Meet Matt Reeves | Chef & Writer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Matt Reeves and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Matt, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Risk taking to me seems like a life long endeavor. There will always be more risk. If you don’t put yourself out there, if you just sit and watch all the parts move but don’t put your hand in, absolutely nothing will change for you. I’ve been homeless, I’ve been shot down several times, I have been in life and death situations where a ‘no’ wasn’t a possibility. You just have to take the risk if it seems like it may hold a reward . Luck is when opportunity meets with preparation. You’ll never be prepared enough, you’ll need to be keen on what an opportunity is, but take that leap, even if it screws you, you’ll learn and grow from it, I promise.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Brave Wojtek comes off as very non-chalant, satirical, scratch home style cooking that people are secretly wild about. People have earnest relations to this food: I’ve had people cry at their tables, I’ve had people talk about memories of family members, or the old world. It seems very connecting.

The most real response to my food, and this has nothing to do with my story was a young man my age who said, my dad used to make this food for me, and he’s gone now. You know you’ve done something.

When like a couple hundred or so people show up to support Ukraine, wrap the block in a line, you know you’ve done something.

I could predict none of this. I made Polish food, old family recipes, things we had around holidays and in the kitchen, and made these things in bulk to feed myself during the pandemic. It happens I crossed paths with the small pop up world of Atlanta and started seeing other industry veterans put their stuff together and create a menu, and otherwise. I tried my hand. I didn’t know how far reaching Polish food would go to strike Atlanta diners. But I might be literally the only option ITP. It wasn’t just midwesterners, Polish, or Polish Americans, we started seeing other central and Eastern European diners as well, come out of the woodwork. Everyone seemingly had a secret Polish grandmother too. I didn’t expect it would get this big.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Atlanta is in a cultural reversal. Right? We are losing out to regional or foreign investors who don’t see or live in our community. We are losing what some of us are calling ‘old’ Atlanta. I’ve been around about ten years and there is still a lot I missed, but I think it’s important we honor the weird and sacred of Atlanta, or at least pay homage to what is still here, it may be gone soon.

For breakfast I tend to go get coffee and a small breakfast at Ria’s Bluebird. Then take a walk in Oakland Cemetery, not far from it. More coffee, I’ll sit at Papi’s Cuban off Ponce for an espresso (also great Cuban sandwiches) maybe grab a drink at Elmyr or Riteous Room, get a martini at Highland Tap, and if feeling like a rare steak, stay for dinner. Maybe catch a movie later at the Plaza Theater, or end up at a show back in my neighborhood EAV at either the Earl or 529. Then go home, toward sleep. There’s plenty more one can do and discover in Atlanta, but for me it has always been a food and drink kind of city with a rich history.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have to credit Richard Speakes, a friend and poet who was diagnosed with dementia last week. Someone who tried to objectively institutionalize the topic of beauty in American classrooms. Or so how I remember him and his feat.

Americans mostly do not want to talk about beauty or will pass it off as a deeply subjective thing. Yet we employ it everywhere such as ads, genres, themes, credos, without going below the surface on what beauty really does to the human mind, how it changes our entire trajectory because we embrace such pursuits, accept it or perish for its flaws, learn both of its darkness and splendor.
It is not safe to say, I have fallen madly in love and become worse for it, one is told to pick themselves up and move on, but this happens all the time. Years of silent haunting may exist in you and you are mostly told to let it pass, “It’s not meant for you” ignore it, better things are coming. Isn’t that so?
Do we dispose of this beauty in our lives, and all is well, or does it represent itself in the most unhinged way? They will tell you to bury it. Richard believes you must wield it in your everyday life, let it humble you, but discard nothing. Be a burden if you must, and count the knots in your hair. They will account for something. I held onto this on my journey for so long, and life is more bearable for it, can be reasoned with all the wonderful moments in my life, and all the terror.

Instagram: https://instagram.com/bravewojtek

Other: Email: bravewojtek@gmail.com