TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Penelope Kehagias hadn't been this rattled at work since the first time, many years ago, that she had to open a wine bottle by herself. But here she was, at Uricchio's Trattoria on a recent Tuesday night, and the usual Penelope magic just wasn't flowing.

"On table 11, these ladies ordered coffee and I was so nervous I forgot to put the pot under the coffee maker. And there's coffee everywhere. That makes me a great server, right?"

But servers, even great ones, are human, and on this particular night Kehagias was a little unnerved by the newspaper photographer trailing behind her to get pictures for The Californian's series on the best servers in town. And the rare coffee mishap aside, Kehagias is among the best, according to customers.

"I came in once the day after my birthday and told (Kehagias) how disappointed I was that the waitress at another restaurant wouldn't sing, 'Happy Birthday,'" writes Stacy Davis, in her nomination.

"She informed me that Uricchio's had the same no-singing policy; however, when she brought over my dessert, it had a little candle on it and she sang very quietly. That was a few years ago and that wonderful memory still makes me smile when I think of how sweet she was."

So many regulars request to sit in Kehagias' section that owner Claire Porter has been forced to turn people away at times. But Kehagias remains humble about her popularity.

"I think that a big part of it is that you love when people are happy, just when the customers are so excited to see you," said Kehagias, who also goes by the nickname Peggy. "They're excited to be there and enjoy being at Uricchio's because it's fine dining, but it's a fun place to be as well."

Kehagias made the leap to fine dining eight years ago while waiting tables at 24th Street Cafe, where she met her future husband, Alvaro Vallecillo, head cook at the downtown breakfast/lunch spot. She was working at both restaurants for a while, but when she was pregnant with her first child -- daughter Ghislaine -- her doctor pointedly informed her that being on her feet 14 hours a day wasn't a great idea.

"I left 24th Street because I knew it would be easier with child care. So I would work at night at Uricchio's and he would work in the morning and that would be perfect. We don't see each other very much, but it works out great," said Kehagias, 39.

The names of the couple's two children (son Dimitrios was born 17 months ago) reflect Kehagias' heritage: her father is Greek and her mother, Belgian. The two immigrants met in San Francisco while working at a Levi Strauss factory and moved their family to Bakersfield when Kehagias was in high school.

"I was raised by my grandma nine months of the year until her visa would expire, so she instilled in me how to make Greek food, which I love to do."

But with her parents living in Las Vegas and her husband's family in Mexico, Kehagias said she's been forced to make an extended family of her own. One father figure comes up again and again during a conversation with the waitress.

"Papa Nick. I do owe a lot to him for giving me a job," said Kehaigas, referring to the restaurateur who opened Uricchio's in 1995 and is father of the current owner.

"I had never done fine dining before, and he gave me a chance. He believed that everyone deserves a chance. He's the most classy, amazing man I've worked for in my life and he's so missed at Uricchio's," said Kehagias, as she broke down in tears.

It's been years since Uricchio's last visit to the restaurant he loved, Parkinson's disease having robbed him of his mobility. But he's still a familiar face, even to newcomers -- dozens of snapshots of him and celebrities he's met through the years blanket the walls, and Kehagias said she gets questions all the time about the guy in the pictures.

"I explain to them he ran the Friars Club (in Los Angeles) and the Beverly Hills Hilton and was loved by so many."

Uricchio also proved to be a great teacher in the ways of fine dining. Beyond teaching Kehagias about opening and serving wine, he taught her a key rule she never observed at the fast-paced 24th Street Cafe.

"You don't remove anything -- soup or salad bowls -- until everyone at the table is done. If you start pulling plates while other people are still eating, they feel rushed."

But one thing Kehagias was sure to bring over from the cafe was her personality. Being a fine-dining server doesn't have to mean tiptoeing around and being obsequious.

"My employers, especially Claire, they know I like to joke with my customers. They have never said to tone down our personalities. They actually love that we're great with customers."

Still, not all customers are willing to join the party. The trick is to keep your cool and play along, no matter how silly the demand, Kehagias said.

"Some woman just yelled at me and said, 'This is not what I ordered. I ordered the veal picatta.' And I said, 'This is the veal picatta,' and she said to take it back.

"So when I took it back to the chef -- they're all amazing, by the way -- the head chef, Raphael, said, 'This is the veal picatta.' So I just took out another one, the same thing, and she was happy with it. Sometimes that's all people need to see is that you make an effort to make them happy, and then they're happy."

Knowing all the work that goes into serving makes Kehagias a model customer -- even when the service is spotty -- on the rare occasions she eats anywhere besides Uricchio's.

"I'm still a good tipper, even if the server isn't very good because you don't know what that server is going through that day. I've gone to work when my son was taken by ambulance. He had a seizure that day. I was nice but I wasn't myself, because I had other things on my mind."

But when she's having an off day, Kehagias doesn't have to go far for support. It was, after all, another server who cleaned the mess during the great coffee flood while Kehagias was out front getting her picture taken.

And all those years ago, a look of fear in her eye at the thought of opening a bottle of wine summoned a kind veteran server to her side, corkscrew in hand.

"Truthfully, we're all great at Uricchio's. Every single server I work with is amazing. We're like brothers and sisters. We fight like brothers and sisters and take care of each other like brothers and sisters and love each other like brothers and sisters."