LOCATIONS
Matt's Rancho Martinez
Dallas, Texas - Map
Matt's El Rancho
Austin, Texas - Map
Matt's Austin Airport
Austin, Texas - Map
Matt's Cedar Hill COMING SOON!
Highway 67 and FM 1382
CONTACT
Martinez Restaurant Group
6332 La Vista Rd.
Dallas, Texas 75214
Tel: 214.823.5517
Fax: 214-823-9139
Email Us
NEWSLETTER
CHEF MATT MARTINEZ JR.
Ask any Texan to name his or her favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, and guaranteed, one will have to wait just seconds for an impassioned response. Depending on their native region, a variety of names and locations may be heard. However, one singular name is sure to stand out in this crowd. Between the Red and Rio Grande Rivers, Chef Matt Martinez, Jr., is synonymous with Tex-Mex cuisine.
As a fourth generation chef, Matt has been expanding the landscape of traditional Tex-Mex cooking for better than three decades. His ability to infuse new life into many classic Mexican and Tex-Mex dishes has distinguished him as a unique artist of his craft. By blending Mexican/Spanish traditions and ingredients with “Early Texas Prairie Style Cooking” techniques, Matt has pioneered a new culinary genre. Evidence of the indigenous cooking methods of Louisiana and New Mexico also find their way into Matt’s dishes, reminders that the limits of his creativity lie only in his imagination.
Matt’s paternal grandparents, Delphino and Maria, began writing the first chapters of the rich Martinez culinary history at the turn of the 20th Century. Meager beginnings selling tamales, pralines, and homemade tortillas on the steps of the Texas State Capital soon led to the opening of “El Original”, Austin’s first Tex-Mex restaurant. Success soon followed, and Matt’s mother and father, Matt Sr. and Janie, opened Matt’s El Rancho restaurant on East First Street. Governors, senators, entertainers, and sports icons have been regular guests at El Rancho ever since.
Matt Jr. began learning the basics of cooking in El Rancho’s kitchen as a boy. His experiences there were fundamental in developing a signature culinary style. Matt served as president of the Austin Restaurant Association from 1975-1976 and acted as the exclusive caterer for the University of Texas press box from 1975-1985.
After years of creating dishes for patrons like President Lyndon B. Johnson and Texas Land Commissioner Bob Armstrong, Matt ventured to Aspen, Colorado to open a café and cantina bearing his name. It wasn’t long before Matt, his wife Estella, and their family became homesick for Texas. They then opened Matt’s Café and Cantina at the Plaza of the Americas in downtown Dallas. Matt’s Rancho Martinez followed soon after. Rancho Martinez remains the culinary laboratory where the Tex-Mex Chef creates dishes that focus on intense flavors by using the highest quality local ingredients.
In addition to developing and operating a handful of restaurants in his career, Matt Martinez, Jr. is also an accomplished author. Matt’s Culinary Frontier: A Real Texas Cookbook from Doubleday Publishing; and Matt Makes a Run for the Border from Lebhar-Friedman Books have received both critical acclaim and commercial success.
Chef Martinez has also created his own line of specialty seasonings and finishing sauces. These Sendero Seasonings by Chef Matt Martinez have brought the brilliant flavors and textures of Matt’s cooking into the commercial kitchens and homes of many.
Matt has cooked at hundreds of special events along side chefs at the top of the culinary field, including Grady Spears and Stephen Pyles. After introducing Julia Childs to his new Texas cuisine, she dubbed his cooking style “the common man’s culinary frontier”. Entertaining dignitaries with his unique personality and one of kind menus are nothing new for Chef Martinez. He has catered events for former President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush. Former President Lyndon B. Johnson and his wife Lady Bird were frequent quests during Matt’s days as chef at El Rancho. The President and First Lady welcomed flying out of Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin as an excuse to stop in for the famous chile rellenos at every opportunity.
Chef Martinez and his work have been featured multiple times in Southern Living, Money Magazine, Wine Spectator, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Dallas Home Design and D Magazine. The Dallas Morning News has reviewed his restaurants and recipes favorably on several occasions. In addition to being featured on CNN and The Food Network, Matt has made guest appearances on Now You’re Cooking: Culinary Travel with Dave Ekert and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
In Addition, Matt served on the Texas Restaurant Association Board of Directors, was appointed to the Board of Physical Fitness for the State of Texas in 1993, and was inducted into the Texas Restaurant Hall of Honor in 2000.
Coming 2006
Tex-Mex TraditionsFriends and Family
Hosted for television by Chef Matt Martinez, Jr.
www.texmextraditions.com