Three Cooks, a Dishwasher, and 35 Million Bucks
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On Wednesday, Enrique Flores, who has spent the past 15 years working in the kitchens of Mr. Anthony's three restaurants and had just $5,000 in the bank, claimed a $35 million New York Lottery prize. That night, he was back at Sal Anthony's Restaurant on Irving Place, working alongside the two other cooks and one dishwasher with whom he shared the prize. "A millionaire chef is cooking my dinner, another millionaire is washing my dishes. It's really bizarre," Mr. Anthony said. The four Mexican immigrants, fearful of negative exposure, have done their best to keep their outrageous fortune a secret for almost two months. With the word out yesterday following articles in two Spanish dailies, the men dodged dozens of calls for interviews, diligently chopping vegetables and washing dishes. But around the corner at Discorama, the shop where the 38-year-old Mr. Flores bought the winning ticket, the owner, Gloria Chan, bubbled over with her first big win in 23 years of selling tickets. The four men were familiar faces at Discorama, where every Wednesday they would pool their money to buy a lottery ticket, Ms. Chan said. On January 14, Mr. Flores, who bought the ticket for the four men, walked by Discorama and saw he had the winning numbers, a combination of his and his family members' birthdays, but did not claim his prize. The next day Ms. Chan received a call from the lottery saying a "big winner" had bought the $5 ticket from her store and had not come forward. "The whole neighborhood was like, 'Let me check my ticket,'" Ms. Chan said. Two days later, a pale Mr. Flores entered the store with the winning numbers. When Ms. Chan congratulated him, he said, "It's not only me, it's three others who work in the kitchen." The news spread rapidly among the restaurant staff, according to Mr. Anthony, but the workers, shy of their newfound wealth said, "'It's not true' and put a cap on it," Mr. Anthony says. "They went underground." A week ago, just days before the public New York Lottery announcement, Mr. Flores, who has worked for Mr. Anthony the longest of the four, told his boss he urgently needed to meet with him. "He says, 'The guys in the kitchen are leaving,'" Mr. Anthony said. "He had a tear in his eye. I didn't know what the hell was going on." "He didn't know how to tell me he'd won the lottery," Mr. Anthony said. On hearing the news Mr. Anthony "busted out laughing," he says, and asked how much - $1 mil lion, $5 million, $10 million? Each time, Mr. Flores shook his head until finally he revealed the astronomical $35 million sum. Despite their fortune, the four men, whom Mr. Anthony describes as quiet, hard workers, agreed to stay on until the 10th of the month and train new cooks and dishwashers to take their place. After that, Mr. Anthony said, only one man has a set plan, to return to Mexico. On Wednesday, Mr. Flores, who credits sending almost all his earnings home to his family in Mexico for his good fortune, went to Staten Island to receive the check for a little more than $18 million after taxes. At the Staten Island press conference, Mr. Flores said he did not know how he would spend the money or if he would return to Mexico. But he did know he was ready to leave the restaurant business. "I am not sure what I am going to do with the money, but whichever thing will not have anything to do with the kitchen," Mr. Flores said.
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