It’s all for them’

Sunlight burst through the restaurant’s front windows, splashing down on the sand-colored tabletops and dodging through the red and bronze drapes partially covering the dust-speckled glass.

With apron-donned servers speeding around on the aged hardwood floor to wait on the lunch-hour crowd and customers making casual conversation over burgers and pasta, Eleza Faison rushed through the front door of AJ on the Rails.

And she got right to work.

“How’s everyone doing?” the 36-year-old restaurant owner shouted as she drew open the heavy door, set down her bags and made a beeline for a couple sitting near the window.

Faison picked up the couple’s baby girl, Eva, holding her with outstretched arms and exclaiming, “Look at you,” in a soft voice as she knelt next to the table. Eva touched Faison’s face with her tiny hands as her parents giggled in delight. 

The upbeat, energetic woman with creamy brown cornrows and an electric smile then went on to ask the couple their plans for the day before darting off to talk shop with a co-worker and ensure all was in order at the restaurant. 

This is Faison’s life. This is her notion of running a restaurant. This is the epitome of what she strives to cultivate at the quaint Portland eatery along the MAX tracks on Southwest Morrison Street and 10th Avenue.

“People can fully expect they’re going to find service from a friend,” Faison said about the restaurant, which opened in July 2008 and is named after her two kids, Alexander James and Ada Janisse.

One of Faison’s core philosophies is to treat customers like friends or family. That is why she prides herself and her “co-workers,” as she likes to refer to her employees, on knowing whom every person that walks in is and what they like to eat.

Faison, who received her bachelor’s degree from Portland State in 1995, surprisingly has no formal business training. However, the entrepreneur exudes great business savvy, as she successfully juggles AJ on the Rails, two coffee shops in North Portland and a roasting business.

But she has also received some assistance from the university housed a short walk away from the restaurant in the South Park Blocks, where she is a thesis paper away from receiving her master’s degree in sociology.

In the past, Faison has been the recipient of guidance from Portland State’s Business Outreach Program, which strives to help small business succeed in Portland. And, once again this year, Faison is working with a group of Portland State students from a Senior Capstone class to ensure AJ on the Rails is running along the right track.

Lara Damon, who has been the program’s director for about a year, said the Business Outreach Program currently assists 65 clients and is mutually beneficial because owners receive assistance and students get to “go out in the community and apply their knowledge before they graduate.”

While the students can help Faison bolster her approach with marketing strategies and market analysis figures, her most effective tool is already firmly in place: her friendly demeanor.

“She is my favorite person on the planet,” said younger brother Desmond Faison with a chuckle. “She gives like nobody’s business. And she is the same person all the time—and that is hard to find.”

Desmond Faison said that his sister is so generous that she has given co-workers school loans and helped them purchase cars even if she barely had the means. But, in his mind, genuine is the only word to sum up his older sister. 

As genuine as they come, Faison’s uniqueness as an owner stems from her tremendous commitment to the people she serves rather than the money she might earn. With that said, it is clear that a sense of community is what Faison strives for and it is something that she has achieved.

Dave Kilfoil and Chellsee Gould are indicative of how customers respond to Faison’s constant hospitality. The two work at a custom golf equipment manufacturer near PGE Park and typically stop by AJ on the Rails a couple times a week.

“The staff is really friendly, it’s a nice, laid-back atmosphere and the food is delicious,” Kilfoil said between bites of a burger.

But the two were just as impressed with the owner.

“She is always very personable and she always greets you,” Gould said, just before Kilfoil added that Faison never forgets to ask how things are going in their lives.

Above all else, Faison wants her customers to leave with a warm feeling that is cooked up from both the food and experience.

The restaurant features a small dining area that looks out to Morrison Street and an open kitchen downstairs, while the loft-like upstairs is home to a bar, a handful of tables and a couple comfy oversized chairs.

Faison is in the process of setting up karaoke nights and has also explored the idea of routinely hosting live music. From the food to the entertainment, Faison diversifies the experience to ensure that AJ on the Rails appeals to everyone.

“We try to make sure it’s a menu everyone can find something on,” Faison said. “It’s not about us, it’s about you.”

Faison has even transformed her restaurant and coffee shops into a classroom for disadvantaged and at-risk youth. As part of a workforce-training program, Faison has trained and then placed 52 students in jobs since she began participating in 2004.

“These kids have so many strikes against them that general society probably wouldn’t give them a chance,” Faison said. “Growing up in that same neighborhood, I know what it was like to make a couple mistakes and not know if it’s going to be irreparable…and I was lucky enough that somebody extended their hand to me as a kid and pulled me out of the trenches.”

But Faison understands that life is not only about teaching.

“Life is just too marvelous to stop learning,” Faison said. “You miss out on so much and so many opportunities if you don’t open yourself up to learning everyday… otherwise there is really no purpose being here.”