Joe Scordato likes to call himself the fixer-up guy, not afraid to get his hands dirty repairing a big commercial stove.
And once he gets it running, he’s just as comfortable slipping on an apron and whipping up his signature osso bucco that earned him legions of fans at his two former Italian restaurants — Scordato’s on Broadway, which he ran for five years in the late 1980s, and Trattoria Guiseppe on East Tanque Verde Road, which he ran for two years before selling it about eight years ago.
Early next month, Scordato, of the famed Tucson restaurant family, will jump back into the restaurant business when he opens Guiseppe’s at 6060 N. Oracle Road. The restaurant, which he hopes to open in the first week of March, is in a space that most recently housed the short-lived Phillip’s Italian and American Cuisine.
Scordato, who has spent the past few years repairing commercial appliances and air conditioners, said he will borrow from his old menus, including that osso bucco and a selection of housemade pasta dishes. The lunch menu will top out at $10; dinner won’t go higher than $15.95.
“One of the reasons I’m getting back (into the restaurant business) is that I miss the cooking part,” said Scordato, who in addition to cooking in his own restaurants cooked in his father Jim’s original Scordato’s and his brother Daniel’s restaurant, Vivace.
Scordato said Guiseppe’s is a partnership among he and two of his former employees from Trattoria.
