Matt Conroy began cooking at 14, working as a short-order cook at a diner. His career took a more refined turn when he trained under James Beard Award winner Tony Maws in Boston, mastering French bistro technique. In 2012, he moved to New York to join the kitchen at Alex Stupak’s Empellón Cocina—specifically because he didn’t know anything about Mexican cuisine.

“I had done a lot of French food,” he recalls, “and I wanted to do something completely out of my comfort zone.”

At Empellón, he met pastry sous chef Isabel Coss. The two were dating within a year and married in 2015. Conroy went on to lead the kitchens at Little Prince in SoHo and Virginia’s in the East Village before joining chef Justin Bazdarich at Brooklyn’s Oxomoco, where he deepened his passion for wood-fired, modern Mexican cooking.

Eventually, Conroy relocated to Washington, D.C., to helm the kitchen at Lutèce, a French-inflected neo-bistro run by the Popal Group. Coss later joined as executive pastry chef. The restaurant quickly garnered national acclaim, including a spot on The New York Times’ list of “The 50 Most Exciting Restaurants in America,” a #2 ranking in Washingtonian’s “100 Very Best Restaurants,” and a 2024 RAMMY Award for Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year.

In 2024, Conroy and Coss launched their first joint concept: Pascual, a wood-fired Mexican bistro on Capitol Hill. Backed by the Popal Group, the restaurant was named one of Eater’s Best New Restaurants and appeared on The New York Times’ list of “America’s Best Restaurants.”