Brian D. McCafferty of Matt the Miller's Tavern
Restaurant: Matt the Miller's Tavern, 6725 Avery-Muirfield
Drive
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
Background: Chef McCafferty has more than17 years cooking in professional kitchens, ranging from barbecue restaurants to fine dining. His current focus is on fresh, scratch cooking in a comfortable atmosphere.
Most Memorable Kitchen Experience: My most memorable experience has to be my first one. I applied for a dishwashing position at a local barbecue restaurant in Gahanna. The general manager must have seen some sort of glimmer of a future cook in me, because that night he hired me as a cook, and put me on the line. The guy training me on the fryers was a powerhouse cook named E.J. I remember during the rush, he just grabbed a pan out of the oven with his bare hands. Being only minutes old to the restaurant industry, I thought it was a special coated pan, or something of that nature, and grabbed the pan right out of the oven, and burned a blister the size of a quarter into my thumb. I realized that week that this is what I would be doing for the rest of my life.
Best thing about the Columbus Dining Scene: Diversity. Having recently moved back to the Columbus area from the East Coast, it surprised me to see so much cultural diversity in the restaurant scene. You expect that sort of thing in Washington D.C., but Columbus has a lot of great choices when it comes to dining out. Independent ownership is making a surprising surge inside the beltway. You still have your corporate hot spots everywhere, but chef/owners and single-unit operations are a lot more prevalent than when I left.
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
Background: Chef McCafferty has more than17 years cooking in professional kitchens, ranging from barbecue restaurants to fine dining. His current focus is on fresh, scratch cooking in a comfortable atmosphere.
Most Memorable Kitchen Experience: My most memorable experience has to be my first one. I applied for a dishwashing position at a local barbecue restaurant in Gahanna. The general manager must have seen some sort of glimmer of a future cook in me, because that night he hired me as a cook, and put me on the line. The guy training me on the fryers was a powerhouse cook named E.J. I remember during the rush, he just grabbed a pan out of the oven with his bare hands. Being only minutes old to the restaurant industry, I thought it was a special coated pan, or something of that nature, and grabbed the pan right out of the oven, and burned a blister the size of a quarter into my thumb. I realized that week that this is what I would be doing for the rest of my life.
Best thing about the Columbus Dining Scene: Diversity. Having recently moved back to the Columbus area from the East Coast, it surprised me to see so much cultural diversity in the restaurant scene. You expect that sort of thing in Washington D.C., but Columbus has a lot of great choices when it comes to dining out. Independent ownership is making a surprising surge inside the beltway. You still have your corporate hot spots everywhere, but chef/owners and single-unit operations are a lot more prevalent than when I left.
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