Incredibly Tough: The Passion Runs Deep | Matthew Accarrino with the Tough Samsung Galaxy S8 Smartphone | Corning Gorilla Glass

The passion runs deep.

The passion runs deep.

The passion runs deep.

Broken bones and broken dreams never deterred Matthew Accarrino. The accomplished chef is back competing on his bike, continuously innovating at his restaurant and navigating his life and business with the tough Samsung Galaxy S8, featuring Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5.  

As a kid, Matthew Accarrino had a singular passion — bicycle racing. He put in the training, rode the countless miles, and competed whenever he could. Yet, at 16, his dream of becoming a Professional Cyclist were shattered. A bone tumor in his leg, nearly cost him the leg. He was spared that outcome, but the removal of bone and replacement with a metal rod left him with a two-year challenge of literally learning to walk again. At this critical crossroads in his early life, he turned his passion to cooking and embraced a philosophy he was determined to live by. “My entire life is about doing what I want to do. There is no such thing as work,” he said.

Trained by some of the world’s most renowned Chefs, Matthew’s passion for cooking led him to California. Drawn to its natural abundance of fresh ingredients, farmers and a climate that yields unique seasonal flavors, Matthew’s life truly became influenced by the ingredients around him. Today Matthew is the Chef at San Francisco’s SPQR restaurant. And, against all odds, he’s back on his bike actively competing in races, training every day and integrating his love of cycling into his ever-changing menu. He learned foraging in Italy, and now deliberately uses his bike rides through locations such as the Presidio, Sausalito and Golden Gate Park to see and gather what is growing in abundance— what can be foraged form the wild and incorporated into his dishes.

What starts at the break of day on long training rides flows seamlessly into his innovative menus and numerous responsibilities at the restaurant. Helping him to keep it all together is his Samsung Galaxy S8, featuring tough Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5. Everything he does is in real time. Communicating with farmers, registering for his races, tracking his training, playing his music, capturing images of fresh ingredients, running his business, promoting his business —  it’s all Matthew and his Samsung Galaxy S8, succeeding on their own merits.  

 

A stunning display of tough — the Samsung Galaxy S8 with Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5

Right out of the box, the stunning Samsung Galaxy S8 is noticeably different. Its impressive Infinity Display provides and end-to-end, immersive screen that spills over the phone’s sides. Of course, Samsung selected Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 as the cover glass for this 5.8" Quad HD+ Super AMOLED screen. Next-generation Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 raises the bar for protection against drops higher than ever, surviving 1.6-meter drops onto rough surfaces up to 80% of the time in lab tests. That’s up to 4X better in drop failure height than competitive glasses. Adding even more toughness, the Galaxy S8 carries an IP68 dust and water resistance rating. And driven by the world's first 10nm processor, the Galaxy S8 is incredibly fast and powerful. Its 12MP rear camera and the 8MP front camera are also incredibly fast and accurate. A bright lens, and Dual Pixel sensor technology ensure fast focusing that delivers crisp and vivid images, even in low light.

Matthew Accarrino - In His Own Words

Ask Matthew Accarrino to describe himself and you’ll get a quick answer: “healthy, forager, athlete, insomniac.” Matthew is the nationally recognized chef of SPQR, a Michelin-star rated Italian restaurant in San Francisco, CA. Born in the Midwest and raised on the east coast, he moved west in 2007. By that time, his dream of becoming a professional road cyclist had vanished after a serious leg injury required him to give up a cycling career. In its place came the inspiration to become a chef, a decision that has taken him to culinary institutes and top-notch restaurants where utensils play as big a role as skills. It’s no wonder Matthew has a strong affinity for the right tools for each job, from the perfect kitchen zester to his choice in a smartphone: a Samsung Galaxy S8 with Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

Find out how the definitive moments in Matthew’s life—learning to walk again, finding inspiration from classic TV cooking shows, joining some of the world’s most famous kitchens—combined to inspire his approach to foraging for ingredients that influence his nightly menus.

On winning awards
When you win an award, it's amazing, right? Someone has taken a perspective of your work and decided that you're worthy of an accolade. In truth, the greatest reward is seeing people come and enjoy my food. Those moments end up being, in a way, more fulfilling than the award.

On cooking and cycling
It’s always a balancing act because to be a really good chef takes time. And to be a really good cyclist takes time. Both those things require commitment. Both those things require tenacity. But the better I get at both of them, the easier it becomes. Luckily, I don't like to sleep that much, so I'm up early and able to fit it all in.

On foraging
A lot of the things I cook with are considered weeds. Whether that's purslane or nasturtium or miner's lettuce, those are all things that happen naturally. And so, I think foraging gives a seasonal quality to my dishes, and the concept that that stuff is all around has always fascinated me.

On appreciating ingredients
You think about an olive. An olive is a preserved abundance from a tree that puts fruit up once a year. You either press it and make oil, or you cure it and eat it later. You do something to preserve that bounty -- or you let the olives fall to the ground.

On the importance of the right tools
My life is nonstop. First thing in the morning I'm out cycling.  Then I'm at work. I need to be connected during all of that time, whether it's for my training or staying in touch with vendors and suppliers and sous chefs. Having my smartphone helps me do that, to get through all of that, all of those different tough environments, communicating, taking pictures, messaging—it’s incredibly important to seamlessly string together all the different things I do in a day.

On authenticity
I don't endeavor to bring more things from Italy to make my restaurant more Italian. I actually endeavor to get more things that I need to cook with from right here in Northern California. So that might be olive oil from Sonoma or cheese made in Sebastopol. That locality and the quality of those ingredients is what makes my cooking more Italian than bringing something from Italy.

On testing yourself
Why I felt compelled to join the world’s most renowned restaurants…it’s the level of meticulous preparation and the high standards those kitchens have. And I think part of jumping into those situations is wanting to test myself. Could I be a part of that? I've constantly tested myself against any standard that I can find…that is important to me.

On unexpected events
How could I go through the rest of my life without being able to walk? So, I had to figure this out. And I think that changed my perspective, it wasn't just a matter of how tough you were going to be. It was that you couldn't afford to not be tough. That’s given me the perspective in my life that there's really nothing I feel like I can't do if I really want to do it.

On discovering new passions
When I was laid up, I didn’t leave the house for more than a year…what do you do? You think about what you're going to eat next because that's about it. But I was a cyclist, I wasn’t going to sit there and eat. It's like: "Well, what can I cook next?" And that became the thing. I started watching TV cooking shows and that provided a form of entertainment that I could then use to experience standing in one place, trying to cut something with a knife or cook something…that became a great medium for my mind to be active when my body couldn't be.

On fitting things in
What’s important to me as I think about life is to fit things in because you only get to live once. Every day happens once. So, you're sort of seizing each moment.

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