Meet Mike Solo
Philly's latest Beard winner, and how he got here.
On his first day back to work at Zahav after winning his James Beard Award, Michael Solomonov sat down for a chat about himself.
Bullet points:
Born in Israel, moved to Pittsburgh as a tot, moved back to Israel at 15, hated it and moved back to Pittsburgh, returned to Israel, and so on.
Jennifer Carroll, now at 10 Arts, was the meat chef who "kicked my [ass]" at Avenue B years ago.
Marc Vetri is like a brother to him.
He and wife Mary are expecting a son in July.
He keeps the Beard medal in his office, in a crawl space above the restaurant.