Mathew Rice

Mathew Rice grew up in Asheville, North Carolina. In a family of excellent southern bakers, Mathew developed a love of all things sweet.

Rice knew right away that he wanted to go to culinary school post-high school, though he was discouraged by how little his formal training touched on pastry. He took a job as a pastry assistant after culinary school so he could soak up as much knowledge as he could on the job. His efforts paid off in the form of his first executive pastry position in Salt Lake City, where he met James Beard award-winning chef Gerard Craft. Mathew went on to follow Craft to St Louis, where he was opening his first restaurant, Niche. At the helm of a pastry kitchen, getting to develop his own style of desserts, Mathew spent four years at Niche. During this time, his work was featured in Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, and Martha Stewart Weddings.

Eventually, Rice left the city of St Louis and moved to Chicago, where he took on the pastry program at Nightwood, and eventually Girl and the Goat. During his stint, Rice competed on the first episode of Chopped Desserts. Shortly after, Mathew found himself on Eater as one of the top 18 chefs to follow on Instagram.

After nearly six years in the Windy City, Rice made the move back to the south, where he once again joined Gerard Craft as he expanded his growing roster of restaurants to Nashville, Tennessee. Rice is now the pastry chef of Pastaria where guests have come to expect lots of fun gelato flavors and his takes on Italian desserts.

Rice continues to host a wildly popular Instagram handle, @mathewsweet, where more than 5,000 followers enjoy pastry inspiration.

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