New Brunswick Restaurant Week: Servers, Like the One at Evelyn's, Unheralded Heroes

Two women and a man step out of the Easton Avenue heat and into Evelyn's, where the Mediterranean meets Middle Eastern under one air-conditioned roof. Bright colors, exotic tapestries, and lively Lebanese music greet these hungry diners.

So does Devan McCarthy.

"Welcome to Evelyn's," she says, sporting a smile, a black waitress apron, and a pair of comfortable Sketchers with padded insoles.

The guests point to a shady spot on the back terrace, so McCarthy seats them, grabs some menus, and gets ready to take their drink orders.

As New Brunswick Restaurant Week begins with about 20 participating restaurants offering special deals on delicious dishes during an event so big that it now stretches two weeks, through July 27, it's a moment to recognize McCarthy and the other servers across the city.

They play an integral and often unheralded role in the dining experience, not only as New Brunswick becomes a dining destination for foodies from afar, but also during the other 50 weeks of the year when they hustle for tips.

In many ways, McCarthy, a Rutgers student paying her way through undergrad school, represents the untold number of waiters and waitresses across New Brunswick whose hard work keeps the food coming, the drink glasses filled, and the smiles on customers' faces.

Serving as the point of contact between the customers and the entirety of the restaurant over three or four courses is a responsibility servers like McCarthy take seriously.

"The servers, we're definitely the closest link to the customers," McCarthy said. "Our staff, we are all trained, and we all have it in us to be extremely professional. Everyone here is very friendly. We're ensuring that everyone has a professional and friendly staff experience."

Since McCarthy started working at Evelyn's in January, the customers have almost universally been as sweet as heaping plates of baklava. Becoming intimately familiar with all the items on the menu, from the appetizers such as kibbe balls (ground beef, bulgur wheat, pine nuts, verdure, and hummus) to entrées such as shawarma (grass-fed skirt steak, grilled onions, tomatoes, rice pilaf, hummus, and tahini), has been more challenging.

"Although our menu does include descriptions of all our dishes, you still can't always paint a picture in your head," she said. "So, I have to help the customer paint the picture in their head, alert them to any allergy warnings."

McCarthy likes working at Evelyn's so much that during the summer, when she's not busy with her statistics class, she makes the trek from her family's home in Jefferson to work a few days a week.

She harbors big dreams, though.

McCarthy will be heading into her senior year in September, studying cognitive science and psychology with a minor in health care administration. Then she will pursue her master's degree in health care administration at Rutgers.

Some day, she hopes to become the manager or administrator of a mental health unit in a hospital.

There's little time during her shifts to daydream about the future, though. If there's a break between customers, there are always tables or counters that need to be cleaned.

Like the scores of servers who work hard each day in the city's pubs, steakhouses, fast food joints, and cafés, McCarthy has to be ready for the next wave of guests, Like that time when six women stepped into Evelyn's from Easton Avenue.

These old friends were having a reunion and decided Evelyn's was the perfect place to have it.

McCarthy sat them under the pear tree out back, where their smiles were illuminated by the string lights.

The women wanted to try a little of everything, so they started ordering hummus, baba ganoush, grape leaves, and other appetizers.

"I said to them, 'I have a suggestion for you: If you want to try a little bit of everything, you should try our Evelyn's combination plate,'" McCarthy said. "I said, 'It's got quite a few different things on it.' They were so happy with it. They even got some entrées as well. They got some of our chicken kebab plays, our shawarma, our chicken taro plate - and they loved it."

During New Brunswick Restaurant Week, diners who eat out at least five times can submit their receipts for a chance to win a Best Destination gift bag from local New Brunswick restaurants.

To learn more about the participating businesses and their special Restaurant Week deals, click here.

Story & Photo Credit: Chuck O'Donnell