From TV Fame to Takeoff: Chefs Matt and Lorin Peters Next Chapter Takes Austin Fine Dining to New Heights
After years in some of the world’s most acclaimed kitchens, the culinary couple is preparing to unveil a new downtown restaurant
Chefs Matt and Lorin Peters’ schedules have taken off for an exciting summer. Fresh off his national TV debut, Matt is dedicating his summer to coaching Team USA in one of the most prestigious culinary competitions in the world. His wife Lorin, also a talented chef, will be tackling the remaining to-do list to open the couple’s much-anticipated Austin restaurant, while unveiling new cooking videos. It’s a hectic lifestyle — but these two have never been ones for complacency.
Matt grew up in Meadville, Penn. (population 13,000), where he says he mostly ate “ground meat in different iterations.” However, he valued the togetherness of mealtimes, and after a PBS show, “Great Chefs of the World,” revealed the artistry of cooking, he decided to pursue it as a career. He worked his way through the kitchens of the world’s most lauded restaurants including Per Se and The French Laundry. In 2017, Matt made history on the first American team to win the Bocuse d’Or, an intense international culinary competition held every other year in Lyon.
A culinary love story
Lorin aspired to be the on-camera talent for the cooking shows she loved watching in college, but didn’t want anyone to doubt her legitimacy as a chef. “I decided if I’m going to be a famous TV chef one day, I’m going to learn to cook from the best,” Lorin explains.
When Lorin met Matt, she thought he was serious — probably because he was her intimidating boss at The French Laundry. But one fateful day off, she mentioned wanting to explore nearby San Francisco, and Matt offered to join her. During the long drive and dinner, she discovered his kind and humble side. The pair has been together ever since and has dined at over 50 Michelin-starred restaurants around the world together.
The couple moved to Austin, Lorin’s hometown, in 2017 to grow their family and for a restaurant opportunity that ultimately fell through. Lorin says this shocked The French Laundry chef Thomas Keller, who told her at the time that Matt belonged in a big city because Texas wasn’t ready for Matt’s sophisticated food. “I asked Thomas what he thinks now,” Lorin says, “and he just goes, ‘God bless Texas.’”
Making fine dining feel fun
In Austin, Lorin set up high-end dessert company Cookie Rich and a casual food truck called Goldy’s, which closed in 2025, while Matt got a handle on the culinary scene. “I love fine dining, but I got tired of the white tablecloth and the strict, pretentious nature of it,” he says. “For me it’s like, ‘How do we make this more fun? How do you make it more inviting?’ Austin had that built into its ecosystem, so for me it’s a perfect city.”
In 2024, the couple opened their first venture, Prélude, in an old house to capture that unfussy atmosphere, serving cocktails and fancy chicken nuggets. But Prélude was always meant to foreshadow a more ambitious project, so when the offer came for Matt to compete in Padma Lakshmi’s new television show, “America’s Culinary Cup,” the couple closed Prélude.
Matt had been wary of appearing on cooking shows due to the potential for drama from editing or losing control of how his food was portrayed. “I’ve always taken this career very professionally,” he says. “There’s a way that I want my name and likeness out there.” However, the couple decided attention for their forthcoming restaurant couldn’t hurt, and this show promised to assemble the best of the best in the culinary world. Matt finished in the final three.
Ready for the main course
This summer, the couple is traveling back and forth to Napa, where Matt is training chef Vincenzo “Vinny” Loseto, a competitor on Season 22 of “Top Chef,” to compete in the 2027 Bocuse d’Or. Lorin is reviving her YouTube channel that demonstrates cooking basics. In between, there’s still a restaurant to open.
“People put Matt in a box, coming from The French Laundry and Per Se,” says Lorin. “It’s been really cool to watch him form what he wants to do, not what people think he is going to do.” She promises the new downtown restaurant will be one of the nicest in Austin and describes it as “fun and edgy and approachable.” Diners can come in for a ribeye and a martini à la carte or opt for Matt’s tasting menu.
“I am his biggest cheerleader,” she continues. “I push him sometimes to put himself out there more, whether on social media or doing this TV show. I just get so proud. No one in this town has experienced what he can do full out. He’ll be relieved when he gets a full kitchen and gets to show Austin what we’ve been talking about for so long. We’re confident that Austin’s ready for it.”
While many details of their forthcoming restaurant remain under wraps at press time, the anticipation surrounding the project speaks to what Matt and Lorin have cultivated: not just impressive resumes, but a shared vision. After decades in some of the world’s most demanding kitchens, they’re finally preparing to unveil their main course.