ave you ever watched someone on TV, movies or the interweb that you just thought if ever I had the chance to meet them, we'd be fast friends?
For me, that was Matty Matheson.
If you don’t know who Matty Matheson is, he plays Neil Fak on the TV show The Bear, an endearing, loyal handyman. It’s a small role but he’s one of the most popular characters on the show.
From Cancer Bats Merch to French Technique
But before Neil Fak, before The Bear, before any of it, there was a kid from Fort Erie, Ontario who got kicked out of high school, dropped out of culinary school two weeks before graduation to hit the road as a merch manager for Canadian hardcore band Cancer Bats,
and somehow became the kind of cook who learned classical French technique from a Vietnamese immigrant in Toronto and spent 20 years making food that tastes like someone actually loves you.
Matty’s gone from a low budget burger video on Vice Munchies in 2014 that now has nearly 10 million views, to executive producer and cast member of one of the most critically acclaimed shows on television.
At 26 he had his first restaurant.
By 28 he had four concepts and no business plan.
By 29 he had his first and hopefully only heart attack.
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Cocaine is one hell of a drug.
On November 12, 2013, Matty got sober.
The $500 Lightbulb Moment
Seven months later he made a cheeseburger video for Vice Munchies and that’s when something clicked.
matty-matheson-vice-munchies-cheeseburger-video-2014 | Image by The $500 Lightbulb Moment: A shot from the 2014 Munchies video that changed everything. At the time, Matty was still the head chef at Parts & Labour in Toronto. (Photo via YouTube / Munchies)
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I made a cheeseburger video… I made 500 bucks. And I was like, I just made 500 bucks. I have to work 80, 90 hours a week to make 600 bucks.
He pitched the idea everywhere. Nobody bit. So he made it himself in his own kitchen with his friends in six days. Just a Dash became a YouTube hit with over a million views per episode. Six years later Netflix came back around and picked it up.
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Everybody said no. That didn’t stop my dream. No, don’t stop my dream. They’re not part of my dream. They don’t believe in me. Cool. I believe in myself. Fuck you. I go back. I make Just a Dash.
And then came The Bear. Matty served as a consultant and co-producer from the start then was added to the main cast.
By Season 2 he hadn’t missed an episode since. Oh and somewhere in Season 3 he picked up a writing credit too.
But that’s a story best told by Matty himself. Oh and somewhere in between all of that he found time to front a hardcore punk band called Pig Pen. Because of course he did.
jeremy-allen-white-matty-matheson-the-bear-fx-series | Image by Matty Matheson (Neil Fak) alongside Jeremy Allen White (Carmy) in FX’s The Bear. (Courtesy of FX Networks)
When Bryan told me Matty was going to be in New York City for Baldor BITE, I had a plan within the hour.
Enter Christian Petroni
That plan led us to Pier 36 on April 21st, where a Bronx kid named Christian Petroni was about to sit down with Matty Matheson for one of the best conversations.
And Christian Petroni is no stranger to a kitchen. Bronx born, Italian raised, he’s been cooking since he was 13 years old after lying about his age to get his first kitchen job.
He’s the founder of Fortina, a successful wood fired Italian concept in New York,
a Food Network Star winner, a regular on Chopped and Beat Bobby Flay, and the author of the New York Times bestselling cookbook Parm to Table.
Oh and as of the 2026 season he has a concession stand inside Yankee Stadium. He bleeds blue like me.
christian-petroni-yankee-stadium-86d-me-feature | Image by Christian Petroni at the house that Jeter built. Bronx-born and still representing. (Photo via Instagram / @christianpetroni)
We didn’t have the microphone that day.
Christian Petroni did. But we had a phone next to the stage, a press pass, and the good sense to keep our mouths shut and listen. Consider this our best eavesdropping.
matty-matheson-christian-petroni-baldor-bite-2026-live | Image by Christian Petroni and Matty Matheson during the Baldor BITE summit at Pier 36. (Photo by 86'd Me)
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Christian Petroni |
86’d Me |
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“There’s a thing I often say where I was an admirer before I got to be friends. I was a fan before I was a friend. And I need to know who’s somebody in your life that you just can’t believe that you can go into your text messages and text this person that you looked up to as a young cook, as a human.”
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Matty Matheson |
86’d Me |
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“The person I can text that’s like a crazy celebrity or something that I never thought I would truly be friends with is Jamie Lee Curtis.
She plays like our mom on the show and she’s dealing with some stuff. I text her some stuff sometimes.
Recently my son is obsessed with Michael Myers and Halloween. She gave my son a real Michael Myers mask and got it signed by a bunch of people on the movie. And my son hasn’t taken it off since he got it. He got it like March 15th. So he’s just walking around.
I think he’s just a misunderstood kid. Well, I think there’s something more to it than that. I think my kid’s pure evil. Maybe misunderstood for a little bit. I think the bad awaits the good. So let’s maybe focus on some baseball players to idolize maybe.”
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matty-matheson-son-official-michael-myers-mask-gift | Image by An official Michael Myers mask, signed by the cast and gifted to Matty’s son by Jamie Lee Curtis. (Photo via Instagram / @mattymatheson)
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Christian Petroni |
86’d Me |
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“The shrinking of the world because of social media has given us an incredible opportunity to reach people at a scale never before seen or known. One great video backed with passion and authenticity can change a young cook’s life. What does it really take to leverage a large social media following as a career?”
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Matty Matheson |
86’d Me |
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“Nothing’s easy. Doing a paper route is not easy. Doing anything, cleaning your room isn’t easy. I never tried to do anything. My friends worked at Vice. I made a cheeseburger video. I made another video. I made 500 bucks. And I was like I just made 500 bucks. I have to work 80, 90 hours a week to make 600 bucks.
There wasn’t anything really like this out there. I did that then I left my restaurants. Then I went and did the Vice stuff for a couple years. I just kept going. I made more stuff with friends than anything.
My friends are creative and I do stuff with my friends and there’s like this reciprocal of things of karma where things keep happening. I’m just always around my friends. Even the bear is because I cooked with Ventry and those guys at Alex’s Lemonade Stand and Courtney Store was next to me and we hung out all weekend doing this event.
And then I became friends with her brother and then like 10 years later he calls me. He’s like I’m going to make this show The Bear. Like do you think you can help out? And I say like what the fuck are you talking about? And then I kind of helped out and then it turned into what it turned into.
Every single thing that has happened to me has just been through different friends. I don’t do business plans. I never have. I dream something. I want to do something and then I do it. I go purely on feeling and gut and that’s it.”
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Christian Petroni |
86’d Me |
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“Failure is something I’m not afraid of. I put my entire life on the line for some reason. And every single person is a critic which is incredible. So nice that every single person can completely flame you at any time. What do you take from failure?”
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Matty Matheson |
86’d Me |
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“I’m not afraid to jump and I’d rather be on the bus flying off a cliff than thinking about what it’s like being on that bus going off the cliff. Being a wallflower is my biggest fear. Being somebody that ain’t participating in life.
Feeling sick to your stomach every day about making the decision to do something where you have employees and you have a team and you have these people involved and you got to do your job. Make sure that they can do their job every day is a thing that I really love. And I really cherish building restaurants. I cherish running restaurants. I cherish the people inside of them working every single day that cook food that they love and they identify with.
Failure is one of those things you have to say I’m sorry. This didn’t work. We have to close. I’m sorry that this isn’t working out. And it can continue to happen or it doesn’t have to. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t win. It hurts.
I just feel like life shouldn’t always feel good cuz it doesn’t. That’s the same thing as business and everything else. It’s just not always going to be good. But I’d rather be in business. Losing a restaurant doesn’t make me unlove restaurants even though it hurts. It makes me love them more.”
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matty-matheson-bus-off-cliff-86d-me-editorial | Image by Matty’s philosophy on life and business—better to be on the bus flying off the cliff than wondering what the view looks like. (Digital Art by 86'd Me)
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Lexi, Audience Member |
86’d Me |
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“Are you happy right now?”
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Matty Matheson |
86’d Me |
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“I would say close. I think that’s my biggest thing now. I think I built something that’s rather big, bigger than I ever could have dreamt. And it takes a lot. And I’m trying to find that happiness where everything is going. I am sad often. I am alone often. I live in a hotel room. What I have built that provides for my family takes me away from my family. I’m trying to figure that out. Everything I wanted doesn’t seem like it is what I wanted, but it is. The restaurants are fantastic. Making books are fantastic. All of these things in my life feed each other.
But yeah, I think it’s like this morning I am happy I get to see some people that I love and spend some time with in a city that I love. But yeah, no, like I’m hella sad a lot for real.
I was very nervous coming out here today. I stop doing podcasts. I stop doing things because it is like one of those things when life is so heavy sometimes and I’m just doing output and I have to talk about stuff too. It’s really hard sometimes to talk about stuff because sometimes there is only the performance left in me rather than I just need to go home and chill too.
I’ve been making videos for over 10 years. I’ve been going as hard as I can for 20 years. I just started taking vacations like 2 years ago. I never took vacations. Even being home, I treated being home as a vacation. That’s not cool.
I’m willing to sacrifice my happiness sometimes to do the things. But yeah I’m more happy than not because then I wouldn’t be doing this. I wouldn’t have shown up. I’m like anybody, you know. I’m kind of good, but it’s kind of fucked up too.”
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When that last answer landed, the applause turned into a standing ovation that swept through the whole crowd. And then it was over.
Matty stepped off and it was Beatlemania. Security tried to manage it but he made his way to the other side and came out to meet people the right way, face to face.
There were hundreds of them.
We made our way to the front, the 86’d Me crew, close enough to matter. I had a beanie for him. He took it, we talked for a minute, took a picture, got the group shot, then stepped aside so the next person could have their moment.
matty-matheson-86d-me-crew-baldor-bite-crowd | Image by Matty making his way through the crowd at Pier 36 to meet the people face to face. (Photo by 86'd Me)
A couple feet away Christian Petroni was just standing there. No crowd, just him and someone he was talking to.
We walked up, said hi, told him what an incredible interview that was. He was warm and easy, exactly what you’d hope for. We talked about the magazine, took some pictures, he asked us to tag him.
Then I asked if I could use the interview.
He said yes without hesitating.
Sometimes you meet someone you’ve admired from a distance and they don’t quite live up to it. The version in your head was better. That wasn’t this.
We don’t believe what’s on TV because it’s what we want to see. We believe it because every once in a while, someone turns out to be exactly who they seemed to be.
Christian Petroni asked the right questions and got out of the way. And Matty Matheson gave the room everything he had. Not because he performed up there. Because he didn’t.
None of this happens without Baldor BITE. Thanks for having us.
Books
A Cookbook — His first and most personal book. Essays, stories, and recipes rooted in his Canadian upbringing.
Home Style Cookery — New York Times bestseller. 135 recipes crafted to be shared with the people you love.
Soups, Salads, Sandwiches — The holy trinity of kitchen tables. His most casual and personal cookbook yet.
Cookware & More
Matheson Cookware — Cast iron pans, kitchen sticks, cutting boards. Designed with intention by Matty and Castor Design.
Matheson Food Company — BBQ sauces, salad dressings, pantry staples. Big punchy flavours for your home.
Matty’s World — T-shirts, hoodies, aprons, merch and more.
Books
Parm to Table — An instant New York Times bestseller. Italian American recipes from the Bronx to Ponza, with a foreword by Martha Stewart.
Restaurants & More
Ella’s by Christian Petroni — Seasonal coastal Italian in Nashville’s SoBro neighborhood.
The Gabagool Shop — His cult garlic bread and Sicilian pizza shipped nationwide.
