Matt Murphy

by Mary-Devon Dupuy

After featuring a quartet of New Orleans chefs that included Miss Linda "The Ya-Ka-Mein Lady" Green in a late June episode and Fireman Mike around the 4th of July, the Food Network’s Chopped is going for the Crescent City trifecta on Tuesday. Local chef Matt Murphy is one of four competitors in the episode. The Irish House (1432 St. Charles Ave) will have a viewing party for the event, and Chef Matt is excited to celebrate the city’s positive publicity.  

Every episode, Chopped brings four chefs on to try to make the most out of everyday ingredients. The contestants compete before a panel of three expert judges, and each one must make a three-course meal in only thirty minutes. The real challenge lies in the fact that each chef goes in completely unprepared; their mystery ingredients are revealed to them mere seconds before the clock starts ticking.

The former Executive Chef at the Ritz Carlton is a native of Ireland, but he’s been in the Big Easy for around fifteen years. Murphy gained some national media attention back in 2009 after tripping on one of his daughter’s toys and subsequently suffering from the rare condition necrotizing fasciitis or “flesh eating disease.” He’s alive and well now, and has been undergoing rigorous preparations.

Murphy’s friend, Kris Gabik, helped the chef his promotion for the viewing party. “It took about a day and a half,” Murphy said. “We had three people on iphones taking shots taking different angles.” According to Murphy, it also took only about eight Guinness to complete his personal project.
 

Although Murphy is a wee bit shy about appearing on the network’s most viewed show, he sacrificed his modesty for New Orleans.

“It’s all for New Orleans, anyway. It’s great that they’re bringing it here. It’s usually New York or Los Angeles or Las Vegas, but this will help put New Orleans on the map. That show goes everywhere.”

The wide net won't only help New Orleans. Murphy said friends and family in Ireland and England will be tuned in.

At the Viewing Party, there will be door prizes ranging from pots and pans, to pantry mix, to beer. Murphy promises that the Irish House has “the best bloody Guinness in New Orleans,” which is incentive in itself to come out. “A lot of the Irish people that live here come here for our Guinness, and we have Murphy’s Stout. Some Irish people will only drink one or the other.”