Matthew Kelly: Chef & Restaurateur (Durham, NC)

Durham, NC is a kaleidoscope of small-town downtown charm that recalls a factory and farming past, mixed with Duke University, a progressive college and one of the foremost medical research campuses in the country. Add to that the fact that you can get out of town fast to rolling farmland or coastal destinations, and it’s a great place to open a restaurant. Chef Matthew Kelly has opened four : Vin Rouge, Mateo, St. James Seafood, and Mothers & Sons, and in doing so has changed the way a city eats. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Kelly worked at The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia before moving to the NC Triangle in 2002. He’s been nominated for four James Beard awards, and Mateo was on the list for Best New Restaurant in 2013. In April of 2019, a devastating gas explosion in Durham’s Brightleaf District temporarily closed St. James, and then the pandemic hit, but his latest restaurant just reopened for the third time, and Kelly is as passionate about the business and the joy of restaurants as he’s ever been. He’s the guy who can inspire you to be a more adventurous diner, to take a chance to do what you love, and to put in the hard work to make it good.