It could be said that Matt's cooking career began from the age of five, when he decided to make a soup from randomly collected items from the seashore. With great enthusiasm, Matt and his brother, Luke, spent the afternoon amassing piles of what was probably various seaweeds, conchs, urchins, and maybe some fish, which they threw into a pot of water, boiled for a while, and eventually ate with gusto, both so proud of their efforts and creation. Thankfully, both their stomachs made it safely to their next meal.

Though this story may seem typical of adventurous little boys, it also demonstrates the quintessential nature of a cook - he is equal parts experimenter, artist, bon vivant, and diligent laborer. This is who and what Matthew was throughout his life.

In his teens, Matthew continued to be enamored with the world of food and during college he got his first real kitchen job. He was hired at the Barbary Fig, a French-North African eatery in St. Paul, Minnesota. There, he learned what the life of a cook is really about - long hours of physical work and "knowing your place" in the kitchen hierarchy. He also discovered the unique camaraderie that is often shared among cooks who, just as in any profession where physical and mental pressures are high, often look out for each other both in the kitchen and in real life.

Matthew went on to cook at La Grenouilles, a well-established French restaurant in mid-town Manhattan. Matthew endured the physical and psychological challenges of fifteen hour days, often performing what could only be described as grunt work. In fact, despite his decent knowledge of cooking, his first few months were spent doing nothing but scrubbing pots. As difficult as this was, Matt never quit and rose through the ranks. After several years of living in New York, Matthew eventually departed for San Francisco, hoping to work with the renowned chef, Laurent Gras. Matthew never got to work with Gras, in part because he got married to Elizabeth Gleeson of Chicago, where, perhaps somewhat ironically, Gras recently opened a restaurant.

Before settling in Chicago, Matthew decided to get formal training and he departed for a year in Paris to attend Le Cordon Bleu. In France, Matt learned the intricacies of classic French cooking and, importantly, how to eat. And, yes, Matthew loved to eat. He excelled at his cooking classes and also became an expert in wine. After his year in France, his sense of taste and his ability to discern and describe elements of flavor was keen. Upon returning to Chicago, Matt worked at the esteemed Trio in Evanston and then at Ambria in Lincoln Park, where, among other duties, he was the saucier, the person responsible for one of the most important tasks in a French kitchen: making sauces.

Most recently, Matthew had become a sausage maker, teaching himself how to make the perfect cured meats. He was tireless in this effort and his stack of books, some in Spanish and German, proves that for a true chef, food and feeding people is often not only a labor of love, but also a self-driven education.

It is true that Matthew had many wonderful opportunities in his career as a chef, but he wouldn't have had them without his commitment to work, his need to constantly learn new things, his reverence for the natural word, and a healthy sense of adventure. These are qualities that I believe are shared by all good cooks, regardless of his culture or economic status.

Matthew, the cook, was also a great friend, husband, brother, and son; a truly generous, wonderful, and intelligent man.