Chef
Matt Dawes
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Asheville, North Carolina, United States
i. Biography
Ingredient work begins before the plate, in the first contact between product and heat. In Matt Dawes’s cooking, that point of contact carries much of the signal: basil pushed into aroma, roasted garlic softened into sweetness, cheese toast used for salt, fat, and crunch. The register is appetite-led rather than decorative, with scent treated as part of the structure of the dish. In Asheville, that approach has been applied across snacks, seafood, small plates, entrees, imported cheese, and the measured company of Old World wines, beer, and cocktails. By 2019, the executive chef role at The Admiral placed Dawes inside a broader Asheville practice built across sourcing, buying, handling, and service. The cooking reads direct, but the directness depends on accumulated kitchen memory: how basil behaves in a hot pan, how bread carries fat, how garlic rounds out, and how a small, concentrated plate can set the pace for the rest of a meal.
Formation
Formal culinary education set the early frame through Warren Wilson College and Johnson & Wales, after which Dawes’s training widened through work that sat both inside and outside the kitchen. The useful lesson in that kind of path is that food is not only cooked; it is selected, bought, transported, stored, portioned, and understood before service begins. Cheese importing put Dawes close to milk, salt, aging, and origin as working variables. Produce buying at Whole Foods sharpened the daily read on fruits, vegetables, quality, seasonality, and selection. Kitchen work followed through Shane Ingram at Four Square, Cornucopia, and the co-chef role at Table in Asheville. Taken together, the record points to a cook shaped by markets as much as by stations. The discipline of buying sits alongside the discipline of service; imported cheese, produce selection, and restaurant cooking all feed the same practical vocabulary. The through-line is not a single format but a working familiarity with counters, coolers, pans, and plates. Today, Matt is chef, overseeing the food of The Bull & Beggar since 2012 and serving as executive chef of The Admiral since 2019.
The Work Today
The Bull & Beggar in Asheville has given Dawes a format broad enough for snacks, seafood, small plates, entrees, imported cheese, and Old World wines, beer, and cocktails. That range depends on sequencing: briny before rich, crisp against soft, something poured to frame the food rather than crowd it. Small-plate cooking rewards control of pace. Seafood brings salinity and delicacy; imported cheese brings depth and finish; drinks add structure around the table. In Dawes’s work there, the food is built for appetite and conversation, with enough restraint that each item can do its part without carrying the whole meal alone. The clearest example is The Bull and Beggar’s basil-fed snails, served small-plate style with cheese toast and roasted garlic. Dawes described them as California Burgundian snails purged on sweet basil, so they smell like basil when they hit the pan. The construction is straightforward and specific: aroma first, then the snails, then roasted garlic, with cheese toast as the carrier for salt, fat, and texture. That dish works because the technique is legible. It uses scent as an opening move, keeps richness grounded, and gives the diner bread, garlic, and snails in a compact sequence. The plate is small, but the idea is complete.
Signature
Signature dishes include The Bull and Beggar’s basil-fed snails.
Accolades
Matt Dawes has received James Beard Foundation Best Chef: Southeast nomination. "I was literally spending all day thinking about what I was going to cook for dinner during whatever job I had, and it just sort took over."
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Matt
What role does Matt Dawes hold?
Matt Dawes is chef at The Admiral — Regional American.
Where did Matt Dawes train or study?
Matt Dawes trained at Warren Wilson College and Johnson & Wales.
What is Matt Dawes known for?
At The Bull and Beggar, he was associated with snacks, seafood, small plates, entrees, imported cheese, and Old World wines, beer and cocktails.
