Nights at Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous start slow during the winter months. The loudest noises in the restaurant are clinking beer and soda glasses as busboys take their time stocking them behind the bar. Back in the main kitchen, chefs in white jackets stand in front of the charcoal-fired pits moving thawed ribs from the smoky topmost rack to the bottom rack closer to the coals.
Laughter erupts from a back room.
Percy, who has worked at the Rendezvous for 28 years, stands, napkin in hand, telling a joke about a truck driver on his way to Nashville. Over at another table, Big Robert quietly chuckles as he folds white cloth napkins. From a chair near the back stairs, Tim Norris, at 30 the youngest waiter at the Rendezvous, listens in on the gathering of old waiters. Tim's been here. But slowly the Rendezvous has become like family.