The name says it all, once you know what it means. Matu Kai draws from te reo Māori, the indigenous language of New Zealand: matu means the essence, the gist of the matter — this is what beef should be. Kai means to eat, to devour. Put them together and you have a restaurant that has already decided what it believes in before you walk through the door.
The team behind the popular Cheesesteaks by Matū on Colorado Boulevard — co-founders Ryan Gianola and Scott Linder among them — has been quietly running this second restaurant on the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains for just over a year. Getting there requires committing to the 101 north, to the canyon, a climb and a descent that deposits you in Brentwood, outside of Pasadena’s gravitational field, and a world removed from the San Gabriel Valley.
Monday nights, the kitchen runs Steak Frites — a dish with the soul of a French working person’s lunch. Gianola describes the beef simply: “It can truly make something that’s mind blowing.” He is not wrong. The Wagyu cut, sourced from First Light Farms in New Zealand, arrives doing what great beef does when treated with restraint. It announces itself. The frites hold their own alongside a black peppercorn sauce that it is luminous all on its own.
The meal builds from there. A shrimp cocktail that could be a solo act, and their flourless chocolate cake closing things out without apology.
“There’s other things out there in the world,” Gianola said with a grin. “It’s not just the Rose Bowl.”
Fair enough, should you find yourself on a Monday night on San Vicente in Brentwood.
More information is available at matusteak.com.
