What do you do at the Roadhouse?

I started as a busser, and now I am a food runner and help expedite the food from the kitchen. I have also worked catering events at Cornman Farms. During the COVID-19 closure, I help answer phones, take orders, and I assist the Roadshow. I also put together service tips for our team every week, which are friendly reminders of things we can focus on to improve our service.

What is your favorite thing on the Roadhouse menu?

Our ramp burger, which is a special that comes out in the spring during ramp season. The pickled ramps we make in house offer the best onion flavor you could ever have in a burger. I would eat it every day if I could.

What is your favorite Roadshow beverage?

The dirty chai, which is chai tea with a shot of Zingerman’s Coffee espresso. It is best to enjoy it fresh, before the espresso changes. You really get the balance of earthy notes with the spices.

What is your favorite food from another Zingerman’s business?

The Paw Paw sorbetto from Zingerman’s Creamery, it has an awesome tropical flavor. I also love the The cherry chocolate sourdough from Zingerman’s Bakery. It is so good toasted with peanut butter on it. I also want to try it with a Mirabelle plum jam that my friends in California make.

If you had to choose, fried chicken or BBQ?

How about our fried ribs? The best of both worlds!

Do you have any nicknames?

Rudy in the Roadshow started calling me Leo (DiCaprio) after I got my hair cut. Another friend, Joey, likes to call me the Carlizer.

Favorite music?

I like anime intros from the 90s, like Tank from Cowboy Bebop. and A Cruel Angel’s Thesis from Neon Genesis Evangelion. It’s all just really good, catchy, and sticks with me.

Tell us something we might not know about you.

I learned leather tooling with my buddy Curtis, like braided bracelets. I also trained in sword fighting, which I definitely feel in my knees these days!

Where did you grow up?

Mostly in Sunnyvale, a suburb of San Jose. I came out here to be with family. This job and my friends here keep me around. I still have friends in California I talk to every day. They are my second family.

What are some of your favorite things?

I love video games, good books, and role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons and Exalted ( a medieval fantasy game addressing real world problems).

What do you like about working at the Roadhouse?

We are building a better business by communicating our issues. We don’t just roll out new rules, we have a conversation with everyone about it. People give their point of view and are able to reach an understanding and place of acceptance. I also love the ability to move up and grow, as a worker and as a person. If it wasn’t for the Roadhouse ideals, I wouldn’t be here. You have me until I am unable to make myself better than I was the day before.

Who are your dream dinner guests?

Anthony Bourdain.  He was good dude. Gordon Ramsey. Oh, and the psychologist Karl Jung. He focused a lot on the true self.