Matt Tinder Of Coi At The Charleston Wine + Food Festival

Coi in San Francisco has become renowned for its tasting menus, including a dessert-only menu. And the man behind the desserts is Matt Tinder. We were able to catch up with Tinder at the BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival earlier this month to discuss his career.

Tinder's reasoning behind doing his dessert tasting menu was actually to give the guests more freedom. "I guess it gives people the opportunity to come in [if] they don't want to spend all the money to have a three-hour meal, it gives them the opportunity to have only part of the meal," he said. But he does take seriously the progression of his dessert-only meal, as would be typical of a regular tasting menu. "I try to usually break it into hot [and] cold, depending on the time of year, hot, cold, tepid, lactic once, I'll do something one time," he said. "If I do chocolate it'll only be one time, then several fruits, depending on the season. In the summer it's really fruit-forward."

Tinder was also particularly inspired by the Southern ingredients during his time in Charleston. "The freshness of the grains is pretty awesome," he said. "Benne seeds, we've been using some of that which is really cool. We're using the sorghum seeds, we're popping them like popcorn."

For more of the interview, watch the video above!