Chef Matty Matheson: By the books
The celebrity chef has now made his mark in Hamilton, with elevated pub Iron Cow Public House at TD Coliseum. So what can we glean about him from the recipes and stories in his three cookbooks?
For months, his name was on the lips of Hamilton food enthusiasts: Matty, Matty, Matty. The buzz was connected to the news that Hamilton’s new TD Coliseum would include a Matty Matheson restaurant. Our city boasts many fine and even celebrated chefs, but none with the celebrity status to match Matty Matheson – and he was bringing the Iron Cow Public House to Hamilton’s downtown entertainment venue.
Matheson is a principal in the Our House Hospitality Company (OHHC) that includes Prime Seafood Palace (Toronto) and Rizzo’s House of Parm (Ridgeway). Iron Cow puts him halfway between his Toronto eateries and his home and family, who live near Rizzo’s.
Matheson’s “restaurant family” includes culinary director Coulson Armstrong (who recently won Top Chef Canada), heading a team talented in both the kitchen and front of house. Prime Seafood Palace ranks as fine dining, with a sublime seafood, steak and vegetable menu in a beautifully designed space. In contrast, Rizzo’s is a charming “feels like home” space serving delicious and generous portions of Italian cuisine, inspired by the family of Matheson’s wife Trish Spencer. Both venues have become destination dining spots, and Iron Cow also hopes to achieve that distinction, adding to Hamilton’s thriving food scene.
In an interview with CHCH TV, (Matheson’s team did not make him available for an interview for this story) Matheson said: “Hamilton is a fantastic city,” and he welcomes the opportunity to be part of this new chapter. Iron Cow aims for a pub-style vibe with a menu that ranges from classic British and Canadian pub eats to delicious roasts and comfort food.
Matheson’s values, creativity, and passion revolve around family and fun. He likes the idea that patrons may be visiting Iron Cow before a Coliseum show or game. “They want to have fun and pubs are fun restaurants – they’re for everybody,” he said during the CHCH appearance.
What do we know about this culinary icon who is new in our neighbourhood? He is a chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, storyteller, musician, and product developer. He’s also a TV personality, consultant, producer, and actor, as well as an internet/social media powerhouse who has garnered some awards along the way. We can become acquainted by frequenting his restaurants and devouring his cookbooks – both the recipes and the stories.
Matheson’s food journey began on Canada’s east coast, and his first cookbook Matty Matheson: A Cookbook in 2018 shares accounts of his life through a culinary lens. This book, he writes “is an honest recollection of the food that has molded me and made me the cook I am today.” A third volume of this book details family stories and recipes, a constant theme in Matheson’s work and brand.
READ OUR IRON COW REVIEW HERE!
Matheson’s cookbooks have made the New York Times bestseller list.
Born in Saint John, N.B. to a family with P.E.I. roots dating back to the 1700s, his family lived in Nova Scotia before moving to Fort Erie when Matheson was 11. He credits his paternal grandfather, who was a chef and restaurant owner, for inspiring his passion for cooking. Mind you, he was surrounded by cooks and even his maternal grandparents ran a home-style seafood restaurant.
As Matheson details, his elders made “true Canadian food” from anything that could be locally sourced and homemade, such as game, honey, cider, pickles, and preserves. Once his family moved to Ontario, Matheson continued to spend summers on the east coast, camping, hiking, and fishing. His parents were high-school sweethearts, and he recalls his mother regularly making fresh bread and outstanding roasts. Matheson says he loves it when a kitchen creates lifelong memories. The family tradition of making “rappie pie” – an east coast potato/chicken pie – continues to this day and his first cookbook shares the recipe.
If all that wasn’t enough of a food training ground, Matheson’s mother-in-law welcomed him to their family, with what he called “delicious and then-unknown food” that turned out to be Italian. Family recipes in this first cookbook frequently feature seafood and roasts, suggesting that it is no coincidence that the Iron Cow features roasts, while Prime in Toronto is a seafood and steakhouse. In a Rolling Stone interview. Matheson said, “I try to honour the people that are in my family, who helped make me. All my restaurants now are based on everyone in my life.”
Matheson writes fondly of Fort Erie and the typical small-town life. It was where he met his own high-school sweetheart, Trish, now his wife and mother of their three children, and a great cook in her own right. They are raising their family close to their own childhood communities.
People will drive long distances to Rizzo’s House of Parm, which features flavoursome Italian food. Next to it is the Blue Goose Farm Shop bearing the name of his paternal grandfather’s eatery. It sells quality produce, flowers, and herbs grown nearby using traditional and sustainable farming practices.
The remainder of his first cookbook focuses on early cooking experiences. Matheson enrolled in George Brown College’s chef school, which he reportedly enjoyed, except for the unit on pastry. Just weeks before graduation, his apathy toward the pastry course contributed to his departure for the more attractive opportunity of joining a band’s road tour. The program had nonetheless achieved its goal and Matheson entered the work force with classical French chef training that was nurtured by the culinary leaders and creatives at restaurants where he worked.
Le Sélect Bistro, La Palette, Oddfellows and Parts & Labour often incorporated French classics. By 2019, attesting to his skills, he was executive chef at Parts & Labour – punk music in the basement and contemporary unpretentious French food upstairs. (He shares some of those recipes in his cookbook.)
This quirky combo lasted 10 years, but not without some challenges. Matheson today speaks openly about mental health and addiction issues associated with careers in cooking. He candidly details how he became caught up in all the clichés of a party chef – but that’s another story.
At the end of this cookbook, Matheson chews over his experience with and feelings about burgers. While at Parts & Labour, he won a Burger Wars competition (and shares the recipe), but bemoans that the demand for that burger came to overshadow the rest of the menu and underutilized chefs’ skills. In time, he embraced the fact that the burger made people happy and eventually opened Matty’s Patty’s. Chef Coulson Armstrong mentioned in an interview that the burgers kept them going during COVID. Matty’s Patty’s are offered at the TD Coliseum concessions.
While at Parts & Labour, Matheson connected with Vice Media, and “all of a sudden I became a celebrity chef guy.” YouTube videos led to the Viceland show Dead Set on Life, which had him globe-trotting, making appearances on TV and web series. He is active on all forms of social media with millions of followers. Netflix acquired the rights to his ongoing series Just a Dash, now airing season 3. These not-your-usual cooking shows vary in their energetic playfulness.
Most noteworthy of his broadcast projects is his involvement in the award-winning TV series, The Bear which, over four seasons (so far), focuses on a world-class chef, played by Jeremy Allen White, who returns to his hometown of Chicago to rescue the family’s Italian beef sandwich eatery. Matheson’s role is as an (Emmy-nominated) executive producer, culinary consultant and actor playing the lovable handyman Neil Fak.
Speaking of awards and recognition, Matheson’s third cookbook, Soups, Salads, Sandwiches released in 2024, was nominated for a James Beard Award. In 2012, he was part of the "Group of Seven" chefs invited to host a meal at James Beard House.
“It was a big deal for me … I came back with a newfound pride for my work as a chef,” he wrote in his first cookbook. Matheson remains a proud promoter of Canadian cuisine and ingredients.
Matheson clearly loves and has copious experience with proteins, but his Soups, Salads, Sandwiches cookbook will disabuse you of the idea that meat is all that interests him. Again, family is featured, sharing his wife’s macaroni and tuna salad. He recreates “beef on weck” (Kimmelweck) – his wife’s favourite Fort Erie/Buffalo sandwich. There are also “sweet sandwiches” such as Banana Split Sandwich, Not a Joe Louis, and Not a Passion Flakie.
Not to be overlooked is his second cookbook, Home Style Cookery, written during pandemic shutdowns, when many people were home with family. Matheson shares memories of his mother’s bread-making and celebrates global bread-making traditions by making bread the first chapter in the book. International recipes are included, as well as bannock and “Molasses Bread in an Apple Juice Can” for which he reckons every Maritime family has a recipe.
The TD Coliseum’s music events are surely welcomed by Matheson who, in an interview with Toronto Life, said, “Bringing people together with amazing food, great service and live music — it’s everything I love.” Not only did he leave culinary school early to go on the road with a band, but he’s also lead vocalist for hardcore punk band Pig Pen.
Like many celebrity chefs, Matheson has embraced the “merch” pathway. His restaurant logos feature prominently on merchandise from hats to hoodies, and other partnerships link his brand to cookware and workwear. Matheson Food Company offers pantry staples such as seasonings, macaroni and cheese, salad dressings, and BBQ sauces, available at local grocers. Here too, family influences make appearances. Green Olive dressing is a tribute to his mother-in-law and the BBQ sauces are inspired by his dad.
Matheson’s cookbook stories are forthright about his origins and journey. In Home Style Cookery, he writes, “Honestly, I never thought that I would be a chef. I never had that moment of falling in love with the craft before I went into my career. I only wanted to cook to make money because I genuinely loved being a cook.”
He repeatedly encourages his cookbook readers to cook with resilience, advising those who encounter misadventures and disappointments to try again and never give up. “We all gotta keep going. Please keep trying and please don’t get discouraged.” These are apt sentiments given the recent closures of two of Matheson’s Toronto restaurants: Bar Clams in November, less than a year after its launch; and in January, the Vietnamese eatery Cà Phê Rang.
A decade ago, asked by Toronto Life what he wanted, Matheson replied, “everything.” In 2024, he had softened his answer and told that same magazine: “What does it look like to try to be number one? That’s not something I was ever shooting for.” And yet, his accomplishments are impressive. The chaotic creative energy persona seems more balanced with that of a joyful, disarming, regular guy, honouring family and roots.
Hamilton, still deserving of the moniker “ambitious”, is, to me, down to earth, not pretentious or pompous, not egotistical or smug, striving – at least on the food scene – to inspire and thrive. That sounds like a place where Matty Matheson should feel right at home.
As a postscript, having visited some of Matheson’s restaurants, I highly commend Prime Seafood Palace, the site of one of the best meals I have ever had. Satisfaction at Rizzo’s has resulted in return visits, and Blue Goose is an exceptional farm shop. I enjoy his mac ‘n’ cheese kit to which I add sliced cherry tomatoes and corn niblets – I think he’d approve.
Having grown up on bologna sandwiches, I couldn’t resist making the bologna bowl – a keeper breakfast recipe from cookbook No. 1.
I wasn't given the opportunity to interview Matty, but at the opening of Iron Cow, he offered to do a selfie. I fumbled with my phone. With a big smile, he took my phone and click! He seems charming and open and, as I do, believes that food is love – and I love his food!
It’s fitting to close with Matheson’s’ New Year’s post in his social media: in all its all caps, no punctuation style.
2025 WAS ONE OF THE BEST YEARS OF MY LIFE ALSO ONE OF THE HARDEST WE LIVE WE LEARN WE WORK WE LOSE WE WIN WE LOSE WE TRY AND FAIL WE GET KNOCKED DOWN WE GET UP WE LOVE WE LOSE WE GIVE AND TRY AND LAUGH AND TRY TO LEARN AND WE KEEP GOING I LOVE MY FRIENDS I LOVE MY FAMILY I LOVE WHAT I DO I LOVE MAKING STUFF SO WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE STUFF WE GOT ONE LIFE SO ID RATHER FAIL AND TRY THAN NOT TRY AT ALL
