Last Call

I Ientered the restaurant business in upstate New York when I was 17. At first I waited tables, but I talked way too much to be a good waitress. It was resulting in cold food and testy chefs. Then I filled in behind the bar and found that I could interact with customers at their own pace. That's how my career was born.

My mom moved to Naples in 1985 and urged me to come down. I had heard many good things about St. George & the Dragon, so I applied. Twenty years later, I'm still here. It'll be 21 years on April 11.

Bartending is the perfect job for me. I like to spend time with people. Over the years, the customers have become like a family. We've grown up together. They went through the dating scene with me, helped plan my wedding, gave me a baby shower. Some almost adopt you.

Part of bartending is being a good listener. I sometimes become like a confidant to my customers. Others will draw me out and want to talk about my life, which is fine. Some nights it feels like I'm doing a standup comedy routine. You also have to be diplomatic. If I feel someone has maybe had too much, I'll say, "Are you driving? Can I call you a cab?"

You have to read your customers. When people go out, they like to be recognized and they like to be entertained. But everyone's different. You learn to tell instantly if someone wants to chat or if they're just into their dates or the people they're with, in which case you know to back off-although you still have to be attentive, notice if their drink is low, if they need anything.

The most important thing is to make the customers feel comfortable and welcome. Even if you're in the weeds, you have to acknowledge them and say, "I'll be with you in a minute." People like to be recognized by name and by cocktail. That's important. A lot of people, I see them coming in the door, I know what they're going to have and I'll start making the drinks. Sometimes I'll pretend I don't see them, but I'll have the drinks already made and I'll set them in front of them as soon as they sit down. That makes them feel good.

Occasionally I'll see a customer out in public, and I'll say, "Hi, Mr. Smith, how are you?" And I can see they're thinking, 'Where do I know this face from?' and I'll say "Dewar's on the rocks with a twist." And they'll say, "Oh, it's Cindy from St. George."

As we have an older, more mature clientele, the most popular drinks tend to be martinis, Manhattans, Dewar's on the rocks, margaritas, Bloody Marys. A lot of the older, standard drinks. I think a cosmopolitan is about as racy as we get. The secret of our martini is no vermouth. You can't make it dry enough here. You make them how you like to drink them.

On a typical night, I'd say 60 percent of our customers are regulars. I refer to this [the St. George] as one of the Grand Dames of Naples because it's been here so long, and people always know what to expect-they know what table they're going to get, they know what's going to be on the menu. Things have changed in Naples, but this restaurant doesn't change, and that's reassuring to people. It's kind of a refuge.

We get a lot of Naples' old guard. Politicians, business people. Mayor Barnett comes in. Sheriff Hunter. Bob Germain Sr. has been coming here since day one. Bob Germain Jr. was in last night. We have one customer who sits on an advisory board for the U.S. Senate, and he's great to talk politics with. Mike Wallace was in here having dinner one night. When I first started, [tennis champ] Evonne Goolagong would come in.

Our clientele tends to be conservative. Many are well-to-do retirees who travel a lot. One of the most interesting parts of my job is to hear the stories about where they've been and to live vicariously through them. We get a good class of people, but they're all just people and we're all on the same level in here.

We have some great political discussions at the bar. My partner in the evenings is a Democrat so we can go around in circles. That was especially true during the Clinton years. People ask me what my greatest fear is, and I say, apart from a hurricane coming in and wiping us out, "Hillary Clinton." People tell me I shouldn't talk about politics, religion or sex, and my response is, "Well, what's left?"

Actually, just about any topic can come up. I also sell real estate, and that's often discussed. And I've been a fan of NASCAR for years, particularly when Dale Earnhardt was driving. I would start talking about racing and some of my older customers would say, "That's so boring, they just drive around in circles." And I'd say, "You don't understand-it's the rivalries between the drivers, the personalities, the point system." So they'd have to tune in to see what I was talking about, and pretty soon they were fans, too, and we'd talk about the next race. You really do connect on so many levels.

I have a nine-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter and they say they want to work here when they get older. I tell them, "I want you to go to college first." That would enable them to make choices. This profession has been very good to me. But any parent wants her children to do better. If there's a recession, it can affect dining. Look at how many restaurants have opened in Naples over the years. All of that takes a little bite out of our business.

When I started here, Naples was a very different place. My husband was born and raised here, and he tells me stories about how he used to ride his motorcycle through where Coastland Center is now. I'm afraid Naples is becoming too Palm Beach-y. The quaint charm I knew when I first came here is disappearing at a rapid rate. Many of the old businesses are gone. We're losing the small-town ambiance. That's the great thing about this place. People can come in and feel like they're 50 or 40 again, that life's still the way it was in the '70s and '80s. You just feel sheltered. It's such a safe feeling.

If this place ever closed, I would have to retire from bartending. I can't imagine working anyplace else. I can't imagine our clientele going anyplace else.