After Heartfelt Send-Off, Mike Fondarella Reflects on Five Years at Soka Bistro
On the day before commencement at the end of chef Mike Fondarella’s first year cooking breakfast and lunch at the Soka Bistro’s grill station, a graduate student from Japan handed him a letter.
“She was the first person I would see at breakfast every morning,” Fondarella said. “She would always get two sunny-side up eggs.”
In her letter, the graduate student thanked Fondarella for his warmth and kindness, which had helped her feel a sense of belonging at SUA.
“She told me how much she felt seen when I remembered her name and order,” Fondarella said, noting that he hadn’t realized before then how much these small gestures were helping students feel like an integral part of the SUA community. “It gave me a new perspective on what it’s like for international students, because I’ve lived in California my whole life.”
Fondarella, who is moving to Texas with his wife and children after five years at the Bistro, remembers this exchange as a pivotal moment that enriched his approach to his work and inspired him to be more intentional in his interactions with Bistro patrons. He is known across the campus community for not only remembering the names and orders (for both breakfast and lunch) of every regular visitor to the grill station, but for genuinely caring about everyone he cooks for.
“I try to be as friendly as possible when I’m here,” he said, “and to just be another person for somebody to talk to. Sometimes people come to the grill just to talk and not even to get any food.”
Fondarella’s last day at the Bistro came last month. A large crowd of SUA students, faculty, and staff gathered for a farewell celebration held during Fridays on the Green on November 21. The event featured musical performances and moving speeches from students and staff, who thanked Fondarella for serving the community every day with joy and compassion.
The Soka community will not only miss Fondarella’s kindness and conversation, but his impressive culinary skills. Any visitor to the Bistro during breakfast or lunch could see him expertly juggling multiple orders on the grill, never missing a beat.
“Mike was always happy to experiment and go above and beyond the limitations of the menu on display,” said Samuel Morales, associate director of production and digital media at SUA. “He made any accommodations you’d ask for and made it all delicious. Cooking is his passion, and he loves making people happy with his food.”
Fondarella began cooking with his grandmother when he was around 8 or 9 years old, but he hadn’t always imagined a career in food. A lifelong athlete, he initially wanted to be a football player. However, working in the food industry after high school inspired him to study the culinary arts.
“Going to culinary school made me want to go to class and do everything that I didn’t used to like,” he said. “I made good friends and got to cook for a lot of cool people.”
He fondly remembers cooking once for the Los Angeles Chargers, an experience that brought together his love of food and sports. At SUA, he often connected with students, faculty, and staff over a shared passion for sports. For members of the Soka community, however, Fondarella isn’t only someone they can rely on for a good chat about the New York Giants, but also a friend who embodies the humanistic values at the heart of SUA’s mission.
For his part, Fondarella deeply appreciates Soka’s tight-knit, international student body and the way “all the different cultures here mesh together.” He expressed gratitude for the students, faculty, and staff, who always made him feel like a core part of the community.
“Even when I came here on my off-days with my kids and my wife, everyone made them feel special, too,” he said. He plans to stop by campus to see old friends when he comes back to visit family in Southern California.
“Everybody in the community has made me feel very wanted and has made Soka feel like a second home to me,” he said. “Soka will forever hold a special place in my heart.”