CLARKS SUMMIT — To renowned chef Guy Ciccone, the restuarant industry is more than just serving food. It’s putting on a show. It’s about taking care of the customers and giving them a unique dining experience.
In fact, the restaurateur invented a word for it - “hospitainment” - a blend of hospitality and entertainment. That’s what he and his staff bring to his new restaurant Guytano’s Tuscan Chophouse, which he opened on 821 Northern Blvd. on Dec. 21, 2023.
Guy brings his culinary mix of Italian traditions and vibrant California creativity to the heart of Clarks Summit. The expansive menu, in which each meal is crafted in a from-scratch kitchen, epitomizes culinary excellence and innovation. Each dish is meticulously prepared with the freshest ingredients.
“We have Italian foods, steaks, chops, and seafood done in a very unique way,” said Guy. “Nice presentations. Super quality food. Everything’s fresh. It’s a produce-driven menu.”
All of the meats are prime and cooked over an applewood grill that Guy custom-made for himself. The vegetables and seafood are cooked on that grill. In fact, a wood-grilled tomato is his trademark for his steaks and chops. The pastas are locally made from Picciocchi’s Pasta in Clarks Summit. The fish are flown in fresh. Guy recently made Icelandic halibut Francese style with caper lemon beurre blanc.
The desserts are created by Guy and his pastry chef Noah Ruddy. They include white chocolate mousse tart and warm fresh apple filo tower. Guy and his crew make their own ice cream. They feature three different flavors each week.
“These desserts are all original,” said Guy. “I create all of my foods and all of my recipes myself.”
The restaurant has a wine cooler, where the red wines are stored at their perfect temperature of 55 degrees and white wines that are stored at their perfect temperature of 41 degrees. All of the wines are special ordered from all over - mainly from Tuscany and California.
There is also a bar with draft beer as well as cocktails professionally made by Chris Cordaro, mixologist/master bartender. The drinks are served on a copper bar top, which matches with the restaurant’s copper ceiling. The whole inviting interior atmosphere of Guytano’s Tuscan Chophouse was designed by Guy himself.
In addition to being a certified executive chef, he is also a licensed general contractor. With financial help from a silent partner in Florida, he transformed the former La Tonalteca building into the upscale Italian restaurant it is today. The restaurant’s lighting and the furniture of the lounge are both mid-century modern style. The window in the front has black plantation shutters. Guy has his own firm called GMC Design Build in Scranton.
The chophouse got its name from Guy’s uncle calling Guy ‘Guytano,’ a variation of the Italian name Gaetano. Guy is Italian on his father’s side and Welsh on his mother’s side. Both of his grandfathers were coal miners who passed away from black lung disease. Growing up in Dunmore, Guy’s first job was at Ianelli’s Market, where he earned one dollar an hour making ricotta and mozzarella cheeses and sausages. Italian immigrant Vito Ianelli, who owned the store, allowed Guy to drive the truck and deliver groceries. Guy collected tips from the immigrant Italian ladies whom he sent food to in Dunmore.
“I made more money delivering the food,” said Guy.
Guy also took an apprentice program at the Culinary Institute of America. He found cooking to be a natural ability of his but learned more by doing. He was taught by great chefs from around the world. At age 21, he was the youngest executive chef at the former location of the Hilton Hotel, which is currently the Radisson Hotel. He later moved down South, where he introduced Italian cuisine to places that hadn’t heard of pasta.
Guy opened and operated restaurants in Florida cities, including Boca Raton, Stuart, and Vero Beach. They were named Guytano’s but there were by no means a franchise. Each restaurant was unique.
In Boca Raton, his restaurant won first place in Boca’s Taste of the Town, which features 45 of South Florida’s best restaurants. In Stuart, he opened Guytano’s Grille, where he served “creative American” cuisine with Northern Italian accent in its meats and pastas.
He has been requested by Bon Appetit Magazine to publish his recipes for shrimp with amaretto cream sauce and roasted almonds as well as his mashed potatoes, and peanut butter torta. He also has been asked to publish his recipe for Caesar salad by Gourmet Magazine. He later moved and opened restaurants in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I innovated the restaurant business in Charlotte,” said Guy.
In addition to opening four more restaurants called Guytano’s, Guy also operated a chain of six restaurants called Phil and Tony’s Brick Oven Pizza Bar.
“It was similar to Wolfgang Puck Cafe,” he said. “It was real trendy, and it turned into a bar and dance club at nighttime. We used to see like 2,000 beers a night.”
Guy had more than 400 employees at the same time.
Throughout his time in Charlotte, Guy earned several accolades. In the magazine called Charlotte Place, he earned the 2000 Readers’ Favorite Dining Award. His restaurants were in the Hot List for 10 Sizzling Restaurants as well as the Best of Charlotte. They were also praised for their cleanliness. In 2001, he received the sanitation score of 102 from the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Division of Environmental Health. They was also in the Top 5 of restaurant health inspections complied by TheRestaurantReport.com.
When his father took ill, Guy sold all of his restaurants and moved back to Northeast PA.
Moving back was a blessing because he got back together with his high school sweetheart. He continued being in the restaurant industry by developing all of the restaurants at Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, which are Red’s Steakhouse, La Sorelle Cucina, Betty’s Diner and The Buffet at Mount Airy. He also developed all of their menus and recipes as well as trained all of the employees.
He later became the concept developer and executive chef at The Blue Shutters in Elmhurst. But he wanted to work for himself again. He met his former co-worker Sean Scanlon at The Blue Shutters and told him about his plans of opening a restaurant in Northeast PA. He asked him to become his general manager.
“He (Sean) jumped right on it,” said Guy. “He knows I’m a really good chef. So, he said, ‘Hey, I want to help you.’”
When they were teenagers, Guy and Sean worked together at the former restaurant Scotch N’ Sirloin in Dunmore. Guy was a cook and Sean was a bartender. After 25 years of coming up with an idea for a Tuscan chophouse, Guy finally made it come into fruition. This is his ninth restaurant named Guytano’s but his first one that’s a chophouse.
Guy said that he’s been fortunate enough to have all of the people who work for him, including Renee Tanner, hostess and front-of-the-house manager as well as the kitchen staff.
“I’m surrounded by a lot of great people,” he said. “And that’s how it works. It’s not about me. I’m just a leader. I just have the mind to bring people to greatness. I tell them when they take the job, I will not let you fail. Then, they feel comfortable. Then, they have a lot of respect, and they try hard, and they focus on being the best in the business. I try hard to teach them everything. Because that’s the only thing you have when you leave the Earth, you have your reputation.”
Guy is proud to have a world-class restaurant in the Abington area.
“The response have been overwhelming,” he said. “I think I developed something that we can be proud of. The fun part is making people happy and giving them the experience of a big city. You don’t have to go to New York. You don’t have to go to Philadelphia. You can come here, right here in Clarks Summit. We’re putting the best show in business - show business. That’s the goal – to not only be best in the area but the best in the country.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0