The Carvers

The Lawry’s Carvers ARE THE MOST DISTINCTIVE of Lawry’s The Prime Rib co-workers

Those smiling men in chefs’ hats, whites and red-rib-boned medallions, who appear at your table at the helms of our “silver” carts to carve the pièce de résistance of your meal—our delicious prime rib.

Your carver puts on quite a show, sliding open the cover of his cart and switching on a light to reveal an array of standing rib roasts. He turns, smiles and greets you and then sets to work fulfilling your order as conveyed by your server: carving perfect slabs of glistening roasted beef as rare or well done as you’ve requested, anointing the meat with a rich au jus, and producing, from various mysterious compartments in his cart, mashed potatoes, gravy, and your choice of creamed spinach, creamed corn and/or buttered peas.

When he has served the final person in your party and is sure all is to your liking, he wishes you an enjoyable meal and departs to work his magic at the next table.

On a busy Saturday night in one of our popular restaurants, a carver will work for eight hours and assemble plates of our classic prime rib entrée for almost 200 guests.

A job with exacting requirements

A carver must have an outgoing personality and enjoy talking with guests, answering their questions and doing all he can to make their experiences in our restaurants memorable. He must be detail-oriented, consistent (so our guests receive what they expect, each and every time they visit) and accurate.
Each cut of beef served and each portion of side dishes must conform to rigid weight standards, to avoid under- or over-feeding guests. A carver has to learn to meet those standards by eye and to do it perfectly again and again.

Most of all, he must have a talent for carving, beautifully and precisely (saw marks are a no-no), the very tender, delicate prime rib we serve. And, as you may have noticed, roasts are held vertically in the cart, so the carver must ply his skill at an angle.

Our executive chefs keep a watchful eye out for members of their kitchen crews who seem to have what it takes and invite likely candidates to undergo training. Because our tableside service is unique, it is rare to find a candidate from outside our company who already has the requisite skills.

It can take up to six months to become an accomplished carver. We supply carvers-to-be with training videos and a manual that teaches many of the details, but carving itself can only be learned through a painstaking process of practicing, practicing and practicing.

A trainee “shadows” an experienced carver, accompanying him on his nightly rounds, observing at first and then, when deemed ready (and with much scrutiny and coaching from his mentor), making his first cuts for guests.

Our Silver Carts

While the main part of a carver’s job takes place at tableside, he also has important tasks behind the scenes, including maintaining his cart (every cart is custom-made, and costs as much as a new Cadillac), polishing it, sanitizing it and making sure it is in perfect working order and at the perfect temperature (190 degrees); stocking and restocking its supply of food (three-four standing rib roasts are kept on each cart at all times, and the carver must carefully watch his guests to be sure he has enough rare, medium and well-done beef to meet their demand—an experienced carver can tell, by just a few touches with a serving fork, how done a roast is); and more, all the while observing Lawry’s high standards of sanitation, proper food handling and safety.

The Carver Medallion

Not all candidates make the grade and graduate from carver training. The outstanding co-worker who does is welcomed into the ranks of full-fledged carvers when the restaurant’s general manager and executive chef present him with a Lawry’s Royal Order of Carvers medallion. If you’ve ever noticed how much personal pride our carvers seem to take in wearing their medallions, now you know why.