Originally from Brighton, Michigan, Andy “Chef Boyandee” Neely has called Vail home since September 2016. After visiting Vail on vacation, he decided he liked it more than Michigan, packed up a U-Haul, and headed west with the determination to make Vail home. Along the way, he met his best friend, Adrienne, and convinced her to build a life with him. So far, they like it.

Andy has worked in restaurants since he was 15, gaining experience in nearly every front-of-house role that doesn’t involve cooking. His first restaurant job was serving tables in a retirement home, where dinner was served promptly at 4 p.m. This was an experience that taught him the importance of punctuality. Since then, he’s worked as a server, dishwasher, busser, and bartender, learning from some extremely talented chefs, bartenders, sommeliers, and fellow restaurant staff along the way.

While Andy may not be “college educated,” he proudly points out that he knows how to screw in a light bulb. Other accomplishments include correctly answering a Final Jeopardy clue and scoring a 100 on the SAT. Aced it.

Andy’s love of restaurants ultimately comes down to one thing: good food. He started, and stayed, in the industry largely for the access to it. After eating his way through the menus at Tios in Ann Arbor and Japango in Boulder, he heard that Sweet Basil had the best food in Vail. Naturally, it was the first place he dropped off a résumé. He was hired in November 2016 and, as he puts it, has been gaining weight ever since.

When he’s not at Sweet Basil, Andy and Adrienne can usually be found hiking with their dogs, Charlie (a Great Dane/St. Bernard mix and certified good girl) and Hank (a golden doodle and certified good boy). Andy also enjoys archery, golf (particularly triple bogeys), and spending Sundays on the couch yelling at the TV in an attempt to help guide the Detroit Lions to victory. If you listen closely, you can probably hear Adrienne’s eyes rolling.

And yes, Andy is also the commissioner of the Sweet Basil fantasy football league and the proud 2024 champion. He’s not trying to brag, he just wants Chef Will to remember that Andy’s name is on the trophy and his isn’t.

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