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Sep 25

Matty Matheson Reveres the Chicken-Finger Sub – Grub Street

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Matty Matheson and his summer vegetables. Illustration: Eliana Rodgers

Ive kept my circle pretty small, and I dont really hang out with anybody, says Matty Matheson, the outrageous and exuberant food personality who came out of Torontos restaurant scene. Since leaving Vice last year, Matheson has gone solo, launching a YouTube channel of his own, in part to promote and poke fun at his forthcoming cookbook, Matty Matheson: Home Style Cookery, out September 29. True to the books title, Matheson films his videos on his farm in his hometown of Fort Erie, Ontario, where he moved back a couple years ago. Along with his cookbook, Matheson also started Matty Mathesons Meat + Three, serving barbecue and southern food; been working on Blue Goose Farm; and he and his wife, Trish, are expecting their third child. Matheson says that with the book, the restaurant, and a new, as-yet-unannounced secret project in the works, hes got a contingency plan if the ongoing pandemic means another shutdown: Im just going to be back at the farm doing my thing, he says.

Monday, September 14Made coffee. Theres no cafs to get a good espresso around here. Its pretty wild and unfortunate. But Ive really become a fan of just drinking drip coffee. I didnt grow up in a house of coffee drinkers. I got into drinking coffee through working in restaurants and traveling, and I have grown to enjoy coffee. But Im definitely not a coffee snob. At home, I have one of those big jugs of Folgers, you know? I love, literally, just a cup of Folgers.

Lunch was Robo Marts beef tacos and half of a chicken-finger sub. Ive been going there as long as I can remember. My younger brother had a house kind of around the corner, cause its right by the river. At the edge of the parking lot, you can see Buffalo. Its right by the Peace Bridge. Its always been the spot. It was like, You wanna go get some subs? There was no Subway. I think Canadian border towns are very influenced by America, obviously, and so the food is very similar. The tacos, theyre just like Old El Paso tacos where can you buy those? Theyre just ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, sour cream, and cheese. I love them very much. Its not even Tex-Mex. Its complete bastardized Mexican food its the kings crown of appropriation. Its horrible.

The chicken-finger sub is something thats massive in Buffalo through Jims Steak Out and other kind of iconic spots. In Fort Erie, every pizzeria in town serves them. The only thing you can eat here is subs and pizza, or Chinese food. A lot of Chinese restaurants, a lot of bingo halls, and, back in the day, there were a lot of strip clubs because in Canada you can have full nudity.

Its just chicken fingers tossed in Franks and butter, blue-cheese dressing, lettuce, onions, pickles. You can even add a slice of processed cheese. Its so fucking good. Either you get it, or you dont. Theres a 50-50 chance: Its either the best thing youve had, or youre the 50 percent where youre like, What the fuck are you even talking about? The people who dont like it never grew up going to the States. Like, Okay, youre too Canadian. You cant handle it.

Dinner was leftover lasagna bianco that I made for the first time for Sunday supper. I dont really use recipes. When Im making food for myself, Ill Google something, and I always read two or three recipes and what are the three or four things in the recipes is it fresh nutmeg? How are different people making their bchamel? I did a sausage and pork mix. I bought ground pork and Italian sausage, took them out of the casing, made a white rag with onions, carrots, and garlic. Some peperoncini. I cooked off the pork and sausage together, cooked that out in chicken stock, then my bchamel I just did some milk with mascarpone, no flour, no eggs, no nothing. I added a bunch of white pepper and just a dash of nutmeg. I had the fresh basil and some really amazing spinach from my garden and layered it up.

Tuesday, September 15Brewed some Puff Coffee this morning. Duane Sorenson sent me a couple bags, and its so fire. The one bag of beans is from Mexico I cant tell you right now exactly where theyre from, but its so nice. Thats why Duane is Duane. He can find the beans, man.

Lunch was eggplant parm that Trish made. She cooks all the time. She was due on this upcoming Monday, her birthday is on that Monday, so shes been meal prepping for a couple weeks. We got this big freezer in the basement. Shes been making herself a ton of food just for the next couple weeks. The eggplant parm, I had a little bit of that; she was making them for the freezer. But she cooks and bakes all the time.

We have at least something from the garden around every day. Ill snack on tomatoes, or when the cucumbers were pumping I ate a lot of those. Doing Blue Goose, our little garden, saved my sanity through this whole thing. It helped a lot spiritually, Ill tell you that much. It truly grounded me. It made me happy when I was stressed. I would go out there and just sit in the garden and watch the sun go down, and, you know, it definitely was a very big North Star through this whole thing.

Im very lucky in my sobriety and have done a lot of hard work. Its never like, I need a drink. Its more like, How do I deal with these feelings right now? You build up your little castle of fortitude with your little baby blocks, and every once in a while you have a fit and knock them all over the place and youve got to put them back in place.

Got Ma Chinese Cuisine in St. Catharines: spicy cucumbers, squid, Sichuan chile fish, fried chicken with Sichuan peppercorn, spicy dumplings, tripe, snow-pea leaves, and Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce.

Ma is amazing. Its a gem. Its so weird. Theres very little Sichuan in Canada, Ill say that, and I cannot believe this restaurant is so good. Their chile fish, theyve got sliced beef tongue and tripe. Theyve got some really good dishes that blow my mind that exist in this area. Its just nice we have a place we can go and get real food, real xiao long bao. Their shumai are crazy; their char siu is crazy.

Its just a place I couldnt believe when I went there. Now, Ive probably been 15 or 20 times in the last year and a half. Its just as good as any spot in Toronto downtown. Every time I go, Im like, Please dont go away. Im always so happy people go there. Every time I go, its very busy.

Wednesday, September 16Morning coffee.

Made my one-hour Bolognese. I ate it for lunch because of some fucking PR thing. I had to do a step-by-step of a quick and easy recipe. So, because I make that, its just tomato paste and beef stock. I cook everything and then I reduce it with egg yolks and milk. Its one of those really quick, really nice beef sauces.

I love making it. Ive been making it for a long time, but itd been a while and I was like, Fuck, I forgot how good this is. I kind of like rag thats more beefy rather than tomatoey. But I do have a place for a tomato-sauce rag as well.

Trish made a roast-chicken dinner with stuffing. Her stuffing is my favorite stuffing ever. She puts chestnuts in it, and she cooked these double-baked mashed potatoes with cream cheese that I love. She made a kind of Thanksgiving dinner on the fly.

Thursday, September 17Usually on Thursday and Friday, Im in the office in Parkdale, back in Toronto. I stay overnight at my friends house. She lives in the neighborhood, so I go stay at her place. For the last year, Ive just been sleeping on the couch. Then her roommate, one of our close friends, moved out. So now Ive got a bedroom.

If were doing an office day, were doing either Lao Thai or momos for lunch every day. We got Lao Thai this time: nam kao, fried-chicken lettuce cups, wonton soup, and beef laap.

Weve been going to Lao Thai for a little over a year. I dont even think theres seating inside. Its just pretty much Thai takeout, run by a mother and daughter. Its in the bottom of some brand-new fucking condo building, and it is the best Thai in Toronto. It feels like something that legitimately Jonathan Gold would write about, and Im like, Man, this reminds me of L.A. That kind of stuff doesnt happen in Toronto somehow. Its random. Its on a weird intersection in Parkdale in the bottom of some brand-new massive condo monster. Its this family serving the best Thai food in the city.

I didnt have dinner. I slammed too much Thai food.

Friday, September 18Went to a little coffee shop right by the office called Rustic Cosmo Caf. Its so fucking good. I got a coffee and breakfast bagel sandwich on an everything bagel with bacon, avocado, cheese, tomato, egg, and aoli.

I didnt eat too much else this day. I ate my breakfast sandwich and then I rode home on my motorcycle. I finally got my license and insurance. I just got home a little later and picked some stuff out of the fridge some salami and cheese and crackers.

My motorcycle is a 91 Fat Boy. Im way more into the romantic side I just kind of want to cruise some backstreets. I dont know, Im searching. Im just trying to cruise solo, man.

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