Chef Matt Gordon is no stranger to the San Diego food scene. He has been serving up incredible meals with a giant helping of impeccable hospitality from northern California’s wine country to America’s Finest City. With Urban Solace in North Park and Solace and the Moonlight Lounge in Encinitas, Chef Matt Gordon is making the rounds. In late spring Del Mar will be treated to a taste of the chef’s talents with his newest concept, Smoke and Sea.
We were lucky enough to steal a few moments of his time to delve into Chef Gordon’s love for food.
What/who inspired you to cook?
I definitely started this career out simply as a job through high school and college.. not because I really wanted to cook or be a chef.. I was good at being a line cook and enjoyed the adrenalin, but it wasn’t until I was already a sous chef for a chef named Mark Stark (currently owns a bunch of restaurants in Sonoma) in my mid twenties, that I saw a career and passion bloom.
What about feeding people intrigues you?
It’s the whole hospitality experience that intrigues me… making something unique out of a few ingredients that hopefully tastes better or different than if you had made it yourself at home, in a fun and comfortable setting while being provided excellent hospitality. Few places excel at all those things, so we strive for that.
What is the best meal you have ever had and what made it so special?
Gramercy Tavern, I believe it was in 2002. I actually returned my entree because it was off, but everything else we ate was painfully delicious, but the service from the greeting at the front door to the goodbye on the way out, was the best I had ever experienced; so genuine, so intuitive. I really left thinking it was the best meal I’d ever had, even though I returned a dish. That’s the power of hospitality
Name one thing still on your culinary bucket list?
I would really like to eat at the French Laundry and Alinea (and many other places) but I’ve just not yet made the effort to try to get a reservation at either one.
What do you want to ensure your customer walks away with once leaving one of your restaurants?
That they got a value for the money they spent. It doesn’t matter if its a ten dollar meal or a thousand dollar meal, I want them to feel as though they got more than their money’s worth and that we made their time with us special.
What a treat. Check out any of Chef Gordon’s restaurants but stay tuned for the new Smoke and Sea in Del Mar’s Flower Hill Shopping Center off Via de la Valle. Who would you like profiled for NEXT WEEK’s Five Facts Foodie Friday?
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