IF YOU OPERATED an elite, well-respected restaurant, you would probably want someone to greet people and welcome them as they enter. This would be someone with an outgoing, cheerful personality, who would say something like, "Greetings, greetings! Welcome to La Caille! How are you doing? I hope everything is downhill and shady!"
Once the introductions were made, the guest in search of fine cuisine would discover that the greeter was the avuncular Nelson Styles, a veritable Utah institution, a legend in his own time. The 75-year-old Styles has been officially interacting with guests at La Caille at Quail Run since 1991.It's a part-time assignment, because he's already had a distinguished career in the hospitality business and wants to take it easier these days. He comes into the restaurant on weekends, arriving at 5 or 6 p.m., dressed immaculately in the finest of tuxedos.
He has three of them, all supplied by the restaurant. He also has "shirts, studs, a beautiful trench coat, socks and the best of food. They take care of me," he says with a grin.
When guests start to arrive, Styles stands by the fireplace and extends a warm handshake, asks for their names and engages in some gentle repartee. Then he introduces the guests to the hostess who shows them to their table.
This is not the first time Styles has played his magic with people. He has done so ever since he first came to Utah from Atlanta in 1943. He was in the Army then and had been sent to Camp Kearns, where he worked as a medical technician. He never planned on making Salt Lake City his home, but you know how things go.
After he was hired as a dishwasher at the Hotel Utah in downtown Salt Lake City, one thing led to another. He spent a lot of time polishing silverware. Then he graduated to the hotel's "glass division," where he scoured wooden butcher tables with cleanser and hauled food from the kitchen downstairs to the restaurant up-stairs.
He was called a "food runner."
Finally, he was promoted to the bakery and ice cream room in the basement. As an ice cream aficionado, he created such delicacies as a beehive-shaped Baked Alaska with all-natural ingredients. He used strawberries, raspberries and peaches in season, and the result was delicious. Kids often dropped in to watch him make ice cream and sherbet, hoping for a free handout.
After 12 years in ice cream, he worked himself out of a job. The price of ingredients had gone up, and the hotel decided it had become too expensive to continue to make ice cream.
That led to the key moment in Styles' career - his move to "the Roof," equally well known as the Starlite Gardens. In 1959, Starlite Gardens became the "Sky Room," and the surroundings reflected the change, with a skylight, chandeliers, domed top and a ceiling of clouds.
Those in hotel management thought Styles had a great personality, so they made him assistant to the maitre d', Clint Jackson. When Jackson retired, Styles became the maitre d' - the one who would meet people and keep everything organized on the Roof.
Hank Aloia, the hotel manager, said, "If you don't like it, you can come back down, but I know you'll like it, because you'll make so much more money. Down here, you just get a salary, but on the Roof you get gratuities."
Local newspapers ran a regular ad about the Sky Room. It said, "When dining in San Francisco or New York, one distinctive characteristic separates exclusive restaurants from all others . . . professional service. Courteous . . . debonaire . . . exact. In every way first class. `Service with a Sir!' The Hotel Utah Sky Room has followed this fine tradition. Nelson Styles, the Hotel Maitre D', greets you warmly and sees that your table and service meet with your satisfaction. . . . When you want your needs anticipated, when you want personal attention, superb cuisine and a panoramic view of Salt Lake and Temple Square, come to the Hotel Utah Sky Room."
Naturally gregarious, Styles was an immediate success. He was in his element with people, making such a warm impression that many wanted to come back to the Sky Room not just because of the food but because of him. The "hidden talent" from the basement had risen to the top, both of the hotel and of his profession - and he was destined to stay there.
In spite of responsibilities over all banquets, waiters and busboys, Styles says he never considered the job stressful. He handled each problem with characteristic unflappability, including the delicate art of seating people at proper tables and keeping them happy.He recalls as his biggest challenge the high dress standard subscribed to by the hotel. "We kept coats and ties there for those who came in without a coat and tie. One night, during hippie times, I had 12 people from New York City come in. Although they were staying in one of the finest suites in the hotel, they were wearing raggedy cut-off jeans and sweat shirts. I put them at a big table just as you came in at the Roof. But some people in tuxedos and evening gowns saw this group and they said, "What . . . are you doing, Nelson, seating those people? We spend all this money to come here and these people dress this way?"
So Styles quietly reseated them in a less visible part of the room, and the brouhaha blew over. He is glad dress standards have relaxed for his most recent stint at La Caille.
Over the years, Styles became well-acquainted with a number of visiting celebrities, and he remembers the baseball players and the movie stars the best - especially Peter Graves and Bill Cosby.
When the restaurant was remodeled again in the late '70s and became known as "The Roof," Styles was asked to be the official greeter. In later years, when the Westin Hotel chain leased the hotel, the managers retained Styles because "Everyone knows him and likes him. It will help business to have him here."
When the hotel closed and the building was transformed into the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, Styles' career came to a close after 42 years. He thought it was a good opportunity to do something about his ailing back.
"I had three operations for twisted vertebrae that shut off the nerves that go to my legs. That's the reason I couldn't stand up. I would be standing and my nerves would go out and I'd have to hold onto something."
By the time he had recovered, he was excited to accept La Caille's offer to become its greeter. Although he still goes twice a week for physical therapy to calm his nerves and alleviate his arthritis, he has worked at La Caille every weekend since 1991. He loves the people there and says they tell him that even if he has to go to a wheelchair someday, they will still want him as greeter.
The most interesting thing about his shift from the hotel to La Caille is that Styles already knew a great many of the customers, because they had come regularly to the Sky Room. Now when he spends weekends at the restaurant, he is emotionally and physically invigorated.
"It's just a joy for me to meet people and be with them. I like to be able to get away and go to La Caille, where people are so nice, enjoying themselves and having a great time."
Styles also has a rich baritone voice that he has used for years to enliven the dining experience. He used to sing happy birthday to diners five or six times a night. He still performs solos with the choir of the Calvary Baptist Church, and he has also sung at hospitals, the University of Utah, local high schools and at several LDS wards.
While he was still in the service, Styles got married. His wife, Nellie, also from Atlanta, found a job working for ZCMI. Then for 25 years she enjoyed a productive career as an airplane mechanic. They have two sons, the oldest now attending the U. Law School and the youngest a computer programmer.
Styles still gets tears in his eyes when he remembers that the chefs at the Hotel Utah were unusually charitable whenever his wife was hospitalized. "They told me, `You won't have to buy a thing - everything she needs she's going to get right from this kitchen.' "
And they kept their word.
Today, Styles retains the cheerful demeanor for which he is famous. That's because he has been fortunate enough to genuinely love his work his whole life. "If you love what you do," he says, "you can't help but do well."
And if you love the people in your life, they will love you back - the way so many people still love Nelson Styles.