Vincent DeAngelo fufills his childhood dream everyday as executive chef and owner of namesake restaurant.

Growing up, kids have a lot of dreams. Some want to be doctors or lawyers. Others want to be athletes or movie stars. At the age of 14, Vincent DeAngelo wanted to be a master chef.

DeAngelo, 43, is the executive chef and owner of DeAngelo's Italian Restaurant at 350 West Main Street in Merced, and has been cooking for nearly 30 years.

In 1995, he opened the restaurant, he said, because he wanted to go back to the heart of cooking.

"I didn't want to work for those big (restaurants) anymore. I wanted to own my own restaurant, and I wanted to cook my own food," DeAngelo said.

The restaurant has been open for more than six years and DeAngelo says it strives for excellence. "We take the best ingredients and prepare them simply."

He uses local produce suppliers whenever possible to keep his ingredients fresh and his customers happy.

"Chefs need and want applause and satisfaction from their customers. They want people to like what they cook," he said.

To survive in the restaurant industry, he said, good food and service are of the upmost importance. "I do the cooking and my wife, Debbie, takes care of everybody up front."

After six years, DeAngelo said, the restaurant is still expanding it's services. He said he noticed a big demand for catering and that's what the restaurant is venturing into; however, he said, it has evolved slowly.

"The first big catering job was for Ragu at the Merced County Fairgrounds four years ago with 450 people."

Now, the restaurant has a catering coordinator and can cater events involving 10 or 500 people, DeAngelo said.

He said he hopes the catering business will one day lead to a one-stop banquet service, where people can hold weddings and large events.

Right now, people have to rent out buildings and then find a caterer. He said he wants to change that. "Right now, that's my dream," said DeAngelo.

When he was growing up in New York, DeAngelo said he used to ditch school and cook for his friends.

With both parents working, he and his friends would go to his house, where he'd pick vegetables from the family garden and prepare meals for his friends. "I'd usually make them omelettes," he said.

His family had a big role in his cooking because, he said, he always had home-cooked meals. "My father cooked all the meats and my mother cooked all the starches."

DeAngelo said his mother was a big inspiration behind his cooking. "All my passion came from the way she cooked."

At age 15, DeAngelo got a dishwashing job at a restaurant and eventually worked his way up to being lead cook.

After high school, he continued to cook while applying to the Culinary Institute of America, and he got in when he was 20 years old and graduated two years later in 1980.

During his education, he had a five-month-long externship at the Rainbow Room located on the 65th floor of the Time-Life building in New York. DeAngelo said, "That experience was incredible."

Of all the things he learned, DeAngelo said the most important was organization. "If everything is set in place, you can accomplish whatever you set out to do."

Certified for baking, pastries and cooking, DeAngelo said he enjoys all three evenly, "If I'm doing pastries and baking, I get into it. If I'm cooking, I get into it. It doesn't matter. I just try to do the best I can all the time."

After graduation, he worked at the Helmsley Hotel in New York and then moved to San Diego in 1982 and opened Vincent's Pastry Shop.

A few years later, he sold the shop and moved to San Jose, where he opened Vincent's Pastry Café. Eventually, he sold that too and went back to working for big restaurants.

He said customers have changed slightly over the years and become more health-conscious. He added that customers are also more aware of the quality of their meals.

"People appreciate freshly prepared foods," he said.

But one must ask, after cooking for nearly 30 years, is DeAngelo any good?

According to DeAngelo, he better be. "Anyone doing anything for 20 years better do it good," he said.

Cheryl Bianchi of Merced said she has been a regular since the restaurant opened, and, she said, she goes to the restaurant two or three times a week.

Bianchi said she likes the dishes made from recipes, and she appreciates the sauces involved. "I usually get the filet mignon with the cognac sauce or the crab ravioli with the pink vodka sauce," she said.

The atmosphere is very warm and provides a casual elegance, Bianchi said. "You don't have to be dressed to the hilt."

Sharon Bump of Chowchilla said she likes the way people know each other in the restaurant. "They recognize you and call you by name," she said.

Bump said she frequents the restaurant about once a month, and, she added, she has never had bad service.

Kelly De La Lastra, the bartender, said she has been working at the restaurant for about five years, and she said she has her regular customers. "People have their spots," she said.

De La Lastra, 40, of Merced said she still gets new customers when businessmen and visitors come through town. Eventually, they all become regulars, she said. "People hear about us. Vinnie's got a good reputation."