Where Cut's Matthew Hurley Hangs with Chef Friends and Family

Sin City is home to a lot of restaurants and bars, but there are tons of hidden gems that the majority of Las Vegans aren't unearthing. To help guide us to these potential discoveries, we've enlisted some of our city's food players to share their recommendations for a weekly feature dubbed Dining Confidential. Know a chef who wants to share some top dining spots? The tipline is open.

Get to know Matthew Hurley, the executive chef at Wolfgang Puck’s Cut at the Palazzo. The Boston native spent his early years cooking with his mother and grandmother prepping weeknight dinners for his family. He went to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., then moved to Las Vegas to start his 20-year career with the Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining Group as a prep cook at Spago. Puck’s managing partner, operations and corporate chef in Las Vegas David Robins mentored Hurley as advanced up through the ranks as a café chef, line cook, kitchen and purchasing manager and then ultimately holding the position of corporate catering chef for the Las Vegas-based private dining and catering. Now the executive chef of Cut runs Puck’s sixth fine dining restaurant in the city. When he’s out of the kitchen, Hurley likes to hang with chef friends and family at these three restaurants.

Which restaurants do you turn to when you’re not working?
Chada Street, Settebello and Hot N Juicy Crawfish.

What dishes are most memorable?
At Chada Street the crispy pork shank is delicious. The dish is comprised of crispy pork with Thai dipping sauce and is tender, crisp and enough to share.

At Settabello, the Marghertia DOC, or the pizza carbonara with the egg  and pancetta is great. It has a crisp crust with the runny yolk.

At Hot N Juicy, I get the Hot & Juicy special crayfish. It has great flavor, plus the fried food is really good and clean/crisp. I like to go here with my son because he loves it.

Why do you enjoy going there?
I enjoy going to Chada Street because it always has new fun food to share. It also has good selection of late-night food with the chefs.

I like to go to Settabello with my family because we can share and try a few different pizzas.

I enjoy visiting Hot N Juicy because it has a fun atmosphere and it’s one of my son’s favorite spots.