Joey Vento

Proprietor, Geno's Steaks; proud English-speaking American

by Zach Pontz

Last spring, a certain sign posted next to Geno's Steaks counter caused an uproar that has seemingly never gone away. From South Philadelphia to Seattle, everybody had an opinion on whether one should have to order a meal in English, and the friction bubbled to the surface again a couple of weeks back when presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani stopped by for a bite. We recently sat down with Geno's owner Joey Vento to find out, among other things, whether the criticism hurt him or his business. After all, whether you agree with his views or not, it's best to know thy neighbor and thy enemy.

City Paper: Did last year's controversy affect business at all?

Joey Vento: It increased it. I get a lot more people coming in and when they're coming in, it's to show support.

CP: Has the community for the most part responded positively or negatively to you?

JV: Well, I've received negative responses, but let's put it this way: For every negative response, I'm getting hundreds of positive responses. Every day I get phone calls, and invites to radio stations or TV shows.

CP: You recently sat down and had a sandwich with presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani. Anything you can disclose?

JV: Well, I'll say this: Rudy and I have the same views on immigration.

CP: Where do you stand on immigration?

JV: I want the illegals out. Send them all out of the country. We need to cut down all the red tape involved in getting legal immigrants over here: the ones who want to assimilate, who want to learn the language. It's a fallacy that the jobs the illegals work wouldn't be claimed by anybody else. These jobs were always for the uneducated, the unskilled. In order to move out of these positions, you got an education or you developed a skill or trade. Now, what these illegal immigrants are doing is undercutting these positions. They're undercutting the minimum wage and pushing Americans out of jobs. And businesses — they're undercutting these workers' pay, they're not putting them on the books, they're not paying taxes on these individuals, so they're pocketing that money — and they should be punished for that.

CP: The [discrimination] case that the HRC brought against you was recently postponed. What's going on there?

JV: Nothing. Really, they should back off. I told 'em you have your right to free speech, I have the right to mine. If you don't like it, hey, there's a steak shop across the street. Look, we help everybody, nobody's ever been refused service. People seem to miss that point.