When Matty Matheson thinks of soup, he thinks of growing up in Saint John, N.B., eating clam chowder and the lobster bisque his dad would splurge on and make every Christmas. The first pho he made with his mentor, chef Rang Nguyen, is “still heavily embedded in [his] mind.” In fact, he tells me with a wistful smile on his face, that he could eat it every day.
When he thinks of sandwiches, he recalls lunchtime tuna melt dates with his wife, Trish Spencer (whom he affectionately refers to as “Trishy.”) And when he thinks of salads, he thinks of Matty’s Salad, with gem lettuce, celery, olives and red onion. He loves it so much, it’s on the menu at Rizzo’s House of Parm. He opened this Italian restaurant in Fort Erie, Ont., a town he’s called home since adolescence.
When Matheson makes that salad for someone personally, “that’s the real deal,” he says. “Like, you’re eating my actual favourite salad. Food is my life. Food has given me everything. And sharing my love of food has opened every door – or closed them.”
If you know Matheson from his popular online videos or as the comic-relief character Neil Fak on the Emmy-winning dramedy The Bear (on which he is also a consultant and executive producer), you might expect a similarly larger-than-life personality. But when we speak with him over a video call (he is “dialing” in from a hotel in Nashville, filming for his YouTube channel), it’s clear that that’s not who he is. Or, at least, not all he is.
Matheson’s cookbooks are full of bold-yet-approachable, thoughtful and assured recipes. “Yeah,” they seem to say, “you’re going to want to cook and enjoy me.” Talking with Matheson –who is also behind many acclaimed Toronto restaurants, like burger spot Matty’s Patty’s, Vietnamese eatery Cà Phê Rang (with the aforementioned Ngyuen) and Prime Seafood Palace –is much the same. He’s unabashed and matter-of-fact, often referring to his family and personal history.
If you’re wondering ‘What recipes are in a Matty Matheson cookbook?’, Soups, Salads, Sandwiches is filled with his takes on classics. Like a roasted tomato soup served with grilled cheese crostini or the tuna melts he likes sharing with Spencer. As well as innovative, flavour-packed dishes you may have never thought to make yourself but will immediately want to try.
For example, a waffle sandwich stacked with bacon, an egg and strawberry jam (also the cover star of our Winter 2024 issue). Over 368 pages, Matheson shines a light on the iconic trinity of everyday eating while weaving in personal stories and family photographs. To read and make food from this book is to feel like you now know the real Matheson a bit better, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Q: In the intro to Soups, Salads, Sandwiches, you write about how it was initially hard to land on an idea for your third cookbook – that you were looking for a moment where something clicked. So what was that moment?
That’s the thing—you have to think of the idea, right? My first book was my life through a culinary lens—my grandparents, my parents, Tricia’s parents, cooking school and everything in between—and the second book was kind of my ode to all things. I do want my cookbooks to be timeless. And I do want my cookbooks to be a very big juxtaposition between my internet personality [and my real one]. I love cookbooks more than anything, and I don’t want to just make cookbooks that are, like, ‘Crazy Party Tuesday Cookbook.’
Cookbooks have turned into these things where, like, titles have turned into sentences. I don’t know. I want to keep mine very simple. I was probably making fun of [contemporary] cookbooks on one of my rants and was just like, ‘I should do a book about soups, salads and sandwiches.’ Then I was like, ‘I should definitely do that. That sounds good.’ Soups, salads and sandwiches are iconic—it’s what people eat, genuinely. And I was able [to create recipes that reflect] the way I make food, and that makes [the book] somewhat original.
Q: Because soups, salads and sandwiches are things we eat every day, some people may have this misguided assumption that they’re not worthy of their own cookbook.
When you were developing recipes, were you thinking about how to make these things “worthy”? Or did you just make food the way you make food and know that people would enjoy the final recipes?
Matheson: There are iconic sandwiches that I wanted to share my love for, and there are a bunch of cool new Matty-style sandwiches. If I make a salad, I’m making the same salad every time. I think probably 99 percent of people make their salad. [The book is about] the mundane of what we do—how we eat a soup, salad or sandwich. Even when I’m eating soup at my house, I’d say 80 percent of the time it’s grocery-store chicken noodle soup—then maybe I’ll add some Parm or a poached egg or something to zhuzh it up. I find that life, especially now, is so daunting that you can’t think of something to make. Good cookbooks are there to help you when you’re stuck. They’re a companion—a steward to help you get to a place of deliciousness.
Q: Your books are for home cooks specifically. Why is that important for you?
Matheson: That’s my demographic—that’s who I’ve been. I’m not trying to get chefs to cook—they already cook. I want people at home to be able to cook and share meals with their loved ones. I often say, even in my videos, that [my recipes] are sparks—I’m just giving you ideas. If you know how to cook, you can read a recipe and understand the gist of it. Then if you want to add something, [you can do that].
I always grab a cookbook to just get an idea, and then I still cook how I love to cook. You can say ‘That pasta looks really beautiful,’ and then you can make it with a lamb ragu the way you make lamb ragu. People, I think, are so intertwined with what they love, especially at home—you want what you want at home.
Q: Your family is a big part of the book, and you shot the photos at home. What was behind that decision?
Matheson: It was easy – I’ve shared my whole life. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and the easiest story to tell is your real story. Having my family be a part of my books is so sick, actually. It’s so cool to look at old cookbooks and maybe there’s a picture of a little baby and then you realize, ‘Whoa, that’s somebody’s son, and now they’re running one of their restaurants.’
It’s kind of cool too because my first book was [dedicated] to Trish and [our eldest child], Mac, and then my second one was to [our daughter] Rizzo and now [our youngest], Ozzy, is part of the family with this one. To have them included and to have these little moments we can look back on is beautiful. Rizzo loves looking at cookbooks, and she loves looking at our cookbooks. Even me saying ‘our cookbooks’ —everything I do is a family [effort], truly.
Q: How does your of home Fort Erie influence your food?
Matheson: It influences my food greatly. We have Blue Goose [Farm], but even in this book we didn’t use a lot of Blue Goose vegetables because I don’t think everyone has access to beautiful, organic vegetables. But living in a small town, we have one grocery store. I’m happy to shop there, but what they have is what they have. And that opens my eyes to people who don’t live in giant cities and don’t have options.
So most of the ingredients in the book were bought at our local grocery store. I think [there’s this element of] having that small-town mentality of cooking with what’s available and showing that you’re still able to make beautiful dishes and great things. The cool ingredient doesn’t make the dish; how you cook it does.
Liked this interview? Check out our talk with Mary Berg, chef and host of The Good Stuff, here.
