Matt Kuhn
Olivia | Washington, D.C.
October 2019
Matt Kuhn was 15 when he got his start in the restaurant industry washing dishes at a small, family-owned Greek restaurant outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Bitten by the culinary bug, he worked as a kitchen manager at The Gourmet Shop in Columbia while earning a degree in restaurant management from the University of South Carolina.
Following his graduation in 2005, Kuhn accepted a position at the Whiteface Lodge in Lake Placid, New York. Under the leadership of Chef Brian Moyers, Kuhn worked his way up from tournant to sous chef. In 2007 Kuhn returned to Charleston, accepting a position at FIG where he honed his French technique and deepened his commitment to farm-to-table cooking. After two years, Kuhn relocated to Washington, D.C. to take an executive chef position at DC Coast. In 2013, he left the restaurant to accept a new role as executive chef at Ardeo+Bardeo. Two years later, Restaurateur Ashok Bajaj tapped Kuhn to be the executive chef of Knightbridge Restaurant Group’s NoPa Kitchen + Bar. In January 2019, NoPa reopened as Olivia, a Mediterranean-inspired bistro with fare influenced by Kuhn’s recent travels through the coastal regions of Spain.
