CHEF WILLIAM EICK
Chef William Eick at Matsu, Oceanside, CA
Culinary Talent - San Diego, CA
Chef | Restaurateur | Japanese Speaker
With over 17 years of experience cooking in restaurants, Chef/Owner William has worked at every level, from casual to fine dining. He was awarded Best Chef in San Diego from Thrillist Magazine in 2016, and won Best New Restaurant with his previous concept, 608. With Matsu, William aims to showcase the roots of his culinary career and passion for Japanese flavors and techniques, in a progressively modern setting.
His creations:
Located in Oceanside CA, one of San Diego County’s most accomplished chefs, William Eick, has opened Matsu, a 48-seat fine dining restaurant focusing on the traditions and techniques of Japanese food, and marrying them with the Southern California terroir. Guests of the restaurant are treated to a 10-course tasting menu, showcasing the seasonal bounty from the areas farms as well as exquisite product direct from Japan. Matsu provides guests a bespoke hospitality experience in what is quickly becoming the dining destination town of Oceanside.
Hokkaido started initially as the bread for the tasting menu for Matsu. During the first lockdown of the pandemic, a few chef friends were in need of burger buns, as their normal suppliers were either out of commission or couldn’t keep up with demand. They had asked if I could help out by baking some of Matsu's bread for them, which worked much better than expected. From there we tried different shapes, sizes, seeded, unseeded, etc.
What began by just trying to help a few friends, grew into a few accounts, and we brought on a few employees as Matsu was getting open. We initially had to bake all the bread in my garage, because we didn’t have a kitchen to move the equipment into just yet, however that was quickly resolved once the lease for Matsu was signed.
Naegi started as a pop up to help fund its sister restaurant, Matsu in Oceanside, CA. Naegi then became a food truck and is now a stand-alone restaurant serving the best karaage sando and other Japanese sandwiches in San Diego.
Little-known factoid: William speaks Japanese.