Matteo Ristorante Italiano
"If you don’t do what you love when you’re twenty-five, you’re never going to do it in your life." These words from Matteo Sogne perfectly encapsulate his journey from Modena, Italy, to Salt Lake City, Utah, where he now shares his passion for food at Matteo Ristorante Italiano.
Raised in a family that revolved around food, Matteo’s passion for cooking was sparked early in life, thanks in large part to his grandmother. She was a talented cook, deeply involved in restaurant kitchens, while his grandfather worked for the Parmigiano Reggiano consortium. Their home was a place where quality ingredients and traditional techniques were paramount, shaping Matteo’s appreciation for food long before he ever dreamed of opening his own restaurant.
At the age of twenty, Matteo came to Salt Lake on a swimming scholarship at the University of Utah, where he pursued degrees in mathematics and economics. Despite his academic achievements, he always felt the pull of the restaurant world. From his early days of selling Ritter Sport chocolate squares for a profit in elementary school, Matteo had an entrepreneurial spirit. "I’ve always believed in bringing people together," he said. "And nothing does that better than good food and good wine."
While working in Salt Lake City’s restaurant scene, Matteo met Chef Damiano Carlotto in 2017. They became close friends and collaborators, working together for years before opening Matteo Ristorante in 2023. Their partnership was built on trust, experience, and a shared vision of bringing simple, high-quality Italian cuisine to the city. Matteo, who had worked in nearly every role in a restaurant - from dishwasher to manager - knew that the only way to truly understand the industry was to immerse himself in it. Damiano, originally from Italy as well, had his own background in the culinary arts and a deep love for food. Over the years, they developed a rhythm in the kitchen, relying on intuition as much as communication.
Matteo’s restaurant opened its doors in the Liberty Wells neighborhood in September 2023, directly across from Veneto, an esteemed fine-dining Italian restaurant that has been cherished since its opening in 2016. Throughout his college years, Matteo worked there on and off, and he credits owner Marco Stevanoni with teaching him invaluable lessons about the industry.
The menu reflects Matteo’s roots, blending traditional family recipes with a modern approach. His grandmother’s bolognese and lasagna remain staples, while the rest of the menu is guided by a philosophy of simplicity: using the best possible ingredients and letting them shine. "We have just seven appetizers, five salads, six entrees, and ten different pastas to choose from - and each dish has at most six ingredients," Matteo explained. "We keep it simple, but what we put into everything is the best." The pasta dishes are made from a specialty semolina sourced from a specific mill in Italy, thoughtfully selected based on Salt Lake City’s altitude and humidity to ensure perfect consistency. The restaurant’s Parmigiano Reggiano, aged forty months and selected from the best wheels in Italy, is "one of the finest available in the world."
Matteo is equally meticulous about the meat served at the restaurant. All meat is sourced from a family-run butcher in Utah, who carefully selects cuts from ranches in southern Wyoming and northern Utah. Each piece is processed locally to ensure freshness and quality. Whole cuts are butchered in-house, with every scrap put to use - ground into meatballs, slow-cooked into bolognese, or transformed into other flavorful dishes. "We don’t waste anything," Matteo explained. "If you’re going to serve meat, you should do it right."
As Chef Damiano tells it, "Once their baby was putting down roots in Utah, Matteo's parents were going to come and support him." From the beginning, Matteo’s mother has played a key role in the kitchen, baking bread and desserts daily. "Depending on how my mom feels when she wakes up in the morning," Matteo admitted, "that is what the guests will be offered at the end of the meal in the evening." Elaborating, he said that at seven in the morning, as the bread is proofing, she begins making whatever moves her. "You don't argue with an Italian woman in the kitchen." Matteo went on to share that his father is the backbone of the operation. "He is the first one to arrive at 6 a.m. and he handles everything from maintenance to logistics." His sister helps when she can, making the restaurant a true family endeavor. For Matteo, this is not just a business; it reflects the values instilled in him by his grandparents, parents, and the culinary traditions of his hometown.
Matteo Ristorante has quickly gained a reputation as a favorite among Utah’s professional sports teams. Many of the athletes from the Utah Jazz, as well as players from other teams, dine at the restaurant regularly, either on their own or as a full team in the private dining room. The Jazz dietitian worked closely with Chef Damiano to review the menu and concluded that Matteo’s emphasis on high-quality ingredients made it an ideal dining choice for players.
Looking ahead, Matteo is expanding beyond the restaurant with the launch of a sandwich and pasta shop, an idea that had been in the works long before opening Matteo Ristorante. Unlike the restaurant, which he insists will always remain a singular, carefully curated establishment, the sandwich shop has the potential to grow into multiple locations, offering high-quality Italian food in a fast, accessible format.
Matteo’s success has not come easily. His journey to opening a restaurant was marked by challenges, from securing real estate to proving himself to skeptical landlords unwilling to take a chance on a twenty-five-year-old entrepreneur. But his determination paid off. Today, Matteo Ristorante is thriving, with a dedicated team of fifty-five employees who share Matteo’s passion for hospitality and excellence. His philosophy is simple. His employees do not work for him; they work with him. It is this mentality that fosters the restaurant’s welcoming atmosphere and drives its success.
"It is never about me," Matteo emphasized. "Because my name is on it, I get credit, but I could never do this without my entire team and, of course, my parents." As Matteo and Damiano continue to grow the business, their vision remains the same: high-quality, authentic Italian cuisine, rooted in tradition but made for today’s diners. At the end of the day, Matteo smiles and says, "It is still about two kids having fun at twenty-eight and thirty-two years old."
