Chef’s Table: He Makes Appalachian Cuisine That’s Worth the Trip to West Virginia

This chef describes his food as an elevated take on Appalachian comfort food.

Matt Welsch owns the restaurant Vagabond Kitchen in Wheeling, West Virginia, and is an executive chef for West Virginia State Parks. Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS

Though he grew up on a dairy farm, Matt Welsch never thought much about food beyond what was on the table for lunch or dinner.

“I wanted to be a bus driver,” the 48-year-old chef admits with a grin as he sits inside Vagabond Kitchen, the slow-food restaurant he opened in the McLure Hotel in downtown Wheeling, West Virginia, in 2014.