The August issue of L.A. Magazine features an interview with an “L.A. Archetype: The Life of an Actor-Waiter”—and Minnesotan—Noah Longo.

A good-looking kid from Blaine, Longo’s pictured in his waiting getup with a friendly smile and resembling a younger Paul Rudd/Adrian Brody hybrid. There’s not any new ground tread on this L.A. archetype, but Longo does dish some of his secrets, like “Googling every name on the reservation list. If a casting director is in my section, I’ll be friendly to them on the chance that they may one day ask, ‘Do I know you?’ ”

I haven’t heard of this technique, and I can’t imagine a casting director would find it a good thing that you once served him/her an overpriced steak (Longo works at the Sunset strip steakhouse, BLT, from New York’s Laurent Tourondel—a solid steak house with big star prices).

Longo went to Concordia College and got some NYC off-off Broadway under his apron, before arriving in L.A. in 2007. His biggest role to date is as a waiter on Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant reality show Hell’s Kitchen. He played it for four seasons.

On another note… My absence from L.A. Log over the past month is because of an unfortunate curve ball hurled at my family in late June. My Dad, fit as a fiddle, was diagnosed with acute leukemia, leaving me to abandon my western post to make frequent trips back to the 'Sota. I’m not quite sure what it all means for this blog, but I hope to integrate some of my experiences as I try to bridge two cities while keeping an eye on Dad (he’s hanging tough right now). I already have a budding relationship with the Sun Country counter girl at LAX’s Terminal 2. Sun Country employees at LAX are so much nicer than Sun Country employees at HHH and aren’t so crabby about the size of your carry-on.