atyourservice
by Joelle Kidd
serving the city
Photo by David Lipnowski
In a food city like Winnipeg, eager diners seek out the best of the best to put on their plates. While the magic starts in the kitchen, the best restaurant experiences rely on exceptional service. Servers are ambassadors for their restaurant, and even their city.
Excellence in this role is the reason that Eli Desautel’ s name appeared most often on ballots for a contest during last year’ s Ciao! Dine About Winnipeg event.
“ The server is the face of the restaurant,” says Eli. The University student, who began serving three years ago and has been at Rudy’ s Eat and Drink since September of 2015, has quickly learned the importance of service to make or break the dining experience for a customer, and a welcoming atmosphere and knowledgeable staff keeps diners returning. Attention to detail and the ability to listen to and gauge customers’ needs are important talents for servers.
Eli relies on sharp intuition to tailor his serving style to his customers. Rudy’ s downtown location means a wide variety of diners: business lunchers, the happy hour crowd, families grabbing dinner before Jets’ games, and out of town visitors.
“ During the first interaction with them you get a feel for what kind of customers they are,” Eli explains. Some tables appreciate prompt, unobtrusive service; others want to joke around. Finding this balance means delivering a good experience for each guest.“ It’ s about making everyone feel comfortable.”
But beyond intuition, being a server requires knowledge. In-depth familiarity with food being served is key, which is why Eli has tried everything on the menu and can tailor his recommendations to any palate.
Because so many out-of-town guests visit Rudy’ s, Eli’ s job also requires knowledge of the city. Visitors asking for recommendations for events to catch and attractions to visit make it part of Eli’ s duty as a server to be an impromptu tour guide. He accepts this challenge eagerly, keeping up with what’ s new downtown and sharing and learning about latest discoveries with coworkers, in order to make sure guests’ experiences of Winnipeg are the best they can be.
10 ciao! / feb / mar / two thousand seventeen