Pate and a Job



For many years Bernard Ros, owner/executive chef of Meli Melo Restaurant on Madison at 30th Street, has been giving job leads to everyone in the restaurant community.

Ros, who learned to cook in his family's Parisian restaurant, came here over 30 years ago and has become the unofficial mayor of the French community. With all his contacts throughout the United States and the world, he has turned Meli Melo into an informal hiring hall. After 11pm when all other restaurants have closed, restaurateurs, chefs, waiters, busboys, etc. congregate at Meli Melo's bar and network and exchange gossip.

When the economy went bad a few years ago, Ros realized that the people who needed to be at his bar to pick up job leads, were the very ones who
couldn't afford it. So, from 11pm on, all bar drinks were $5 whether you were in the business or an ordinary customer.

During the afternoon Ros sits at a table in the back surveying his happy diners and working the phones when job-seekers come in asking for help. Seldom does anyone leave without a job lead, referral or appointment.
Ros also trains many chefs after he's helped them get a job, teaching them his recipes. The restaurant world is supposed to be cutthroat but Ros continues as "Mayor," caring for his constituents.





Pate and a Job