Matt Conroy and Isabel Coss
The Popal Group (Lutéce, Maison Bar à Vins, and Pascual) | Washington, D.C.
February 2026
Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Matt Conroy always had jobs as a kid—from running a paper route to washing dishes at local diners. As a short order cook in high school, he learned speed, organization, and how to work as part of a team. At 22, he started working as a sous chef at Verde in Stratton Mountain, Vermont, where he was exposed to hyperlocal produce and learned how to do whole animal butchery. After three years, Conroy moved back home to Boston to work for Rising Stars alum Tony Maws at Craigie on Main. In 2012, he moved to New York City to join Rising Stars alum Alex Stupak’s Empellón—his first and fortuitous deep-dive into Mexican cuisine. Conroy then served as the executive chef of the French bistro Little Prince for five years before taking over the kitchen at Virginia’s in the East Village. In 2018, he was chef de cuisine of Oxomoco, alongside Rising Stars alum Chef Justin Bazdarich, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where he was recognized as a StarChefs Rising Star.
Isabel Coss began her culinary career in Mexico City, where she developed a deep passion for bread and Mexican pastries. She got her first kitchen job at age 17 as a bread baker in the kitchen of Chef Enrique Olvera’s landmark restaurant Pujol before attending culinary school in Mexico. Coss moved to New York City in 2011 to work with Stupak at Empellón, rising to pastry chef in 2013. In 2016, Coss helped open Agern, Chef Claus Meyer’s contemporary Scandinavian restaurant in Grand Central Terminal. She then rejoined Olvera, along with Rising Stars alum Chef Daniela Soto-Innes, as the pastry chef at Cosme—earning a StarChefs Rising Star Award in 2019.
The two work and life partners, who originally met while working at Empellón in 2012, now work together as a part of The Popal Group in Washington, D.C. Conroy and Coss lead restaurants like Pascual, a Mexican restaurant the pair opened in 2024, Lutèce, where Conroy acts as chef-partner and Coss heads the pastry department, and Maison Bar à Vins, which opened in 2025. Across their projects, Conroy and Coss lead with purpose and originality, drawing on their heritage and culinary backgrounds to inspire their cooks to be intentional, ambitious,
2026 StarChefs D.C.-Maryland-Virginia Rising Stars Mentor Award Winners
2019 StarChefs New York Rising Stars Award Winners
