"The best people to wait on are gay men, by far. The worst are probably lesbians. And I'm a lesbian. They don't tip."

--Waitress on Christopher Street

........

I'm gonna' start off with a new waiter today. I see that I got a link from the "The Independent" in London. Thanks guys.

Our new waiter today has been around for some time, as you'll soon read. He was an interesting guy to interview, a great deal more relaxed with his job as a waiter. Not hating the customers.

I guess I can understand. He's made a good living serving people food and alcohol. Bought a house, and new car, as well as multiple vacations, and now he's putting himself through Columbia. So it's not all bad.

By the way, does anybody know the actual name of the restaurant he gives me? When I was transcribing it, I thought I heard Café d' Artiste, or Café de Solstice...? Anybody can help me? The place is long closed.

Anyways, the guy's name is Patrick and he works at a restaurant up in Midtown. A destination site for all the tourists.

*************

I moved to New York with my boyfriend when I had just turned seventeen. We moved in together and got an apartment on west 50th street and 9th avenue. It was 1977.

I just happened to be walking up and down the streets; there was a subway strike going on. I was a naive kid. I'd never waited tables in my life but he was waiter, and I just went into restaurants. Filled out applications. The first day I went out I got a couple of hits with people telling me to come back, and there was a restaurant that asked if I could start training next week.

I went home and told my boyfriend which restaurants there were and he said, "The Russian Tea Room. That's a good restaurant."

And I was seventeen years old, and I got the job the next week. That was in late August and by Christmas time I was making probably $1200 a week. I blew it all--drugs, alcohol and cocaine. It was 1977.

It was nice at the Russian Tea Room. It was a union house. The customers was not needy at all, considering the type of clientele. It was right in the middle of the publishing area. We got CBS, and NBC and the publishing industry on Madison Avenue. It was a pretty cushy job.

I lived on west 50th and the restaurants was on 57th and I started going to studio 54 almost every night and blowing money...and blowing guys. [Laughs] Ya' know? It was a rough couple of years. I got lost in New York City.

I've only worked at a few restaurants. I went to the Russian Tea Room, then I went to Maxwell's Plum, and from there to Café Del Soltice. Then I moved to New Jersey and worked in one place in Jersey. Then I went to where I'm at now. I've been here for ten years.

Each restaurant is its own culture. I would put Maxwell's Plum, the Russian Tea Room and Café Del Soltice on the same scale. Probably all five star restaurants, especially Café Del Soltiice. This place is a family place, big platters, more relaxed as far as style.

But I do think each restaurant has it own unique culture.

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