Rising Star Pastry Chef Matt Tinder of The Restaurant at Meadowood - Biography

Making everything from scratch is second nature to Matt Tinder, who grew up preparing foods like tofu and soymilk alongside his mother in Kauai, Hawaii. A soccer scholarship brought Tinder to Oregon’s George Fox University, but it was when he started working as a short order cook that he found his true calling.

Returning to Hawaii to tackle a position in the Tri-Star and Jas Restaurant Group, Tinder worked for Executive Chef George Gomez, Jr., whom he considers his first mentor. During his four years with the group, Tinder traveled all over the country, working with a variety of chefs, learning and furthering his skills. Back on the mainland at San Francisco’s Campton Place, Tinder gained his first real exposure to pastry, working with Boris Portnoy, and, in 2008, he stepped into the pastry chef position. While at Campton, he met 2009 StarChefs.com Rising Star Chef Christopher Kostow, and in 2009, Tinder joined Kostow’s team at the Restaurant at Meadowood, helping the restaurant earn its third Michelin Star.

The star-earning continued when Tinder moved back to San Francisco and into a position at Saison in fall 2010. In November 2011, he undertook a position with Chef Daniel Patterson at Coi, and was eventually promoted to corporate pastry chef for the Daniel Patterson group in August 2013. Now back at Meadowood, Tinder heads up an ambitious bread program that incorporates locally grown and milled grains—taking the kind of scratch cooking he grew up with to a whole new level.