Giovanni Valle says when he first came to New York at 16 in search of a better future, the El Salvador native did not speak English.

Valle quickly got to work, first working as a busboy, then a server, then learning to bartend and after that, he moved to the kitchen.

"I started from dishwashing, preps, salad, pasta, until I became like sous chef," said Valle.

Valle says one of the things he remembers very vividly from when he was working in the kitchens, was some of the ways that he was treated. He said he was not going to treat his employees the same way when he owned his own restaurant.

Valle now owns Casa di Frateli in Westbury with four of his seven brothers.

Valle says he plans to keep working hard and hopefully showing his heritage and hard work in a positive light.

"This is just the beginning, I mean, we have achieved so much out of nothing. Now that we have something, I think the future will be so much easier," said Valle.

Valle says while running a restaurant in a pandemic has been a challenge, he and his brothers still plan to open a second location.