The chef who got his goat

Wooden Goat is the new kid on the block of Avondale businesses. But there’s no quippy story behind the Southeast Asian restaurant’s marquee, other than to say the name itself is the story — at least if you ask co-owner and chef Matt Ralph. 

“We wanted something that sounded either humble or anti-hero,” he said. “Something that shows that we are underdogs. We’re pulling this together every day. I don’t want people to think we’ve got it all figured out.”

Wooden Goat is, in all senses of the word, a grassroots project. Ralph and his business partner, Paul Davis, installed 40 percent of the building, including building their own tables, patio railing and other metalwork. In addition, Ralph personally writes and tests each menu item considered for the restaurant all from his self-described “crackerjack box” kitchen. 

“It’s more important when you do it yourself,” Ralph said. “If you just write somebody a check to build you a building, it doesn’t quite have the same heart. I want people to know that it’s real, and there’s people succeeding and failing on a daily basis, but we’re trying.”

After deciding college wasn’t for him, Ralph did the typical restaurant thing. He waited tables, eventually cooking at low-level restaurants. He then decided to attend culinary school at Johnson & Wales. He spent years working in high-end kitchens, bouncing between Charleston, Birmingham and Boston, before moving back to Birmingham where he’s been for the past five years.  

Though the 35-year-old Nashville native has worked through the opening of seven restaurants in his 16 years as a chef, Wooden Goat is the first that’s been his own, a feat that has always been the end goal. Though he speaks fondly of his time working for the likes of Frank Stitt, among other accomplished chefs, the freedom to create his own dishes takes precedence. 

“When you work for people, you never get to do what you really want to do,” Ralph said. “And that’s been my driving force. That’s always been what I’m about. I just want to be able to do what I want to do, food wise.”

For Ralph, this meant bringing his passion for Southeast Asian food — namely Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian — to Birmingham. First, at an Airstream trailer parked behind a Parkside bar known as Hotbox, and now across the street at his own 57-seat, freestanding restaurant. 

Ralph said his love for Asian food took off during the 10 years he lived in Boston. With access to a diverse community, he spent considerable time exploring Boston’s Chinatown and was heavily influenced by a fellow chef and mentor who taught English in Japan. Upon moving back to Birmingham, where his family has been for 20 years, and deciding on a concept for a new restaurant, he said the choice was clear. 

With Asian being an up-and-coming cuisine, Ralph felt the time was finally right to bring a restaurant like Wooden Goat to Birmingham. And while people have certainly been receptive to trying new cuisines, the real challenge for Ralph has been working to erase the stigma traditionally associated with Asian food. 

“People think this is supposed to be cheap; this is supposed to be a pound and a half of fried chicken,” he said. “So it is a little tricky trying to make nice Asian food using fresh ingredients.”

But hard work has done little to deter Ralph. As his cuisine of choice is particularly time-intensive and preparation-heavy, it’s typical for Ralph to spend more than six hours cooking pho, a Vietnamese noodle soup made with beef bones, rice noodles and a plethora of spices including star anise, cloves and cardamom. It’s also common for the kitchen staff to spend two to three days making its specialty Chiang Mai sausage from start to finish.  

“I go through a lot of steps to get all that on a plate, and I guess it’s the challenge that makes it fun,” he said. “Nothing easy is ever fun.”

With standards such as Vietnamese chicken wings, marinated in fish sauce and served with fried shallots, cabbage and cilantro, and Indonesian fried noodles, served with bok choy, egg and homemade sausage, Wooden Goat already has amassed a loyal following. To keep diners interested, Ralph experiments by adding more adventurous dishes such as papaya salad —served with peanuts, dried shrimp, fried garlic and Thai chili — and five-spice tofu to his list of fan favorites. 

For Ralph, the quality of his food has always been, and will always be, his top concern. As a result, helping his chefs improve and grow is just as important. And after working in multiple kitchens throughout his career, he said he’s hoping to run a program different from the ones he grew up in. 

“I came up … with guys who were bullies and really strict,” he said. “I like to show the goal behind the program rather than just saying, ‘Shut up, and do your job.’”

And part of the program is supporting rather than competing with his fellow small business owners. Ralph said he hopes to create a restaurant community in Avondale and the entire of city Birmingham, similar to the one he experienced while working in Boston. 

“We talked to each other, and we pushed each other,” he said. “We didn’t see it as competition; we saw it as a challenge. There are a couple of us around town who want that. We’re trying to help each other; we’re trying to come up and make a better food community.”

For now, this means continuing to push himself to serve better food and pushing his staff to perform better. It also means pushing to keep the flourishing Avondale neighborhood true to its roots by making sure businesses assimilate into, rather than change, the existing community. 

With the opening of Wooden Goat, Ralph said he is well on his way.  

“I’m just trying to make some good food and help out other small businesses,” he said. “I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but I know I want to do this.”