Nick Subedi
Tarpy’s Roadhouse 2999 Highway 68, Monterey 647-1444, tarpys.com
The vast majority of food servers are usually on their way to somewhere else, like law school or a career in the theater. But every once in a while there comes one for whom great service is its own goal, and its own reward, and Niranjan (“Nick”) Subedi, a native of Nepal, embodies that philosophy to a tee, a rack of ribs or an American Kobe burger. Tarpy’s has been a Monterey institution for decades, and since 2000, Subedi has become an institution within that institution. An old saying in Nepal translates to “guests equal God,” a phrase Subedi seeks to live by, both at work and in life. His ear-to-ear grin and the plethora of return customers asking to be seated in his section testify as to why he won here.