Daniel Scordato had 15 years cooking experience when, in 1984, he stepped out on his own as a chef.
"I probably should have waited another 10 years or so," he says now. "But I learned."
Yes, he did.
He is now the chef/owner of the popular and successful Vivace Restaurant in St. Philip's Plaza on North Campbell Avenue. Along the way, he learned to balance his desire to cook authentic Italian dishes with the necessity of pleasing customers whose tastes may not be quite ready for "authentic."
Other valuable lessons:
* Quality and price are the keys to success. So he keeps both in mind while choosing dishes and ingredients that will please customers' palates - and their wallets.
* The best of plans can have holes - a lesson learned through bankruptcy when he was younger.
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* And, when it comes to running a restaurant, father does know best.
The Scordato name is a mainstay in Tucson's dining scene. Jim Scordato Sr. opened Scordato's in 1972. He handled the dining room; daughter Patricia ("She was always the artistic one," Daniel Scordato says) played the piano for diners, while the three boys - Jim Jr., Joe and Daniel - did the cooking. Daniel was 14 at the time.
"We were so young; we just made the dishes we started with (recipes from Jim Sr.'s family restaurant in Paterson, N.J.)," Scordato says.
It wasn't a time for individual innovation because "we had to be consistent. The whole point was to make it (the dishes on the menu) the same way."
That was the training ground for Scordato and his siblings. Of his father, Scordato says, "He was tougher on us than on any of the (other) employees. . . . (We) had the hardest jobs." But he adds, "We all learned every aspect of the restaurant," including finances and ordering. "I'm glad he taught us," Scordato says now.
By the time Scordato was 17, he knew his future was in restaurants. "I wanted to do more, to know more about cooking. I still do," Scordato says. "I always wanted to learn a new technique."
Scordato left the family business when he was in his late 20s and spent about 18 months planning for his own restaurant, Daniel's. He opened it in 1986 in the Plaza Palomino, on East Fort Lowell and North Swan roads.
Part of his planning included a brief stint studying cooking in Italy, where he picked up some great Italian recipes. He still uses some, though with modifications. "I have to cater to my customers' taste; I can't shock them too much," he says. Then he adds, by way of explanation, "Italians have a certain way they eat, and we have another way."
Daniel's Restaurant wasn't the success he envisioned, however. It ended in bankruptcy.
"I had to sell," he says, simply.
"A very short time after Dan left (the family business to begin his own restaurant), his food was far superior to anything we did at Scordato's," the senior Scordato says. The restaurant didn't fail because of the food or service, he said, but "he trusted everybody and they were robbing him blind."
But Scordato rebounded, eventually finding new investors willing to support him in opening Vivace at its early location on Grant and Swan roads. His vision for Vivace was quality at medium prices, the formula used so successfully by establishments such as Cafe Terra Cotta, he says.
"I wanted to do the same with Italian food." And he did that well enough to eventually buy out his investors.
Looking back on the past three decades of Tucson's dining scene, Scordato says today's customers and restaurants are more sophisticated. Customers are open to finer dining options, and restaurants now feature out-of-the-ordinary dishes. In part that's because "suppliers can provide us with anything that's available from all over the world." Whereas, 30 years ago, there was "almost zero fresh fish, and we had to try very hard to get fresh veal."
As for Scordato himself, "I feel like I'm a little more in tune with my customers now." He only cooks on Mondays. ("I'm almost 50, and cooking on the line was getting more demanding.") The other times, he works the floor. This gives him the chance to make certain that things are done his way - in the dining room, the kitchen and the pantry. He learned, you see.
Scordato keeps his restaurant fresh by not allowing himself to become mired in the tried-and-true. That goes for dishes, cooking techniques and business operations. He likes to travel - especially to cities where there are good restaurants, in California's Napa Valley or Europe, for example. And he constantly looks for new ideas, a new style or cooking technique, something done differently. It's a way of learning, of keeping his mind open to new possibilities.
"If I learn something new, I can't wait to get back and try it," he said.
'DON'T TRY TO GET RICH'
"I taught him absolutely nothing," says Jim Scordato Sr., speaking of younger son Daniel, owner/chef of Vivace Restaurant in St. Philip's Plaza on North Campbell Avenue.
"When it comes to cooking, Dan does it all on his own. He experiments, tries things.
"What I taught Dan was to never underestimate the intelligence of your customer. To serve the best food that you can at the best price you can, and don't try to get rich."
A lot of restaurant owners try to operate on a 20 percent profit margin, the senior Scordato said dismissively. Five percent is more realistic if you are going to provide quality food at the best value and build your volume of customers, he said, adding that that is why so many restaurants are not successful.
"I would rather make 5 percent of $1 million than 20 percent of nothing."