As a celebrity server for the Rutland Community Cupboard’s annual fundraiser at Southside Steakhouse last week, I gained new appreciation for the demanding work of restaurant professionals. The great ones make the not-so-great stand out even more.
The celebrity server event is a signature fundraiser for the Cupboard, a nonprofit that is a key food source for hundreds of area residents. Along with the Cupboard’s executive director Audrey Bridge, the organization’s board leaders Scott Louiselle and Jeff Weld, work extremely hard to make the event a success.
Thankfully, Southside’s effervescent manager Jenna assigned me to one of Vermont’s most unflappable restaurant professionals – the formidable Debbie – who is as revered by her peers as by her frequent customers. I was also grateful that we “celebrities” were not permitted to enter the kitchen or handle alcohol in any way. Tip toeing around Debbie as she effortlessly delivered giant trays of food and drink orders, I was more cognizant than ever of why we all should be grateful for professionals like her.
Our best local restaurants exhibit high levels of hospitality and offer more than just good food; they provide social experiences, and an atmosphere where patrons feel cared for and valued. In addition to Southside and Roots, other local establishments that do all that also merit mention.
For example, Brix Wine Bar, Hop ‘N Moose, and Taco Fresco are as popular for their hospitality as for their food. Though offering different experiences, the same holds true for Speakeasy, Loose Loona, Ernie’s Hand-carved, Rutland Country Club, and Sweet Caroline’s. The Sandwich Shoppe, Rutland Restaurant, and Mary’s, serve loyalists going back generations. And the enthusiastic crowds at Sherry Prouty’s charming ice-cream emporium, which opened last summer, prompted Prouty’s move from Evelyn Street to a larger shop on Merchants Row.
Any newcomer to the Rutland restaurant scene would do well to take note of how intentional hospitality makes these existing establishments so popular, because bad experiences are the ones that patrons tend to talk about the most. A rude host – let alone inattentive waitstaff – can drive customers away even before they look at a menu. Any host who makes a guest feel like they don’t belong, or berates them for a mistake in a reservation, and then stomps away without a word after placing menus, is the epitome of incompetence. In the worst cases I’ve encountered, the indifference of owners, especially when they are visible on the premises, borders on ignorance.
Fortunately, Rutland has very few of those offenders, but we definitely have them, which makes the passing of beloved longstanding restaurants even more poignant. Over the past decade, Rutland lost Table 24 and Kelvin’s, plus two beloved Italian trattorias – The Palms and Three Tomatoes.
The Palms served homey standards perfected by the kindhearted Sabataso family, who treated all their guests as regulars. Three Tomatoes, under the ownership of the charismatic curmudgeon Allan Frey was known for its innovative Italian cuisine, lively ambiance, and excellent networking opportunities. For many years, it was Three Tomatoes that hosted the celebrity server event.
All these restaurants are greatly missed and, while newcomers are welcome, many locals feel the gap left by the passing of the two Italian restaurants has been particularly hard to fill.
To be sure, the Rutland Community Cupboard Celebrity Server fundraiser is a draw for its altruism first and foremost, but Southside does the hospitality, the food, and the service perfectly. The friends I encouraged to attend thoroughly enjoyed ordering me around, especially when I had to clear their dirty plates. The more performative my feigned horror and vitriolic pushback, the higher my tips. (All celebrity tips are donated to the Cupboard. To do all that while prancing around in velvet and sparkly earrings was immense fun, as far removed as imaginable from what real restaurant workers experience on a daily basis.
The fundraiser provided a stark reminder of those realities. In fact, what astute restaurateurs like Allan Frey (sad to report, he passed away last month), Donald Billings at Roots, and the Southside crew – especially Debbie – learned a long time ago, is that all restaurants, especially those branded as fine dining, are subject to a metaphorical magnifying-glass and loud megaphone every day. Diners have many more choices, and social media has amplified the power of customer reviews.
All the more reason why intentional hospitality is even more important than applying a fresh coat of paint or creating interesting menus or hiring the right servers or finding workers to wash dishes. After all, if the hospitality isn’t top-notch, then there won’t be any customers coming in to use those clean dishes, right?
