Dan Williams
“When I was young, I hitchhiked cross-country with a friend of mine.” Dan says. One night, the sun was just about to set. Dan and his buddy were walking down a desolate road and they began to feel the subtlest drops of rain. “This concerned us”, as there was not a location in sight where they could take cover.
Time passed and the rain started to come down pretty heavily. Just in the nick of time, a random truck pulled up beside them and told them to jump in the back. “It was an open kind of truck and they had a big tarp. We pulled it over our heads to cover us from the rain.” Conversation ensued and Dan noticed something peculiar. “They were wearing the same type of clothing, so I asked them if they were in a band.”
One of the men responded, “No, we just escaped from jail.”
“And I laughed.” Dan said. “I realized that they probably were telling the truth because they looked like Caltrain. Then I asked them, ‘Where did you get the truck?’”
“We stole it.”
“So now I’m starting to argue in my brain. Should we get out? But it’s raining. Will we be accomplices if we get caught? I even considered approaching this from a psychological perspective and ask a bunch of questions.” But this never took shape.
The guys pulled over, picked up some beer and continued down the road. It was now nighttime, and they began to get rowdy. One of them pulled out a gun and began shooting it in the air. Dan knew it was time to make his move as he knew the potential for a “worst case scenario” was quite feasible. He regrouped with his buddy and they decided it was time to remove themselves from this equation.
Dan said, “You know, you guys are going to need money for gas. How about I buy your gun for $30?” The men look at each other and acquiesced.
With the gun now in their hands, Dan’s buddy blurts out, “How about you sell us the bullets too?!”
A dense silence arises within the truck. The men come close to Dan and his buddy. They say in a whisper, “You think we’re stupid? If we sell you the bullets, you are going to steal our truck!”
Dan immediately interjects and saves this story from going south, “No, no, no, you keep the bullets!”
And the tension eases….
The men eventually pull into an I-Hop. They drop off Dan and his buddy… and part ways. Dan wiped off the fingerprints and tossed the gun in a neighboring bush. They regrouped and decided a meal was in order.
Dan Williams hails from the windy city of Chicago. He’s bright, witty, and extremely thoughtful. You will glimpse into the mind of a man who has acquired insights into living a life of joy and meaning. His appreciation for his good fortune is palpable. Several nights a week you can catch him serving up gracious hospitality at Angèle Restaurant & Bar in Napa. He’s been a veteran server there for 18 years.
“One of the things I do that I think is valuable is I meet with our chef about once a month. I gather all the info about each dish and break them down in waiter notes. I type it up and break it into a size that fits our notebook. I do this for two reasons. One, this could save someone’s life. Back in the day there was no such information on celiac, or gluten sensitivity, or allium allergies. Knowing these things are very important to me. And two, time is money. The chef gives it to me, and I spread it to the team. Now, the team has the necessary info they need, and they do not need to ask the chef a million questions.”
Early on in Dan’s career, he thought he wanted to be a private butler. He applied to a butlership in England and was accepted. “Then I thought, when I met my future ex-wife, it would be disrespectful to ask her to wear a maid’s outfit.”
Dan’s journey continued to unfold.
“Going to Europe changed my life. Everywhere you looked was art. There was just so much to appreciate. The bed I was sleeping on and the cobblestone roads were probably older than our country. I had two realizations when I was there.
One, my mother was a bad cook. She was Norwegian. I knew if I was going to survive, I needed to learn how to cook. The food in Europe was MAGNIFICIENT. So, I learned how to cook, and I continue to cook to this day. But not just that! I realized I needed to create art and give back to society in some way.”
The second thing Dan learned during this journey has carried with him his entire life.
“Every morning, while it was still dark outside, I was listening to these wheels going over cobblestones outside of the place I was staying. I thought to myself, why? Why am I waking up so early? Who’s out there doing this? I thought, they can’t be enjoying this! One morning, I decided to get up at 5am and see what they were doing. Mind you, I am of the opinion that getting up before the sun is an unnatural act, unless you’re already up.
So, I went outside and followed the sound of the wheels on the cobblestone. I ended up at a marketplace where they were preparing meat for sale. They were plucking chickens and skinning whatever animals they had. I looked at that and realized that I wanted to take a break from meat for a while. That was many decades ago, and I haven’t had meat since.
It never occurred to me that my break would never end!”
“I look at the beauty every day. When people come to Angèle they are transported – the music, the atmosphere, the flowers, the paintings, and the food. I’m honored not just to have a job, but to represent the chefs. I’m like an ombudsman.
"A number of years ago, I was privileged to serve at a different tablecloth restaurant. I was waiting on a family of several generations. At the end, the grandpa asks for the bill. The youngest of the kids says to his father, ‘Grandpa just asked for the bill!!’
Now, everyone wants to pay for the bill! And they are all saying, ‘NO, HE’S NOT!’ It was like a western and everyone was staring at each other, not having a good time.
So, I try to lighten things up, but I think to myself, what am I doing really? They could be packing. It felt like a western and someone may not walk away from this.”
Dan’s insight kicked it and an idea flooded over him. “I decided I would put three identical bills in front of the three guys who want to pay. The quickest one to get me a card will pay the bill. Turns out, the grandfather was the quickest. One of the guys turns to me and says, ‘How can you do this?! They are all identical bills!’
I turned to him and said, ‘You should be ashamed of yourself. The oldest person at the table has a much faster reach than all of you!’
And the kids are all laughing…because that was pretty much the bottom line.”
“Many years ago, I was told that I had been nominated to the California Restaurant Association to be ‘Waiter of the Year’ for the state of California.” Dan said. “I told them that I had never heard of such a thing.” The association replied, “Well, it’s never happened before.” Dan said ok, didn’t think much about it, and went on about his business.
Some time passed.
The association eventually reached back out to Dan again and mentioned that he was now 1 of the 5 candidates left to possibly win…then he was 1 in 3…and then…
You guessed it! Dan was the first ever winner of the “Waiter of the Year” award via the California Restaurant Association.
“Now what?”, he thought to himself.
They invited him to fly to Los Angeles for an interview and photo shoot. The night before his flight, Dan began to get ready for his trip.
“It’s 2:00 in the morning and I started to trim my beard, but I forgot to put on my adapter, and I made this reverse Mohawk streak. And I thought, well, no one is going to recognize me! So, I trim my beard really tight. I was married at the time, but she was out of town. I found some of her mascara and decided to color parts of it in. I figured I could take my pictures with my chin leaning forward!”
Dan was the association’s guest of honor at an event they had in Los Angeles. For years to come, the California Restaurant Association has honored a “Waiter of the Year;” and eventually, other states throughout the US that had a Restaurant Association would follow suit, honoring their nominees. At the time, Dan had no idea what this actually meant. The association told him, “You don’t understand, Dan. You’re at the top of the pyramid. You’ll be THAT guy! You’re like George Washington.”
Dan smiled, his spirit earnestly shined through and he humbly said, “When I was hired here, I never mentioned to anyone that I had won this award, because I truly believe that no one should ride on their laurels. Who you were, don’t cut it. It’s what you do NOW that matters. You are alive as what you communicate, what you present, and ultimately what you bring to the table.”
