Matthew's

CLIFTON Its an entrepreneurial tale of dishrags to riches, of a busboy becoming a businessman. Matthew Tyahlas career in the food service industry began humbly at La Finestra, an Italian restaurant located a stones throw from his home on Vincem Drive. After repeatedly bugging the restaurants owner to see if he was hiring, Tyahla finally got his way and, at 14 years old, landed his first job serving as a food-runner and busboy on the weekends. I fell in love with the business from day one, he said. Owner of Matthews Italian Restaurant, Matthew Tyahla Tvahla stayed at the restaurant for the next two years until it closed in 2000. His job search did not last long and he began again as a food-runner at the Bloomfield Avenue establishment Bella Napoli which later became Cafe d Amici. After becoming a busboy, Tvahla later joined the waitstaff, working diligently through high school and college up until the last table cleared when Cafe d Amici dosed last August. Through good and bad times, his co-workers said the enterprising Clifton native remained a reliable stalwart for staff and customers to lean on. Amy Barklow, 34, worked with Tvahla for several years and was an experienced waitress when he first began working at the restaurant as a teenager. Now Matt is like a little brother to me, but hes also always been mature beyond his years, Barklow said. An old soul in a young kid. With a decade spent at the eatery, Tyahla had not only learned the restaurant business from the inside out but was also armed with a degree in business communications from Ramapo College. Although just 26 years old, Tyahla said he had been saving up his money since he was 5 years old and saw the closure of Cafe d Amici as a potential once-in-a-lifetime break. Id been waiting a long time for an opportunity to come along and when it did I put everything on the line, he said. I reacted very quickly [because] my dream always was to have a restaurant of my own. While aware of the risk and challenges whi