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Rosebud Chefs Give Canaryville Kid Scholarship, Chicken Parm Pizza

By Casey Cora | January 28, 2015 7:24am | Updated on January 28, 2015 11:14am
 Former "MasterChef Jr." contestant Philly Vazzana accepts a scholarship award from Rosebud chef Joe Farina.
Former "MasterChef Jr." contestant Philly Vazzana accepts a scholarship award from Rosebud chef Joe Farina.
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WCIU/You and Me

CANARYVILLE — Early Tuesday, way before school started, 9-year-old Philly Vazzana went on a live TV morning show and accepted gifts from professional chefs that will nurture the budding cooking career. 

The gifts from Rosebud Restaurants included a personalized executive chef jacket and pants, non-slip chef shoes and a knife set, plus another big one: the Italian restaurant chain's first-ever "Rising Stars" scholarship.

"I was like, thinking about nothing except for how happy I was. I was stunned. I was in shock. I tried on one of the chef's coats and the shoes. The chef coat I have to grow into a little but I can always just pull up the sleeves," said Philly, a contestant on Fox's MasterChef Jr., the show that pits 19 kid cooks against one another and in front of judges Gordon Ramsay, Joe Bastianich and Graham Elliot. 

Philly, a student at Bridgeport's Mark Sheridan Math & Science Academywas eliminated on the show's first episode.

Casey Cora says Vazzana already has plenty of culinary dreams:

His homemade fresh pasta with tomato, garlic, onion and basil sauce apparently didn't satisfy the celebrity judges, who said the dish needed more salt.

Another Chicago contestant, Lincoln Park's Jack Lembeck, has survived the first few episodes. 

Undeterred, Philly is pressing on with his culinary ambitions.

He hopes to one day open a restaurant in Bridgeport called "Sides," featuring only side dishes like bacon-wrapped asparagus. He'd also like to start a business called "Cooking for Kidneys" to help those with kidney ailments. 

Since making his reality TV debut, Philly has been making the rounds of local TV morning shows, and on Tuesday he paid a visit to WCIU-TV's "You & Me This Morning," where he whipped up his Madagascar Vanilla-infused French toast before getting surprised by Rosebud's executive chef Joe Farina.

(Ever the charmer, he brought hosts Melissa Forman and Jeanne Sparrow a gift — hand painted coffee mugs made by his mom, artist Erika Vazzana.)

In addition to the chef gear and scholarship, Farina also had another surprise. 

Throughout February, Rosebud will serve a special dish, "Master Chef Philly's Chicken Parm Pizza," which is more like a big rounded disk of breaded chicken and sauce. 

Some slices went right from the TV studio to Philly's lunch box.

During the taping, Farina, who also started cooking at a young age, looked over his protege and only half-jokingly offered some stern advice. 

"You're going to put more salt on things now, aren't ya?" he asked. "That's OK. That's how you learn." 

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