Arts & Entertainment
 

UH alumus cooks up masterpieces

On the scenes

Dusti Rhodes

When it comes to his job, Matt Maroni is creating art that is good enough to eat -- because it should be. 

The local chef and UH alumnus takes the lessons he learned on freshness of product, food presentation and flavor combinations in American and European kitchens to create his own savory style.

"Sometimes I'll get people who will say 'this is too beautiful, I can't eat it,' and I'm like 'no, dig into to it, rip it up,'" said Maroni, who graduated from the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management in December 2002.

Maroni works at The Rainbow Lodge in Houston, an old house converted into a restaurant that specializes in wild game, serving everything from venison to duck to buffalo. Although he is only 25, Maroni took over as head chef in February and said that even though he is young, he has learned a lot from his many experiences. 

"(That's) the beauty of being a chef. You have to be confident in your work," Maroni said. 

Maroni began working in restaurants when he was 15 and became interested in cooking when he was around 17.

After Maroni graduated from UH, he spent the summer working in the kitchen of a castle built in the 13th century on an Italian vineyard. Maroni worked as an apprentice earning no more than experience. 

"I didn't get paid. I lived on the vineyard and walked to and from work," Maroni said. "I lived alone in a farm house, I had four donkeys to keep me company but they didn't help me too much."

Although Maroni didn't get any hands-on experience in the kitchen he learned by just being there.

"I peeled potatoes for two months ... I learned a lot by just watching them," Maroni said. 

His time in Italy also made him appreciate the importance of fresh ingredients.

"Everything was fresh, chickens would come in with their heads and feet still on," said Maroni adding that the kitchen made its own vinegar and olive oil and bought everything they didn't make on the farm from local markets. 

At the Lodge, Maroni uses the freshest products for his dishes making everything but the bread from scratch.

Maroni says that he likes to mix flavors and textures to create dishes with unique tastes.

"I feed off that European geometry of plate presentations and unique and creative flavors. You can do thousands and thousands of dishes that may have been done before --you have to put your own unique twist on them."

A painter or songwriter can choose what they want a piece to look or sound like without asking the potential buyer but chefs have to take their audience (the diners) into careful consideration. Maroni compared the process of preparing a meal from preparation to presentation with the creation of other works of art, but with one exception.

"Once you send it out there you don't have a second chance. A painting you can sell again -- a plate of food you can't sell again," Maroni said. 

Maroni said that chefs have to be able to take criticism with a pinch of salt and not dwell on it but learn from it.

"You get critiqued everyday, you can't take it personally," said Maroni, who sometimes learned the hard way how to do something right. 

He said he worked under a chef that would throw away entire dinners he was finished preparing because he was not satisfied with them. 

"You have to bear down and keep your calm. If its not right, its not right, you do what it takes to make it right," Maroni said.

Although he has learned a lot from criticism Maroni rarely gets the chance to critique his own work.

"At home I don't cook, I go to Schlotzsky's, Café Express or Chipotle," Maroni said. 

He said in Italy he also gained an affinity for paninis, a type of sandwich sold on the side of the road at places called auto grills. Maroni said that whenever he goes back to Italy to visit his grandparents he makes sure to stop at one.

"I drive all over Italy and even though the towns are all different there is always an auto grill with a panini with my name it," Maroni said.

If you are ever near the bayou and have a craving for some wild game you can check out this sandwich lovers' masterpiece meals at The Rainbow Lodge, 1 Birdsall St.

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