In this business you can’t help but make friends with some of your customers. Many customers see you more during the week than the closest of your immediate family. You tell them your secrets; they tell you theirs. On occasion you slide them a drink on the house and ask them to test the evening special at no charge.



I had an incredible customer recently pass away. Her name is Nevele Lovely. Not only did Nevele grace my restaurant with her presence two or three times a week, she could be found throughout downtown Tacoma illuminating several other restaurants and bars. She loved the restaurant business, and she loved Tacoma.



Perhaps you have seen Nevele out and about? She was hard to miss. Nevele always liked to sit at the bar, in the same seat every time if it was available. She had platinum hair that always had some crazy colored accent. Her smile was bright as the sun. The most beautiful jewels dripped from her fingers and neckline. Oh how she loved those sparkling baubles.



I think those jewels were one of the reasons she had to park directly in front of where she was dining. She was nervous about walking too far alone. Not to mention we would get to see what really cool car she was driving that day. I am also fairly sure Nevele had better things to do than take the time to walk a block or two.



White wine was Nevele’s usual poison of choice, drier the better. She loved her Ahi tuna and beef so rare you could swear it was still moving. The word “no” did not exist in her world, and if you told her “no” we joked that the temperature in the room would drop several degrees.



She was a force to be dealt with. Oh, and don’t get me started on her tipping with those damn $2 dollar bills! Only you, honey, only you.



Nevele once owned a catering company in Tacoma, and most currently co-owned two restaurants, one in Olympia and another in Seattle. She understood the ups and downs of this business. I think that is why she and I bonded, that and our shared penchant for French whites.



Very few really knew Nevele’s age. Even her obituary purposely did not mention it. When someone went behind her back to ask, her friend Ken would say, “She’s older than me and younger than God.” Quite the testament to a woman whose name is eleven spelled backwards because she was born in the eleventh month on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day.



Nevele was a fixture in Tacoma’s restaurant scene and will not soon be forgotten. I understand there will be a party at Silverstone in the near future to celebrate Nevele’s life and accomplishments, so join us if you can and share the memories of a truly accomplished woman.



Just remember great customers and friends like this don’t walk through your door every day. Which makes it much more difficult when they walk out the door and never come back. We’ll miss you, Nevele. Save us a seat at the bar upstairs with a bottle of white Burgundy and a rare slab of Ahi.



Eat out Tacoma. We need your love. Thanks Nevele for doing just that. 

Sandee Glib has worked in the restaurant and hospitality industry for more than 12 years as a server, bartender, cook and owner. Her opinions are expressly her own and she is always right.