By Ginger Dawson
NKyTribune reporter
Amy Strother Hamant is a true Northern Kentuckian by origin and life beginnings. She grew up in Edgewood with her salesman dad, mom, and three older sisters. She went to school and graduated from Villa Madonna Academy located in Villa Hills, nearby. It was a typical suburban life.
Scott and Amy Hamant with Al, their good mutt. (Al is short for Almuerzo, Spanish for “lunch”). They are in the back yard with an art project. (Photo by Ginger Dawson)
But Amy was not a typical suburban kid. She was happy, but she had a spark for a different kind of life. She was a natural bohemian; creative and artistic.
Like many of us at the time (the late seventies/early eighties), the road less traveled was not obvious. In fact—where was it? We hadn’t had the advantage, or misfortune, of having reams of information shoved down our throats about, well, EVERYTHING.
Amy, who loved her art classes in school, thought that this might be the direction that she wanted to go in. So, after high school, she enrolled in the University of Kentucky in Lexington, to study art. This looked like it would lead to the type of life that she wanted.
But, she also discovered something else about herself. She had, not only a very creative streak but also a very practical streak. She couldn’t figure out how she was going to make a living in this chosen line of work.
Scott and Amy right after they met. Notice they are at a Fourth Annual Reader’s Choice Restaurant Awards event. (Photo provided)
So, after a year at UK, she decided to be more practical. She came back up North and enrolled in Northern Kentucky University where she studied for, and obtained, a degree in Social Work.
She found this line of work satisfying, but sometimes a little scary depending on the day. And, the old problem of money (not enough!) reared its ugly head. Social work has never had a reputation for leading to early retirement.
And then, there was the issue of still living at home. She couldn’t afford to move out. It was either go back to school for her master’s degree or……What?
This dilemma lead her to consider a different solution. How could she make more money, and possibly enjoy it? Like many of us square pegs trying to find a good fit, she landed in the restaurant business.
Amy started waiting tables in 1983 at R. Tapley’s in Cincinnati. This was a revelation. She was able to keep her day job AND make money in a place that put her in the company of kindred spirits. She discovered, what was to her, a more interesting path that included the possibility of paying the bills.
Coco’s Restaurant when it was still in business. (Photo from Facebook)
Anyone who has ever been in the restaurant business — front of the house, back of the house, chef, dishwasher, busboy, bartender or server — is connected immediately to a tribe that they will be a part of for the rest of their lives, whether they are currently engaged or not. Restaurant people are like a band of gypsies. There is an unspoken code of honor and attitude that permeates the ranks.
People from all backgrounds, ages, genders, education levels, possible substance abuse problems and criminal records (or not!) bond over the hardship of waiting on the dining public.
If you’ve never waited tables, you have no idea what I’m talking about. If you’re interested and don’t want to find out first hand, it might be instructional to read Anthony Bourdain’s (the late, lamented chef) book, Kitchen Confidential.
Amy had found her tribe, but decided that her career in social work was over — at least in that particular framework.
She delved into restaurant work, and next accepted a job at Coco’s. Coco’s was an institution in Covington during that early, more rugged era of the 1980’s and 1990’s. Part restaurant and bar, part jazz club and definite neighborhood hangout, it provided a perfect stew of humanity. Attorneys, architects, musicians, business people, artists and other ne’er-do-wells hung out there. It was an interesting mix, akin to a family of sorts, and like any family, there was a certain element of disfunction.
Amy back in the day at Coco’s with part of her tribe. (Photo provided)
If you worked there, Coco’s was the kind of place that had you looking forward to your shift and simultaneously dreading certain elements of the management style.
Amy, who has always possessed a strong work ethic, and being somewhat aggravated by a few facets of that managerial style, decided to see what it might be like elsewhere. Taking a 180-degree turn, she went corporate.
Becoming a server at the Palm Court Cafe in the Netherland Hilton Hotel in downtown Cincinnati was a one year experiment in the corporate foodservice industry. Uniforms. Time clocks. No thank you.
Back to Coco’s. Wiser, and resolved and resigned to balance the good and bad, she worked there until 1997.
Now, restaurant work is not the only thing that Amy Strother was occupied with during these years, personally and professionally.
Prince of Peace Montessori (Photo by Ginger Dawson)
One night, the same year she started at Coco’s, she and a friend went to Bogart’s, a long-standing music venue in Cincinnati. They were there to see PiL (Public Image Limited), John Lydon’s post Sex Pistols band. Her friend was there to meet someone. This someone had a friend, Scott. Amy saw Scott Hamant for the first time that night. She felt an immediate connection.
Reciprocating this feeling, the next evening, Scott showed up at Coco’s. They have been together ever since, marrying in 1989. In 1995, they had a son, Noah.
It’s an interesting fact that the restaurant business is a great job for people who have independent streaks, don’t really enjoy being bossed and are sometimes entrepreneurial. In Amy’s experience, this has particularly held true.
Amy was always looking for a new opportunity. In 1991, she and her sister Suzy had the chance to partner in business. They purchased Magic Moments Pre-school, located in Ludlow. She really enjoyed working with kids and being self-employed. And, the hours meshed well with her Coco’s schedule.
The only thing that was a little annoying was the name of the place. MAGIC MOMENTS. But, that’s the name and recognition that they bought, so they made the best of it. When one of their little charges would puke, or need a change of underwear, they would profess that this must be another “Magic Moment”!
The pre-school stayed in business until 1996, when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expanded its Head Start program and came to Ludlow. Effectively put out of business by this development, Magic Moments was magic no more.
A piece of Amy’s found “garbage” art. It is sold! (Photo provided)
At that same time, Amy left Coco’s and got a job at Washington Platform, a restaurant in Cincinnati. Amy worked here for a few years until an opportunity for another teaching position came up. She found that she had really enjoyed teaching at Magic Moments Pre-school and it qualified her to teach at Country Hills Montessori.
This began a 19-year teaching career. After a few years, Country Hills Montessori moved and changed locations, so Amy, with her teaching partner (a feature of the Montessori method) went to Prince of Peace Montessori in Covington.
Since 2013, she has been at Prince of Peace. The Montessori method is based on the idea that the child takes charge of his or her own learning and the teacher is there to guide this process. It is a distinct method and the teachers are highly skilled. Keen observation and intuition make the best teachers for this way of learning.
All of those years in the restaurant business waiting on the dining public and working with a wide variety of co-workers has given Amy a sixth sense. The creativity and autonomy allowed and required for teachers to be successful in their roles turned out to be the perfect fit for her.
Halloween! Never a dull moment with these two! (Photo provided)
She hadn’t left her interest in art behind, either. She teaches art at Prince of Peace during the summer and also runs a one-week art camp at Ryland Country Club in the summer, too.
And for her own art, when she hasn’t been teaching or been in the restaurants; a big favorite pastime over the years has been the creation of what Amy calls “garbage art.” She loves to go junk-picking in Ft. Thomas, where she and Scott live; creating three-dimensional art and sculptures from it. She and Scott, both, constantly make art inside and outside of their house.
And always, there has been the call of the gypsy tribe. Even with teaching full time, she has had summer jobs waiting tables. As recently as 2015, she was working in the RSViP Restaurant & Club at Riverbend Music Center just east of Cincinnati on the Ohio River.
I have no doubt if the right opportunity appeared, or if a restaurant friend needed her, she’d put on an apron in a minute. A good gypsy can never resist a summon from the tribe.
Amy believes in the simple and wise philosophy that “Life is what you make it”. This, coupled with the advice of the quote, “Don’t Panic” from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, has proven to be a good combination of wisdom that many of us could benefit from. Her life is what she wanted it to be. What could be better?
Scott, Amy and Noah. (Photo provided)
Ginger Dawson writes about people — the neighbors you need to know and people you need to meet and understand. If you have ideas for subjects please share them with Ginger at ginger@fuse.net.
