Chef Matt Basile is adding his most exciting title yet to his repertoire as a food entrepreneur: Co-Founder and Creative Firestarter for Alchemy Grills. After over a decade of domination in the food industry with his brands Fidel Gastro’s and Lisa Marie; his TV show, Rebel Without a Kitchen; and his bestselling cookbooks, Matt is now disrupting the barbecue and live-fire cooking landscape. In an industry steeped in tradition, Matt is always striving to do things differently.
In just under four years, Matt transformed the Fidel Gastro’s brand from an underground sandwich pop-up to an internationally recognized food brand. He also ran the Queen West gastropub and brunch hotspot, Lisa Marie, for six phenomenal years. It was featured on various TV series, including You Gotta Eat Here! and Chef in the City, and was also ranked as the ninth best brunch spot in Canada by OpenTable magazine.
For two seasons, Matt was the host of the internationally aired reality TV show, Rebel Without a Kitchen, seen on Netflix, the Travel and Escape Channel, the Cooking Channel, and the Asian Food Channel. He was nominated for a coveted Canadian Screen Award for Best Host of a Canadian Reality Series. In 2020, Matt made an appearance on CBC’s reality show, Fridge Wars.
Matt is the author of two bestselling cookbooks, Street Food Diaries and Brunch Life, which was nominated for a Taste Canada Award and a World Gourmand award. He has also written for The Huffington Post and Vice and is a regular guest on programs such as Global Morning and Breakfast Television.
As always, Matt continues to reinvent himself in the food space. He recently partnered with two seasoned entrepreneurs to launch Alchemy Grills — the first barbecue that allows home cooks to both smoke and grill food at the exact same time with one appliance. In addition to developing grill prototypes, Matt is developing recipes for an accompanying line of rubs and sauces and designing stylish merchandise for the brand.
