If you love pizza and other casual American dishes, you will certainly wish you were Jeff Richardson, the executive chef of the recently opened Matchbox restaurant on 14th Street. The newest addition to the company’s range of easy-going restaurants, this new eatery will challenge even the most dedicated dieter to pass up a bistro burger with Gorgonzola or a hot-out-of-the oven fire and smoke pizza, given an extra flavor boost with chipotle chiles.
A native of New Jersey whose mother moved with him to Frederick when he was a teenager, Richardson worked as a waiter in a local restaurant. As fate would have it, one day, management said the kitchen staff needed help. Richardson volunteered and found he really liked the experience. That seemed to set his course, for Richardson attended culinary school at the Baltimore International College, and while there, he also worked part-time as a grill and a line cook at the Marriott Renaissance hotel. But D.C. beckoned, he says, because he was looking for more of a culinary challenge.
