Welcome Our New Head Chef, Matt Dubois

Matt Dubois, a good humored young man of 30, grew up in the midwest state of Michigan. For him, his path as a chef began at Tula's, a jazz club in Seattle where he worked while going to school for audio production. But it wasn't until after Matt moved from Seattle to Florida that he really discovered the passion he had for creating beautiful dishes. There he worked in a spanish tapas bar and at a classical french nouveau bistro.
When family brought him back to Chicago, Matt decided to attend culinary school at Kendall. During that time he was able to train under Suzy Crofton at Crofton on Wells, and attests that much of his knowledge and influence came from working with her. While Matt was there, Crofton on Wells, received three and a half stars from the Chicago Tribune.
Portland's beautiful weather and scenery called to Matt and his family and eventually they headed out west. "We came out here for the beautiful weather,  beautiful products, and the upcoming market and fast growing food and community," he said. Here, Matt's skills were trained and honed at locally known Castagna and then eventually, and happily, he came to us as our new head chef. With being in tune with staying local and having strong relationships with where your food is coming from being the backbone of Portland's food scene, Matt has done wonders for Papa Haydn in the few weeks he has been here. From the blossoming relationship with Kookoolan Farms where the ducks were raised especially for us -- to the wild salmon coming from the Columbia River, Matt has a high respect for maintaing our relationships with local farms. "...The arugula I got today looks completely different than what you would get from any of the big companies...and it tastes better...and of course it's a better business model..."he said.

Columbia River King Salmon, Shimeji Mushrooms, Leeks,
Cucumbers, Vegetable Vinaigrette, Salmon Roe

Papa Haydn West is thrilled to welcome Matt to our team and excited to see our menu transition with the seasons. This summer the features of wild caught King Salmon from the Columbia River (pictured) and the Oregon grown New York Strip with housemade Smoked Tomato Jam are the favorites so far. Come down and see what other exciting fresh and local food we have to offer, you can always take a dessert to-go.