With the opening of Provolino, a cost-accessible, neighborhood Italian restaurant in Denver’s Hampden South, less than a month away, co-owner and chef Jeff Schwing took time to reflect on his unorthodox journey to get to this point.

Schwing helped open Michelin-starred chef Ludo Lefebvre’s French eatery Chez Maggy as chef de cuisine, after previous cooking stints at Brasserie Brixton and Acorn, despite never attending culinary school.