From Chef's Heart to Your Plate.

I was born in Secaucus, grew up in North Brunswick, and moved to Washington Township in South Jersey when my dad took a new job. I went through Whitman Elementary, Bunker Hill Middle School and Washington Township High School. I'm a Jersey kid from top to bottom.

We're a Polish family with a big dose of Brooklyn and New York Italian-American in us. My mom cooked and my grandmother cooked, but my grandmother was the best cook in the house. Sunday food meant chicken parm, veal parm, pasta, meatballs, sausage, pizza, and a good steak. My family was picky, especially my grandmother, and her food was simple. Her cheesecake was the thing everyone waited for. Simple, done right, is good. I still cook that way.

In 2007, at 16, I started bussing tables and washing dishes at Pelican Fish Company in Sewell. Before long I was making the desserts, and the cheesecake on the menu was my grandmother's recipe. That cheesecake is what got me off the floor and into the kitchen. From there I moved to Blue Eyes, also in Sewell, and my palate blew wide open. Then the recession hit, and both restaurants closed or changed owners more than once. I learned early that nothing in this business is handed to you. So I went all in: I helped open The Riverwinds and enrolled in culinary school at the same time.

At The Riverwinds I worked every station, cooking for 400 to 550 guests a night, while I trained at the Academy of Culinary Arts at Atlantic Cape. I earned a Bronze Award and did a multi-restaurant externship in Alsace, France. That's where Western European cooking became my foundation.

Then I went to sea, cooking for 2,000 to 4,000 guests a day on Norwegian Cruise Line's Pride of America. I came home to the Jersey Shore, broke down whole fish and built sashimi at Jay's on Third in Stone Harbor, and became an Executive Chef at 22 at Bobby Dee's Rock N' Chair in Avalon. I ran Italian seafood specials at Val's Seafood Trattoria, built 300-guest events at Jeffrey Miller Catering in Philadelphia, and cooked plant-based for Forks Over Knives and performance nutrition for Exos.

At 26 I took on the other side of business: marketing, sales, then real estate. I never stopped cooking, though. I kept working part-time in small restaurants and catering events the whole way through. As a Realtor I closed $24 million in sales and learned how to listen to a family, earn trust, negotiate and deliver on a promise. Most chefs never learn that part.

Then it got personal. I was diagnosed with celiac disease. Overnight, every label, every ingredient and every risk of cross-contact mattered to me. That's why, in our kitchens, an allergy or a dietary need is never an inconvenience. I live it.

I came back as head chef at Bobby Dee's for one busy summer season, and it showed me restaurant life wasn't what I wanted anymore. I wanted to cook for people, not tickets. So in 2023 I founded Chef Matts Culinary Creations. Today our team of about 20 chefs cooks private dinners, Chef's Table experiences, weekly meal prep, cooking classes and celebrations across New Jersey, the Philadelphia Main Line and Myrtle Beach. Every menu is custom. Every ingredient is fresh. Every night is handled from the first call to the last clean counter.

I'm a husband and a dad, and I build every menu like I'm cooking for my own family. Tell me about your favorite foods, the dish your grandmother made, the plate you still think about from a trip, and I'll bring it back to your table.