Meet the Eater Young Guns Semi-Finalists: Matt Lackey

Matt Lackey, the 27 year-old executive chef of Flyte World Dining and Wine and Young Guns semi-finalist, really has two jobs. For at least five days a week, from the crack of dawn until the early afternoon, he tends to his three-acre farm, which he inherited from his grandfather two and a half years ago. There he grows vegetables for the restaurant, maintains an orchard of fruit, looks over a creek bed rife with mushrooms, and powers his grandfather's tractor with oil from the restaurant. After he leaves the farm, he heads into Flyte, a restaurant he completely revamped when he came aboard two years ago by focusing entirely on local produce, dairy, and protein.

Prior to Flyte, Lackey attended culinary school and then went to work for chef Sean Brock at both McCrady's and Husk, where he cemented his love for sustainable agriculture. He discusses his experiences there, the Nashville food scene, and much, much more ahead.

"All of a sudden Nashville was kind of a food scene..." >>