A newly opened Sarasota County restaurant is already drawing big crowds.
Brothers John and Ken Giacobbo grew up in South Philadelphia, so when they opened G-Boys Cheesesteaks on June 13, they were looking to bring a taste of their old neighborhood to the Venice area.
“It was a neighborhood of corner stores and cheesesteak places and sandwich places and we grew up on that,” Dr. Ken Giacobbo told the Herald-Tribune during a phone interview. “We decided to go into this type of business and bring the taste of Philadelphia to the Venice community.”
John Giacobbo, his wife, Rosemary, Ken’s wife, Coilette, and their daughter, Alana, were all working at G-Boys, with Ken slated to come in and work the grill in the evening, after finishing his day job as market medical director for ArchWell Health.
Since the family opened the shop at 321 Jacaranda Boulevard in Jacaranda Common Shopping Center, they have been tweaking hours to ensure that they can deliver a consistent sandwich to an eager base of new customers who have literally bought everything, prompting sellouts that have sometimes occurred prior to the 7 p.m. closing time.
“We’ve been totally, totally blown away and surprised,” Giacobbo said. “We did not anticipate doing the volume we’re currently doing and we’re certainly increasing what we’re bringing in from our suppliers.”
How has G-Boys been meeting customer demand?
One big change was a modification in shop hours to the current schedule of 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for lunch and 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. for dinner partly so staff could catch up on prep for the dinner crowd.
“It gives us time to bake more bread, to make more cutlets, to make our long hots and broccoli rabe,” Giacobbo said.
“Everything we do is house-made,” he added. “We’re not buying sauces and products, we make it in-house.”
Another change is increasing the number of cooks on the grill from two to three.
There are also plans to bring in an additional grill.
“This way we can do an additional volume of cheesesteaks,” Giacobbo said. “Hopefully that will be occurring over the next couple weeks.”
For now, it’s not uncommon for a patron who walks in the door to learn that there’s likely a 45-minute wait for their order to be ready — something that can easily be confirmed by the crowd patiently waiting.
At least once on June 23, when the order line stretched close to the door, Rosemary Giacobbo took time to explain the process.
At least one savvy diner placed an order, then walked a couple doors down to pick up a few items at Publix and return to pick up his sandwich.
Sarasota resident Mike Haucke, one of several people who waited patiently, said he enjoyed his sandwich more than one he had recently from a shop in South Venice.
“This is the first time I’ve had it, it was really good,” said Haucke, who ordered a G-Boys Signature sandwich, which includes steak, Cooper Sharp American cheese and grilled onions.
What’s on the menu?
Hot subs are the order of the day, either steak, chicken cheesesteaks or specialty chicken cutlet sandwiches — those are pounded thin, breaded and fried.
Giacobbo said much of the current menu, including the recipes for the sauces and broccoli rabe, came from his wife and inspiration provided by his late mother-in-law, Joan Renzi.
“She was a great cook,” he added. “She inspired me to cook and we’ve made all those sandwiches over the years at home.”
There is also a connection to another Philadelphia-based cheesesteak shop that opened earlier this year — Johnny Longhots — since Michael Panto, owner of that shop, provides high-quality ribeye steak through Philly Steak Guy LLC.
Panto knew John Giacobbo before he retired from his career as a butcher in Philadelphia.
“They’re doing a nice job,” Panto said of the brothers’ restaurant. “It’s something nice for Venice.”
But to be clear, G-Boys has its own identity. The easiest indicator of that can be found in the choice of bread — par-baked at a bakery in New Jersey then shipped fresh and fully baked in-house daily.
Giacobbo declined to name the bakery but said the rolls won a blind, in-house taste test that included Liscio’s.
Primarily, sandwiches are served with seeded rolls, though plain rolls are an option too.
“We just want to be an authentic South Philadelphia cheesesteak and sandwich place that everyone from Philadelphia would recognize immediately as that type of place,” Giacobbo said. “We’ve had a number of people from South Philadelphia stop in and they absolutely loved it,” he added. “That gave us some validation that we’re doing things the right way, when people from South Philadelphia stop in and say ‘this is fantastic.’”
If you go
G-Boys Cheesesteaks is located in Jacaranda Common Shopping Center at 321 Jacaranda Boulevard, Venice.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.
For more information, call 941-220-3916 or 941-220-3917 or visit gboyscheesesteaks.com.
Earle Kimel primarily covers local governments in Sarasota County as well as land development and environmental issues for the Herald-Tribune. Follow him on Facebook, and X. He can be reached by email at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Why diners are lining up at this new Sarasota County restaurant
Reporting by Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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By Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune | USA TODAY Network
