Matthew Bullock
Southern Pines Diner Car | Somerville, MA
July 2024
In the early 2000s, a young Matthew Bullock was first drawn to the restaurant industry thanks to the Food Network, watching Bobby Flay cook on TV and Iron Chefs battle it out in Kitchen Stadium. He got his first back-of-house job at 21 at Russell House Tavern in Harvard Square, climbing his way up from prep cook to garde manger before working the hot line. After some time at Ashmont Grill, Bullock went to work at Lord Hobo in Cambridge, eventually becoming chef de cuisine during his five-year stint at the brewery. He then spent a summer working on Martha’s Vineyard and, when he returned to Boston, started as a line cook at the progressive and experimental Café ArtScience, where Bullock was taught by Chef Ryan Boya and mentored by Chef Ben Lacy. He went on to open the Italian restaurant Peregrine in Beacon Hill as the chef de cuisine, where he stayed for the next three years.
Bullock then took a step back from leadership roles, working as a line cook at Puritan & Company before joining the team at Forage, where he learned about fermentation, produce-driven cuisine, and restaurant operations from Chef Eric Cooper and Owner Stan Hilbert. With some help from Cooper and Hilbert, Bullock started his pop-up dinner series, Southern Pines Supper Club, filling seats at Forage and turning out his own dishes on the last Sunday of every month. Taking time to tweak the format, recipes, and structure, he started to spread the word and build his brand. Bullock turned the fine dining pop-up into a more casual sandwich concept, Southern Pines Diner Car, which opened at Bow Market in June 2023. Drawing on Bullock’s roots as well as Southern techniques and flavors, the sandwiches at Southern Pines Diner Car are drool-worthy and addictive, and pay homage to Bullock’s historical influences like his Beware of the Rougaroux, which features spiced, roasted chicken thighs, American cheese, coleslaw, Rougaroux Juice mayonnaise, and bread and butter pickles served on Hi-Rise challah.
