Carson Tahoe Health cook Scott McNamara prepares an order in the kitchen of The Sage Cafe on the first floor of the hospital. He was asked to remove his mask temporarily to show his dimples.
Ronni Hannaman
The very heart and soul of any restaurant is the cooking staff whether at a favorite local diner or the fanciest of restaurants.
Too often, these wizards of the kitchen remain anonymous as they work diligently behind the scenes perfecting their talent and preparing food to order that will garner rave reviews. The front line personnel – the servers – set the tone of any good restaurant, but it’s incumbent upon the cook or chef to create and prepare meals that keep diners coming in for more again and again.
Meet Scott McNamara, a cook who knows his way around any kitchen having started as a busboy at a Gardnerville casino when in high school before moving on to learn the fine art of dishwashing at David Walley’s in Genoa, a task he did for three years before being tapped to train as a prep cook and then a cook. He’s even done his time as a server to get a better sense of customer expectations.
His training has led him to what he considers his greatest job. For the past six years, McNamara has been seen cooking up specialties for those who are looking for an affordable, well-prepared, and wholesome meal at The Sage Café.
Unless you are affiliated with Carson Tahoe Hospital as one of the employees needing a food fix or have wandered down to the café after visiting a patient, you might not even have heard of The Sage Café or have seen McNamara show off his stir fry skills, for which he has garnered quite the reputation according to Erin Hanna-Butros Meyering, marketing and communication director for the medical complex. Note: his stir-fry talents are temporarily on hold pending the hiring of additional cooks.
Though I had not met him prior to this interview, he came highly recommended as one who personifies the caring staff employed at the medical center that make us all CarsonProud. His champion is CTH President and CEO Alan Garrett, who should know hospital fare since he’s been associated with hospital management for over 30 years and no doubt has eaten his fair share of hospital food.
Although it’s hard to see his dimpled smile behind his mandated mask, you can get a sense of McNamara’s personality as he goes about joyously preparing a meal while kibbitzing and joking with a guest. During the height of COVID he says, “I was so proud of our kitchen staff who kept up the spirits of our dedicated employees through our food offerings.” During the shutdown he missed the general public and the regulars who are always welcome to enjoy the café between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily.
He especially loves cooking for the first-time fathers who appear dazed, hungry, tired, and overjoyed from a long night of waiting for their baby to be born.
“Although I don’t yet have children of my own, I love watching the new fathers who don’t know what to order, so I prepare them our famous Breakfast Burrito.”
McNamara laments, “Hospital food gets a bad rap, but at the cafe we create fun food like our popular Turkey Melt, and I’d compare our food to any restaurant in terms of quality and taste.”
In six years he has never tired of eating or cooking the food and loves his job stating, “Ours is not just another kitchen and this job is not just another cooking job. I so enjoy the crew and benefits of working at the café where we all pitch in to assure our diners keep coming back.”
McNamara is a local boy born in Lake Tahoe, raised in Gardnerville, works in Carson City and since 2019 a first-time home buyer in Dayton he shares with his wife and dogs. On his off time, he loves to bake his own version of Mrs. Field’s Hershey marble cookies.
As quoted by famous chef and restaurateur Thomas Keller, “A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.”
Scott McNamara brings soul to whatever he does, and we are proud to introduce yet another great Face of Carson.
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