Enabling the celebration
Photo by Nicole Braunsdorf
Is the service industry more challenging for women than men? “Only kind of,” says Rachel Fell, a bartender and co-manager of Nessun Dorma, a quaint and welcoming bar and restaurant nestled on the corner of a tree-lined block in Riverwest.
She acknowledges that one cannot control how customers react to men versus women behind the bar, but maintains that a professional attitude and sparkling personality can (hopefully) overcome most obstacles. Rachel has been on the business end of the bar for about six years, and though she’s not necessarily a “lifer” in the industry –she’s currently working on a degree in International Studies — she takes her role seriously, and tries to have fun with it.
She knows her product and loves to strike up conversation about a good bottle of wine or a new micro-brew, or maybe play a few 45’s and break out a game of Trivial Pursuit on a slow night.
This week on Backstage, Rachel and Mark discuss opera, the idea of “community” within a bar, and the barkeep’s role of enabling the celebration of life through hospitality.
Check back tomorrow for this week’s featured cocktail recipe: The R&R. Also, have you subscribed to Backstage through iTunes? You should!
