Chef Matthew Skolarus on Handmade Pasta, Italian-Mexican Identity, and Finding His Style

Chef Matthew Skolarus closes out the season in style — making fresh ricotta ravioli with charred chorizo and corn salsa verde while telling the story of how he got here.A Chicago kid, high school dropout, and self-taught cook who worked his way up to exec chef on Randolph Street, Matt now runs Shorty's, a pop-up smash burger and pasta concept built around his life rather than the grind. The dish he makes tonight — Italian pasta, Mexican flavors — is the love story of his marriage and the seed of Metodo, the restaurant he's been building toward ever since.Host Paul Young gets into all of it: the rondeau moment that broke his ego open, the peanut butter quenelle practice sessions at home, what Chef Doug Salt meant when he shook his plates and said "asses in the seats," and what it actually feels like to chase a title and finally get there.In this episode:Why he walked away from restaurant kitchens after becoming an exec chefThe Italian-Mexican dish concept behind his dream restaurant, MetodoHow his mom's dinner parties built his palate before he ever set foot in a kitchenThe staging moment at a Japanese restaurant that changed his lifeMentors, failure, and learning that cooking is like jazz"There is no greatest" — on the eternal pursuit of craft