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Working while others revel Restaurants book hundreds for annual holiday meal By Shari Downhill Christmas revelers who plan to slice into ham and turkey dinners in a Rogue Valley restaurant this year have countless chefs, prep cooks, servers, dishwashers and housekeeping staff to thank. Callahan�s Lodge, nestled in the pines at the base of Mount Ashland, has Christmas dinner reservations for about 500. "It�s pretty phenomenal to watch it all go down," said executive chef "Capt." Jack Shaw. In the kitchen, his staff flies in constant motion. Everywhere there is something being boiled, roasted, sizzled, stuffed, sliced, or chopped. Shaw pokes at the breast of a cooling turkey just out of the smoker, the aroma tangible. "It�s not quite done yet," he said. "But almost." Shaw points to thawing salmon, buckets of just finished meat sauce, stacks of pumpkin pies, potatoes, and stuffing. "It�s a big job," he said about feeding 500 within a four-hour span. "I�ve worked Christmas all my life," he said. "Out of 33 years as a chef, I�ve probably worked Christmas 30 of those... and Thanksgiving, and Mother�s Day and Father�s Day and Easter. "It�s a love/hate thing. I�m just thankful to God I have an understanding wife. I probably wouldn�t know how to act if I got a holiday off," he laughed. Shaw�s day starts at about 6 a.m. and ends at about 10 p.m. And it�s not just one day. The holiday "season" begins on Thanksgiving and runs nonstop through Christmas, with 200-meal nights not uncommon. "I�ll go home after everybody else has left and gone to bed," Shaw said of his Christmas shift. "And there�ll be a little piece of ham for me on the table. That�s the way it always is." Restaurant manager Dawn Sutherlin is more fortunate. She�ll spend the morning with her 6-year-old daughter before coming to work, but will stay late to wrap things up. Owners Donna & Ron Bergquist bought the Lodge in 1996, expanding the dining room and adding guest rooms upstairs. Thirty-one employee Christmas stockings line the stairwell leading to the lodge�s guest rooms. One for Jesus is at the top. In the kitchen, he steadily chops spinach for the Chicken Tuscany. Donna Bergquist points to the lodge�s reservation book, which looks much like a football play diagram multiplied. "We choreograph things pretty well," Bergquist said. It�s a necessity for Christmas dinner survival. In the bar, 18-year veteran Wally Crum looks over his glasses to make sure he understands a server�s order. "This is old hat," Crum said of working holidays. "It�s just another day. It doesn�t matter to me." But it does. With both hands he flips ice out of used glasses. Leaning close and speaking low, he said he�d spend the holiday in Boston with his family, if he could. But he can�t. "I guess it is kind of heart-breaking," he said. "But, I celebrate with the people I�m working with. They�re my family." Red Lion Inn employees feel the same way. Huddled together, they say working with the same crew every year is comforting, the camaraderie feels like family. Expecting about the same number of guests as Callahan�s, Medford Red Lion Inn executive chef Pat Hamilton will be working with his staff while his four children go to church and spend the day at home without him. "That�s the profession I�m in," he said. Red Lion Inn will serve Christmas dinner buffet style. The up side... "It�s busy, so the wait staff always makes a lot of money," Hamilton said. Gratuities trickle down through the staff. "We have a good team," said Red Lion Inn manager Susan Tooley. "We�re used to doing it and we have a good time working and being with each other. We make the best of it." J.J. North�s Grand Buffet in Medford expects about 1,500 people to show up for Christmas brunch and a dinner buffet, said general manager James Reed. About 44 employees will serve brunch from 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m., and dinner from noon to 7 p.m. Reach reporter Shari Downhill at 776-4463, or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.