‘Mr Hospo' changes course

Otago Daily Times

04-07-2025

Away from the CBD, Evan Thomas is upskilling himself in the culinary world. PHOTO: PHILIP CHANDLER
Till a few years ago, if you ventured into Queenstown's CBD after dark you'd likely find Evan Thomas somewhere on the door.
And if you popped into Joe's Garage next morning, he'd be kitchen-handing there, too.
For the past three years, however, he's been less visible — having settled down in the 'burbs with a woman who calls herself 'The Witch', and having scored a kitchen job at The Rees where he's learning to become a chef.
Evan's been in hospo all his adult life, or even before.
Growing up on Auckland's North Shore, he attended Rosmini College and played 1st XV rugby, but says "I wasn't really into school at all".
On his last day he joined the Queen St riot in 1984, at which muso Dave Dobbyn was charged for inciting violence, but acquitted.
Evan confirms he wasn't arrested — "I haven't been arrested for a quite a while, not this millennium, anyway".
Having first acted as a doorman at only 14 at an under-age rave called Chuckles, he resumed that role after school.
He had a stint as a cellarman at a North Shore bar — "I wasn't supposed to be serving behind the bar, but I was."
In 1990, he left for Dunedin to open Cactus Jack with mate David Woodley — "50 cent tequila shots on Wednesday and Thursday, that was fun".
He started but didn't complete a craft design diploma at Otago Polytech, paying off his student loan about 15 years later.
Kiwi singer/songwriter Hollie Smith dropping in on Evan Thomas at the former Joe's Garage in Searle Lane in 2016 PICTURE: JODI WALTERS
In '96, Evan moved to Queenstown, collecting the dole as "a government-sponsored snowboarder — they won't let you do that any more".
His first job was kitchen-handing at the former Moa restaurant in The Mall before stints with his "inspirational" bosses, Lucy and James 'Chief' Whelan at Lone Star and Cath and the late Matt Hanna at Joe's Garage.
He was also the sober fly on the wall at the entrance to just about every late-night joint in town, including Tardis, Surreal, Subculture and Red Rock, and was also employed as a bouncer during local music fests, befriending many visiting musos along the way.
Evan admits he got fired from some jobs but would invariably be rehired.
He's a bit reluctant to elaborate but, as a clue, says "I don't have a filter, the first thing that comes into my mind is usually what I say".
His tactics as a bouncer were, "if you're nice to me, I'll be nice to you".
So did he throw a lot of people out?
"I never threw people out, I asked them to leave quietly.
"You can see trouble 10 minutes before it happens."
Still, he did get bashed a couple of times and had to get a new set of teeth.
"Which is also very good if someone tries to get tough — you go, 'just a minute', take your teeth out and nine times out of 10 that's enough to disarm anybody."
Evan says Queenstown nightlife "doesn't have anywhere near the soul it used to have, it's very generic at the moment".
"Every town needs a dive bar — there were a whole lot of them that used to be institutions."
He's also had a couple of non-hospo gigs — as a longtime taxi dispatcher and a few years rigging and dogging cranes for The Rees Hotel build in the mid-2000s, having initially been a hammerhand.
In a full-circle moment, when Joe's Garage's Searle Lane premises shut, The Rees' Mark Rose "made me an offer I couldn't refuse".
For the first two years he was a kitchen porter, cleaning up after the chefs "and everybody that eats in the restaurant".
Then, a year ago, "I thought I'd make the mess", and he's already studying for his certificate in cookery, Level 3, which isn't bad for someone about to turn 56.
"Well, the day you stop learning is the day you die — keep it fresh, give myself a new challenge, try and make life a bit more interesting,
"I just like cooking for people, watching them eat food — food brings people together.
"I won't be replaced by AI, and I like playing with knives and fire."
GM Micka McDonald says Evan "brings a different flavour to the kitchen".
"We've got an open-plan kitchen and you can hear him, he's jovial, the guests love it, and the staff do, as well, and he's just an absolute Trojan."
As for other pursuits, he's done Bikram yoga for 18 years — "that's how I met the Mrs., and I need one good habit to make up for all the bad ones".
Asked about those, he says "I still love my tequila, though I won't drink a whole bottle in one go any more — I'll sip it".