Five years ago, when Chris Youngers and Tai Nguyen bought Papagallo, the midtown restaurant that would become Café Trio, they inherited a tiny kitchen, a menu of Middle Eastern dishes and Richard Strong — the only waiter still working in the place. Strong became such an identifiable fixture at Café Trio that one of the first questions many customers asked before Youngers and Nguyen moved their bistro to the Plaza this year was "Is Richard coming, too?" Of course he was. "Richard is the only server on our staff who gets two or three request tables every night," Nguyen says. "He treats all of his customers as if they're old friends he hasn't seen in years." Not everyone responds to Strong's resolutely cheery personality, but his fans adore him. "Richard always remembers my name, my favorite table and my favorite cocktail," says one patron who won't be served by anyone but Strong. "When is the last time you've found a waiter like that in this decade?"
