I am a guy who grew up in a very poor and gang active neighborhood. I grew a love for food from the pure fact that there was so little food around me. So I watched Food Network a lot and grew a stronger love for food. I worked at restaurants to learn how to do the things I saw on TV. My father worked at a fish market, so I was able to get a job there at the age of 13 — cleaning fish and discarding waste from the fish and other items my father made.

From there I worked at a barbecue restaurant for four years. I left there and moved to Indianapolis. I got a job at a place called CiCi’s Pizza for 10 years as a general manager before I got an itch to become a chef. So I went to college and I graduated from the culinary school at Ivy Tech Community College. From there I worked at nursing homes and restaurants until I was able to afford my own restaurant.

Sadly it was the march of 2020 when I opened the restaurant, and it was a week before the announcement of closure of the city due to Covid. I was closed within a week but, thank God, I was able to reopen six months later — and I’ve been open ever since.