being named Chef of the Year. “It’s mind-blowing to me that I am standing here with
the amount of talent that is in this room.”
Matarazzo is still learning his craft, still
exploring. So he takes none of his recent
successes for granted. If he did, the
learning might stop.
rest of my life.” So halfway through, he
left Crane and began to check out other
colleges, hoping to find his way to a career.
While helping a friend run a bagel shop on
Long Island, Matarazzo reviewed a course
catalog for Nassau Community College.
FROM OBOE TO OSSO BUCO
A national member of ACF representing the
Northeast Region, Matarazzo’s winning menu
in Anaheim began with a creamy onion soup
with braised duck leg and a lacy Parmesan
crisp, followed by a fish course of pan-seared
halibut with sauce Provençal served with a
ragoût of corn, leek and fennel, a sauté of
broccoli rabe and diced saffron potato, a
croquette of chorizo and chopped Manila
clams, and chive butter. The main course
featured prosciutto-wrapped terrine of veal
stuffed with foie gras, shiitake mushrooms
and creamed cabbage served as a duo of
veal thanks to braised sweetbreads. An
English-pea risotto, sautéed spinach, summer
vegetables finished with butter and herbs,
and sweetbread jus completed the dish.
“I was surrounded by bagels, I was managing
my friend’s place, and I like to eat,” Matarazzo
says. He decided to pursue a degree in
foodservice management. “I couldn’t boil an
egg, but it was management, not cooking. So I
didn’t think of being a chef at Nassau. But they
made me take a cooking class as part of the
program. I wasn’t at all interested in cooking,
so I went to admissions to find a substitute
course, and they said no. I had to take it.”
To earn his degree, Matarazzo externed
at Les Chefs de France at Epcot World
Showcase at Walt Disney World in Florida,
whose menus were created by the “dream
team” of Paul Bocuse, Gaston Lenôtre
and Roger Vergé. Accidentally assigned
to international housing, Matarazzo recalls
living with people representing different
cultures around the world while he daily
executed classic French cooking as one of
the greatest experiences of his life.
HUNGRY FOR MORE
Once armed with credentials from a
prestigious culinary school, Matarazzo
could have gone from there to virtually
anywhere to begin his career. Instead, he
took a long look in the mirror.
“When I was graduating with a thousand
other schools’ students, I asked myself,
‘What will separate me from the rest of
them?’ While I learned a ton from CIA and
wouldn’t be where I am without them, I still
didn’t really know a whole lot.”
Matarazzo might not be cooking at all
today had a series of incidents years
before transpired differently. He had no
desire to be a cook when he enrolled
in The Crane School of Music at SUNY
Potsdam after high school. He was an
oboist, and envisioned teaching music.
That class is where he met instructor
Christopher Argento, RD, CEC, CCE,
who changed Matarazzo’s life. “He really
opened my eyes to food and what the
possibilities could be,” Matarazzo says.
Argento also encouraged Matarazzo
to consider The Culinary Institute of
America in Hyde Park, N. Y. “I got two jobs
in kitchens and fulfilled the experience
requirements. As soon as they accepted
me at the CIA, I dropped out of Nassau.”
So Matarazzo opted for more training in an
intense environment. He chose the time-
honored apprenticeship program at The
“I loved playing music,” Matarazzo says.
This prosciutto-wrapped terrine of veal
stuffed with foie gras, shiitake mushrooms
and creamed cabbage served with braised
sweetbreads, an English-pea risotto, sautéed
spinach, summer vegetables and sweetbread
jus is the award-winning main course.
