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Matthew Tinder
James Beard Award winner
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
Raised in Kauai, Matthew Tinder brought an island-bred discipline into the measured demands of Napa Valley pastry. His work has been shaped by The Restaurant at Meadowood, where restraint, timing, and precision matter as much as imagination. In 2009, he was pastry chef at The Restaurant at Meadowood.
The Climb
Matthew Tinder’s career is built around a single house in Napa Valley, with pastry as the point of focus. At The Restaurant at Meadowood, his position sat where technique meets delicacy, a post that requires steady execution and exact control in service. In that setting, dessert is not a side note; it is the final construction a guest carries out of the room. Raised in Kauai, he came to Napa Valley with a sensibility shaped by place and applied it to the quiet architecture of pastry. At The Restaurant at Meadowood, that work lived inside the pressure of service, where timing, texture, and temperature decide whether a plate lands cleanly. His profile reads less as movement through many kitchens than as sustained attention to one demanding one. That long association gives his career a clear line: Kauai to Napa Valley, with pastry as the constant. For a chef in this field, that kind of focus suggests fluency in a house style and the discipline to refine it over time. The result is a career defined by consistency, not volume.
Today
Today, his profile remains centered on his pastry chef work at The Restaurant at Meadowood. That continuing association keeps Matthew Tinder tied to the same Napa Valley dining room, where his name is linked to the exacting side of pastry. In a trade where kitchens often serve as waypoints, his story stays rooted in one place and one craft.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Matthew
What is Matthew Tinder's current role?
As of 2026, Matthew Tinder is Pastry Chef.
Where did Matthew Tinder work before?
Matthew Tinder's earlier career included The Restaurant at Meadowood.
