Meet the Team
Roadie Spotlight
Meet the smiles that light up the Roadhouse!
Our Roadhouse crew is known for their above-and-beyond commitment to service. They’re so focused on making sure you have an excellent Zingerman’s experience that they’ve earned prestigious James Beard award nominations for Outstanding Hospitality two years in a row. If you’ve dined at the Roadhouse, you’ve met some of these sparkling folks. We’d like to give you the pleasure of getting to know the people that make our all-American spot so special.
Felipe Diaz
What do you do at the Roadhouse?
Aside from having fun? I am a server and a bartender, I have most recently become the Roadhouse’s sommelier, and I am a training coordinator for the Roadhouse. I have been with the Roadhouse for just over 11 years, so about 22 equinoxes.
What is your favorite thing on the Roadhouse menu?
That’s a tough question to answer. Right now, I would say our dry-aged New York strip topped with sautéed scallops, with a side of bacon pimento mac and a side of collard greens. When in doubt, go surf and turf!!
What is your favorite Roadhouse beverage?
I go to our classics, so it is the Kentucky Bedwarmer all the way. It is warm and bright. We make ours with bourbon, orange curaçao, and Blenheim’s hot ginger ale. It is comforting, boozy, and spicy. It is the quintessential fall drink in my book.
What is your favorite food from another Zingerman’s business?
Tteokbokki, street style, from Miss Kim in Kerrytown, with the pork belly.
If you had to choose, fried chicken or BBQ?
BBQ, because pork is king. It is more malleable than chicken in my book, you can do such more with it. Also, you have to like an animal who doesn’t have to hide its fat. It is fat and proud.
Do you have any nicknames?
No.
What is your favorite music?
If you look at a playlist of mine, it goes anything from Coltraine to Public Enemy, from Louis Prima to Megadeath. I am all over the place.
Where did you grow up?
Mostly in Michigan. When we first moved to the states, we moved to New Jersey, then to Royal Oak when I was 5.
What do you like best about working at the Roadhouse?
The people (the guests and the ones I work with); the passion around food and beverage that we have; the fact that I can do more than one thing, I am not just a server, or a bartender; and that my opinion counts for something.
Who are your dream dinner guests?
Anthony Bourdain, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Toni Morrison.