By Kirk Kern
The last time Chef Ignazio Sessa decided to open a restaurant in Skye Canyon was early 2020 when he opened The Omelette Cafe in the Skye Canyon Marketplace.
As it turns out, the timing wasn’t great as the COVID-19 pandemic hit right as he was about to open.
“We signed the lease March 3. I went to Florida for my son’s baseball trip and then COVID hit and we had to shut everything down,” Sessa said. “We finally opened up an 20 percent, then 3o percent capacity.”
The timing is a little better now with his new Sicilian Guys Trattoria, which opened in August in the space formerly occupied by the Bob’s Big Boy in the same center as Omelet Cafe.
It’s the second Sicilian Guys restaurant Sessa has launched. In 2023, he opened Sicilian Guys Pizzeria on Lake Mead and Rampart, next to Sun City Summerlin.
“We opened two restaurants in this horrible economy,” said Sessa, who has been in the restaurant business for 30 years. “People think I’m nuts. But we put a lot of people to work. That’s one of the things I’m proud of. Between my four locations, we have over 120 employees.”
Sessa and his family first acquired the Omelette House in the same center he eventually added the pizzeria in 2006 … again with terrible timing with the economic downturn.
“We went through all that crap in 2007-8,” he said. “Myself and my wife and my mom and dad, we worked at that business. We grinded until we got to 2009 and started profiting after that. 15 years later, we’re still going strong. Sun City loves us.”
While the two breakfast places have become a big hit, Sessa always wanted to return to his Sicilian roots, hence his two Sicilian Guys restaurants.
“I’ve always wanted to do something like this,” he said. “Bring a Sicilian flair. I wanted a traditional Sicilian restaurant. You’ll see we don’t fettuccine Alfredo or spaghetti and meatballs. Olive Garden can do that.”
Instead, he offers meals like Braciole, which is thin slices of beef, rolled and stuffed with prosciutto, provolone, Parmesan garlic, a hard-boiled egg and fresh herbs. Then it’s sautéed and simmered in a rich tomato sauce and served with two Braciole and Sicilian Herb potatoes.
“We roll it up and simmer it for four hours before we serve it,” Sessa said, adding it’s only available on Sundays.
But for the less adventurous, you can choose from a wide variety of pizzas, including stuffed deep dish pizzas.
Sessa chose to expand into the Skye Canyon area because he loves the community. He feels it’s like Summerlin from 1995-99, when it really took off as the fastest growing master-plan in the country.
We’re gonna have great things up here,” Sessa said. “It’s a fun, young community. So much growth. I knew we could definitely do something cool up here with two restaurants.”
Something cool includes live music every Wednesday night from 5-8 p.m. He also says the patio dining area is “pet friendly” as a way to encourage families to come out.
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