Jan. 25, 2005 - Leonel Baizan had been a waiter for five years when he applied for a job at a French restaurant in midtown. But his work experience didn't help much.

"She didn't ask me, 'Can I see your resume?'" recalled the 30-year-old Mexican immigrant, who has lived in the city since age 6. "She said, 'Go to the kitchen.' But I didn't come there to be a delivery boy or a [dish]washer. I came there to be a waiter."

A survey of 530 restaurant workers and 35 of their employers found that owners routinely hire immigrants who belong to minority groups for out-of-sight and low-paying jobs while their white counterparts land the better posts earning lucrative tips.

"Behind the Kitchen Door: Pervasive Inequality in New York City's Thriving Restaurant Industry" found that 64 percent of the city's restaurant workers were foreign-born.

Yet 83 percent of those working "in the front of the house," as bartenders, hosts and waiters, were non-Hispanic whites.

The industry provides more than 165,000 jobs to the city's workforce, according to the study by the nonprofit Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, the Urban Justice Center and two other groups.

One restaurant owner, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said, "Look, you've seen the studies -- the taller, more attractive people make more money. It's a given. It's unfortunate, but that's what I look for."

But Chuck Hunt, executive vice president of the city chapters of the New York State Restaurant Association, denied there was occupational segregation in the industry. Immigrants, especially those who don't speak English, tend to apply for kitchen jobs, he said.

"I do not subscribe to the idea that they are being taken advantage of or being discriminated against," Hunt said.

The survey's findings have piqued the interest of state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's office and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which are urging workers to file complaints.

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