The Aquitaine Group, a well known and respected Boston restaurant company, is behind the critically acclaimed Aquitaine Bar a Vin Bistrot, Metropolis Café, Union Bar and Grill, and Gaslight Brasserie du Coin, in the South End, as well as Aquitaine Chestnut Hill and Aquitaine Dedham at Legacy Place. The partners include Seth Woods, Matt Burns, and Jeff Gates, three individuals with distinctly different personal and professional backgrounds, which lend a unique perspective to the group.

Founder and Executive Chef of The Aquitaine Group, Seth Woods began his professional life on Wall Street. Within months a lifelong love of food led him away from a career in finance to The Culinary Institute of America and then back to Manhattan's world renowned Union Square Café. After arriving in Boston, Woods served as Executive Chef of Armani Café before leaving to open Metropolis Café in 1995, and a few years later, Aquitaine Bar a Vin Bistrot in Boston's South End.

Matthew Burns, a native of Boston, discovered a love of food, wine and hospitality working as a waiter and bartender while in college studying political science. Originally intending to go on to law school after graduating, he soon felt drawn back into the restaurant industry, and went on to serve as General Manager of Armani Café, where he met Woods. A few years later they teamed up to open Aquitaine in Chestnut Hill, just a few miles from where Matt grew up.

A graduate of Northeastern University, Jeff Gates, after a brief stint as a mechanical engineer, also returned to the restaurant industry based on a love of hospitality he discovered working in restaurants while in college. Prior to joining the Aquitaine Group, Gates was an integral part of the growth of Davio’s group of restaurants as the operations director and was later the opening General Manager of Mistral, one of Boston’s most celebrated restaurants. A few years later, he joined Burns and Woods in opening Union Bar and Grille and later Gaslight Brasserie du coin.

The Aquitaine Group’s restaurants are widely recognized as among the very best in the city of Boston’s growing and increasingly respected restaurant scene. They have garnered praise form local and national publications..

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