spent backpacking and dining through Europe, from Greece and Switzerland to Hungary and Italy. After his travels in Europe, Matos enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America in New York to begin his professional training.<\/p>\n
\u201cCulinary school is a lot of what you make it,\u201d he said. \u201cI was lucky enough that the majority of my group was older and serious. I really got to know them.\u201d Matos completed his externship at Pinot Blan in Napa Valley, California, and staged at Thomas Keller\u2019s famed French Laundry.<\/p>\n
Matos went on to serve at New York restaurant Beveldere Mansion, and worked in California at Georges at Cove under Tre Foshee, a FOOD & Wine Best New Chef. \u201cThey were among the first to bring the concept of farm-to-table in: they ushered in the idea of bringing in product straight in \u2013 skipping the cooler \u2013 and starting to cook it,\u201d Matos said. \u201cI grew to love that, seeing the relationship between farmers and guiding menus.\u201d<\/p>\n
After New York City stints as sous chef at The Modern and Alto, Matos moved back to the West Coast, working as a private chef in San Diego, where he met his wife. The couple moved to Texas, and Matos was tapped as executive chef of Tony Vallone\u2019s Ciao Bello. Under his expertise, the restaurant was awarded the Houston Press<\/em> nod for city\u2019s Best Italian Restaurant, and food writer Katilin Steinberg named Matos\u2019 Pastiera di Mare \u2013 a traditional, Neopolitan dish \u2013 to her 100 Favorite Dishes list in 2014.<\/p>\n When not in the kitchen, Matos, his wife, and two kids reside in the Memorial area of Houston.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":6404,"template":"","class_list":["post-6386","chef","type-chef","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southernsmoke.org\/zh_hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chef\/6386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southernsmoke.org\/zh_hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chef"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southernsmoke.org\/zh_hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chef"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southernsmoke.org\/zh_hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southernsmoke.org\/zh_hk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}