John Prudenti

Be Bubbly is Napa Valley's premiere champagne and wine lounge. Skilled at working independently and collaboratively in a team environment. All "Bubble Ambassadors" were trained to work the champagne bar, conduct table service and work in the kitchen. We wore lots of hats. Worked effectively in this fast-paced environment. Self-motivated, with a strong sense of personal responsibility to the Team.

At this revolutionary farm to table concept restaurant I was consistently one of the top servers in daily sales. Working for Cindy Pawlcyn was quite a pleasure. Her pioneering farm to table approach in the late 1980's, contemporary with Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berleley, CA, is still all the rave to this day. With extensive gardens surrounding the restaurant, full time gardener providing farm fresh fruits and vegetables, and a dedicated batterie, Mustard's Grille is a Napa Valley icon.

I was one of the top servers in covers and daily sales at the legendary, highly acclaimed multi-time James Beard Award and Michelin Star winning Thomas Keller restaurant. Utilized communication practices with kitchen staff to deliver customer meals in highly efficient and timely manner. Made my living upselling items such as local, esoteric wine maker side project wines to enhance sales numbers and expand guest wine appreciation. Many times finding a lesser priced, lesser known wine with depth and finesse led to higher guest satisfaction. Thrived off the buzz and pace of Bouchon! Fun fact: upon completion of my training at Bouchon I was pulled aside and given accolades by the management team. They offered a position at Bouchon, but told me that the French Laundry would also like to offer me a Front Server position if desired. I stayed at Bouchon because of the vibrant atmosphere and bustle of the bistro. Those were a wonderful five years!

Out of 5,000 plus applicants 300 were chosen to staff the re-opening of the legendary Joe Baum creation at the top of the World Trade Center in NYC: Windows on the World and the Bar in the Sky. I was selected to be a Front Server, the middle man in a team of three servers per section: Lead, Front and Back. After over a month of intense food and wine training - we all had the pleasure of meeting and learning from Kevin Zraly! - we began to run in house live food and wine service trials only to learn that the entire kitchen and floor had to be redesigned. Nothing was functional from Garde Manger, to the kitchen design, to the floor plan, to the dish pit. Windows closed for re-renovations. The high of making the cut was never realized in actual service. I moved to New Haven, CT. In New Haven I started a nine year service stint in the lingerie design industry!

Citronelle was my introduction to fine dining. Michele Richard was the first "celebrity" chef as far as I am concerned. He predates both Emeril and Wolfgang, among many others. Michele never wanted the glitz and glam that those who followed would, but he amassed and maintained a huge following of dedicated diners. Started out as a runner. Learned about high end steps of service. Soaked up as much information about food preparation and presentation as I could, paying close attention to all that Chef Felicien Cueff had to share. Bought Kevin Zraly's book on wines. And many other books on wine. And books on beer, spirits and sake. It was here that I amassed food and wine knowledge, exponentially, which would lead me to many memorable jobs in my back then future. I would love to get back to the passion, professionalism and pleasure of fine dining.