The name Barbarian has a two fold meaning. In one sense, the name hearkens back to Chef Matthew’s childhood spent reading and watching Conan the Barbarian and playing Dungeons and Dragons. In these media portrayals the barbarian is cool, quiet, strong, and can throw a big punch.
What’s in a name?
There are a lot of parallels between this media portrayal of a barbarian and the way we view chefs. Particularly in the early 2000s when Chef Matthew was getting interested in the culinary field, chefs were often portrayed as macho and no-nonsense, smoking out back and staying up tossing hot pans around all night, drawing a stark comparison with the elegant and refined guests dining in their establishments.
Chef Matthew feels that a line cook is a type of barbarian, and there is some disconnect in most restaurants between the guests in the front and the barbarians in the back. Barbarian is a place where that wall can come down, where we can all mingle and share the experience of a well crafted meal. This is a place for everyone, where anyone should feel comfortable and where everyone, whether in the dining room or in the kitchen, should feel cared for.
