Matt Djerf has been named the new executive chef at Prime 239 Steakhouse in Cape Coral. PROVIDED<\/p>\n
Prime 239 Steakhouse has announced the appointment of Matt Djerf\u00a0(pronounced \u2018Jerf\u2019)\u00a0as its new executive chef at the award-winning\u00a0restaurant at 1715 Cape Coral Parkway, West<\/a>.<\/p>\n A Cape Coral native with deep roots in the local dining scene, Djerf brings more than 15 years of culinary experience and a passion for refined, flavor-forward cooking to the steakhouse.\u00a0His journey began working alongside the late Chef Shannon Yates, one of the\u00a0region\u2019s most respected restaurateurs, first cooking for the Boston Red Sox and later helping open\u00a0Nevermind Awesome Bar & Eatery\u00a0in 2012.<\/p>\n \u201cI started out washing dishes and doing prep work at\u00a0Nevermind\u00a0and eventually worked my way up to running the kitchen,\u201d said Djerf, adding that every station, every burn and every late night was part of the journey. \u201cShannon taught me not only how to cook, but how to lead a kitchen and connect with the community through food.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the years, Djerf continued to hone his skills at several of Southwest Florida\u2019s top restaurants including\u00a0CRaVE, Leroy\u2019s in Punta Gorda, Hooked Island Grill, Cru\u00a0and\u00a0Lush.\u00a0He also helped open\u00a0Enter the Dragon, an eclectic local favorite known for its creative blend of tacos, fried chicken and sushi.<\/p>\n \u201cJoining Prime 239 feels like coming home,\u201d Djerf said. \u201cThis is much more my wheelhouse \u2014 incredible ingredients, classic steakhouse flavor and a team that\u2019s passionate about excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n Prime 239 owner George Lukas says Djerf\u2019s appointment reflects the restaurant\u2019s commitment to cultivating homegrown talent and maintaining the high standards that have defined its success since opening in 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cMatt represents the next generation of Cape Coral culinary leadership,\u201d Lukas said. \u201cHe\u2019s got the creativity, discipline and heart that make great chefs \u2014 and he understands what our guests expect from a Prime 239 dining experience. We\u2019re thrilled to have him leading our kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n Located at 1715 Cape Coral Parkway, West, Prime 239 Steakhouse specializes in wet-aged USDA Prime steaks, fresh seafood and creative accompaniments. The restaurant offers more than 100 whiskeys, 300-plus wines, craft cocktails and non-alcoholic selections. Dine indoors or alfresco. It\u2019s open for dinner Monday through Saturday, 4 to 10 p.m.; closed Sundays. For reservations, visit\u00a0prime239.com<\/a>\u00a0or call 239-673-8816.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt Djerf has been named the new executive chef at Prime 239 Steakhouse in Cape Coral. PROVIDED Prime…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-45910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}