Walk into Montgoris Dining Hall on the campus of St. John’s any weekday and you are almost guaranteed to find a long line of hungry students waiting to fuel their brains and fill their stomachs with one of the dining hall’s famed omelets.

These students do not only come to the dining hall for the delicious omelets; they also come for the friendly and modest chef that makes them, Angela Kalloudis.

“Omelets are the best thing that they have here, period,” sophomore Anthony Schneider said. “Angela is a wonderful woman.”

Angela, as she is known universally on campus, began working at St. John’s University 14 years ago and continues to be the most talked about and adored chef on campus. She serves her seemingly perfect omelets along with a welcoming smile and gracious hello, to hundreds of students each week.

“She makes the best omelets I have ever had,” sophomore Gabriella Guzman said. “I get an omelet two or three times a week. I love her.”

There is no doubt that there is something special about Angela. Students and faculty members adore her and
the superb omelets she makes. She attributes this to the fact that she cooks with love.

“I love you guys. I cook with my heart,” she said in an interview with the Torch. “I cook all my love into the omelets.”

Angela cooks up to five omelets at a time with every ingredient from green peppers to spinach. Although omelets are her forte, she is willing to accommodate students by making any style of egg they request, such as “sunny side up” or scrambled.

“She genuinely cares about the people she serves,” senior Billy Morris said. “She actually cares and makes a great omelet.”

Angela hasn’t always made the omelets at St. John’s. Her concoctions used to be a much more foreign affair. “I used to cook Chinese before, stir fry,” she said. “After they did not have that station anymore they asked me to do the omelets.” During the summer when the omelet station is closed Angela makes sandwiches at the deli station.

“Every time I come, I get an omelet from Angela,” junior Wilfred Curioso said. “They are very good.” Most students know Angela as the friendly omelet chef, but there is a lot more to her than just that.

Angela said she grew up in Corinth, Greece, a city about 50 miles away from Athens. While still in Greece, at the young age of 10, she found a passion for cooking.

“I really love to cook,” she said. “My mom is a good cook too.”

In 1970, Angela said her entire family left Greece and moved to Queens. She lived in Astoria for a while, before settling into Douglaston.

“I make dinner every night for my family,” she said. “Plus, I have my mom home and she helps me a lot.”

Inspired by her mother, Angela continues to not only cook for a living, but for her own family as well. She is known for hosting holidays at her house where she cooks for crowds, sometimes, as large as 30 people. She never turns anyone away and shows her love by filling the stomachs of those around
her.

“I have a lot of friends,” she said. “They love me and I love everybody.”

Angela enjoys interacting with the students that come to her omelet station each day. She especially enjoys when they try to speak in her native language, Greek. “Sometimes they try to learn to say ‘Hi, Angela,’ in Greek or ‘Goodbye,’ she said. “Or ‘have a nice weekend,’ but that is long!”

Her constant laughter and friendly attitude makes Angela one of the most approachable people on campus. Despite having three grown kids of her own, she considers all of the St. John’s students her children.

“I have three kids of my own, “ she said. “But all of you are like my kids.”

Many St. John’s residents who live far from home find comfort in Angela representing the matriarch of Montgoris Dining Hall. There is no doubt that she has created a home away from home at her omelet station and St. John’s students will never go hungry as long as she is cooking there.