This profile originally appeared in the winter edition of the Geneseo Scene. Read it and all of our features online.
Growing up, nothing was better, says Matt Abdoo’ 02, than his grandma’s meatballs. They were cheesy, saucy, Italian perfection.
At 94, “she’s still with us,” and they still are the best, he says.
Abdoo, a four-star chef who has worked with celebrity chef Mario Batali, honors his grandmother’s home cooking to this day. He has recreated her recipe on The Today Show and on his blog, where he praises her dish with this proclamation: These meatballs “will be in your top three of all time.”
When he shares the recipe, he’s also sharing the feelings of his family when gathered around the dinner table.
“I’ve always loved food,” says Abdoo, “but I loved food for the ability of bringing family and friends together and putting smiles on faces and lifting someone’s spirits.”
Abdoo, who has led the kitchen in acclaimed restaurants in Boston and in Batali’s Del Posto in New York City, got his start in high school, baking cakes for fun, then filling cannoli and transforming flour into wedding cakes and pastries during summers off from Geneseo.
Abdoo realized he wanted to become a chef during these breaks from his business administration classes. He practiced in the residence hall.
“I became notorious for making these really big dinners for our suitemates,” he remembers. “I had a two-burner stove and a tiny oven in the communal kitchen, and cooked for anyone that wanted to come.”
Abdoo graduated valedictorian from the Culinary Institute of America in 2004. His first full-time position resulted from his internship at Marc Orfaly’s Italian restaurant, Pigalle, in Boston. Orfaly chose him to be head chef at his new eatery, Marco. He was 24.
“Oh, I was terrified,” he says. “I was just a kid, but he trusted me. You adapt, your learn, you live.”
Abdoo’s kitchen leadership helped earn Marco great Zagat reviews and critics’ endorsements, which helped Abdoo land an invitation at famed Del Posto.
There are two restaurants in New York awarded four stars by the New York Times. One of them is Del Posto, where diners savor handmade pastas and unique dishes made exclusively from fresh ingredients, served as a chef-created sampling menu at tables with ironed tablecloths.
Abdoo worked at all the stations there before being named “chef de cuisine.” He was the executive chef’s right-hand, basically doing everything that needed to carry out Batali and the chef’s vision: staff training, kitchen operations, scheduling and menu development.
Last March, Abdoo quit Del Posto to open Pig Beach BBQ with a friend — and cook more. They first experimented with flavors on a small barbecue pit, and won awards for meats and sauces. “We cooked and cooked, and loved it,” says Abdoo.
At Pig Beach in Gowanus, Brooklyn, diners can try Abdoo’s homemade ribs and sausage stuffed with hot cherry peppers and provolone. Soon, they will open Pig Beach in Manhattan.
Often, he says, our best memories come from birthdays and gatherings.
“My whole life, I like being able to make people happy, and food became the means for me to do that,” says Abdoo.
— By Kris Dreessen