Most aspiring chefs break into the biz washing dishes in bustling restaurant kitchens, but for Vinh Nguyen, that education began at home. "My family and I made friends with everybody, mostly because of my mom's cooking," Vinh said during a recent phone interview. "My mom would make food and bring it over unabashedly to neighbors' houses, so being the youngest one, I always followed her in the kitchen like I was her baby sous chef."
This summer, Pizza Oliva, which had been in operation for 23 years, was sold to a local couple, Karina Rosselli and Jonathan Waite, and renamed after their dog, Ellie. In the month since it changed hands, Ellie's Pizzeria has changed the chicken wings recipe, added new menu items, created a 12-flavor hand-scooped ice cream counter and generated a perfect 5-star rating with more than 100 reviews on Google.
"I thought, well, if I don't go and do it now, I might not ever do it, and I'll just end up working forever and ever," Selby, now 43, said with a laugh.