Family, food, and fun are at the heart of Gus Deraco’s Italian Sandwiches in Lebanon.
The restaurant at 714 Cumberland St. is owned by Traci Deraco Ginnona and her husband Ron Ginnona. It was founded in 1978 by Traci’s parents Gus and Maxine Deraco.
Traci grew up in the business and took it over last year with a soft opening in late July.
“I wanted to keep my parents’ legacy alive,” she said.
Known for its hoagys, the restaurant is open for breakfast and lunch/dinner. Breakfast items include traditional breakfast fare as well as French toast made with Italian bread and breakfast hoagys. Lunch/dinner menu items include a variety of hoagys and cold sandwiches along with house-made burgers, steaks and other hot sandwiches, salads, homemade soup and chili, and a spaghetti dinner.
Several menu items are marked as Deraco family tradition items including Ron’s seasoned fries, which are served with a side of Cheez Whiz, and Grandpa Jack’s spaghetti hoagy. There are also menu items noted as “Classic Favorites from Gus and Maxine Deraco” including the “original Italian hoagy.” Sandwich meats are freshly sliced to order.
Gus Deraco’s also has some surprises. It now serves eight flavors of Penn State Creamery ice cream, the cow-to-cone ice cream that’s part of a visit to the university’s main campus for many sports fans. At Gus Deraco’s, Penn State Creamery ice cream is available in cones, bowls, sundaes, and pints. Traci said the most popular flavors are vanilla and Peachy Paterno.
Both Traci and Ron love art and music, so they’ve introduced some special events. Live music can be found at Gus Deraco’s during Lebanon Valley Council on the Arts’ First Friday Art Walk events. A monthly open mic night launched earlier this year, and a monthly Trivia Night launched last month.
Trivia Night is hosted by Bill Warner and is a BYOB event. The next trivia night is slated for Sept. 27. Gus Deraco’s is also part of the Best Kept Secrets Tour, which is on through Sept. 28. (For tickets and info visit www.bestkeptsecretstour.com.)
Traci said Gus Deraco’s also offers hoagy sales as a fundraising opportunity for local organizations and community groups and offers catering options.
Traci said the restaurant’s décor includes a number of photos featuring her parents and family as well photos and memorabilia relating to the business. “I want to make sure people who didn’t know my parents have the opportunity to learn about them,” she explained.
Her paternal grandparents were Italian immigrants with 10 children. Traci’s dad, Gus, was the fourth child, and the first one to be born in the U.S. She said the family settled in Lebanon with the goal of working at the Keystone Macaroni Factory, the precursor to today’s San Giorgio pasta company, because the founder Girolamo Guerrisi was a relative.
Read More: San Giorgio, the national pasta company born in Lebanon
Gus Deraco played football as a kid and founded the Lebanon Boro Rams in 1939. The sports team took a bit of a hiatus during World War II, but Gus rebooted it after he came home from serving in the war. The independent football team was active through 1968. Deraco died in 2006 and he was posthumously inducted into the Central Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2022.
Read More: The Boro Rams, the Bologna Bowl, and the heyday of Lebanon’s independent football teams
Traci said the family’s connection with the hoagy business dates back to the early 1950s. “The family story is that my dad went to Philadelphia on a trip and had a hoagy. He felt this was something he could bring to Lebanon, so he created his own version of the Philadelphia hoagy,” she said.
She stressed that at Gus Deraco’s Italian Sandwiches, the spelling of the sandwich is “hoagy.”
Also spelled “hoagie,” the term is used mostly in New Jersey and Pennsylvania to mean “a hero sandwich, a large sandwich, usually consisting of a small loaf of bread or long roll cut in half lengthwise and containing a variety of ingredients such as meat, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.” The origin of the term is debated, but it may have arisen in the Philadelphia area and been named after sandwiches brought to the Hog Island shipyard by Italian immigrants.
The Deraco hoagy business evolved through the years. Traci said initially her mom and dad sold hoagys from a lunch wagon that was a converted Studebaker hearse; it was later upgraded to a panel truck that was similar to a dairy delivery truck. They opened luncheonettes and also ran the concession stand at Coleman Memorial Park.
“Growing up I would sometimes help out on the food truck during school, and sometime I helped out at the concession stand in Coleman Park,” she said. “When my dad had a route delivering the sandwiches he made, I helped him deliver them to stores and Lebanon Valley College.”
Gus Deraco’s Italian Sandwiches opened in September 1978 at 27 S. 8th St., Lebanon. The move to its current location is more recent. Although Traci’s dad retired from the restaurant in 1999, it’s been operated by family members since then.
For more information about Gus Deraco’s, visit the restaurant’s website, gusderacos.com, or its Facebook page. Gus Deraco’s is open Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., as well as extended hours for various events.
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