Matt Fortner

Career The pace at Matt’s in the Market is part of the work itself: as Executive Chef, Matt Fortner is responsible for a dining room and kitchen that move quickly and demand constant readjustment. The 2018 marker places him in that role at a specific point in the restaurant’s recent history, within a Seattle career that has already moved through more than one part of the city’s kitchen landscape. Another Seattle address sits in the record as well, where Fortner was chef at Marjorie in Belltown. Kitchen management, in his own terms, starts with mapping the room before any attempt at improvisation. “This place is busy and complicated—I have to learn the lay of the land before we start to play.” That language is practical, not ornamental: it points to service as choreography, where the work depends on reading the flow, understanding the pressure points, and shaping the kitchen around them. In a room like Matt’s in the Market, that kind of orientation is part of the craft. The dining room also appears in Fortner’s account as a place of return, not just production. “I’m just really glad to be down here—seeing people on a daily basis I haven’t seen in 10 years.” The line describes a restaurant relationship built on familiarity as much as service, where repeated contact with guests becomes part of the job’s structure. That kind of ongoing recognition can steady a kitchen career: the room is not only where the work happens, but where the work is witnessed.

At a Glance - Current title: Executive Chef. - Dated marker: chef in 2018. - Additional kitchen credit: chef in Belltown.

Signature

The fried catfish sandwich and cornmeal-crusted catfish sandwich point to a cook working with direct, legible structure: crisp exterior, clear texture, and a dish that does not rely on excess explanation. Under Matt’s in the Market, those signatures read as straightforward restaurant food, built to land quickly and cleanly. The emphasis is on the mechanics of satisfaction rather than ornament.

In Their Words “This place is busy and complicated—I have to learn the lay of the land before we start to play.” “I’m just really glad to be down here—seeing people on a daily basis I haven’t seen in 10 years.”