The dining room of Toscano Italian and Mediterranean Deli.
Ben Freda | For Abington Journal
The restaurant gives a new look to old-world style foods
CLARKS SUMMIT — Toscano Italian and Mediterranean Deli, located near Gerrity’s in the Summit Square plaza, gives a new look to old-world style foods. It provides healthy cooking with a clean atmosphere. When you walk in, you see the southern European eats displayed under a clean glass shield that it kept clean every day.
Everything at Toscano is made in-house. Owner Jason Tayoun gets to work with his family making Italian sandwiches. Their Italian hoagie, which can be served baked, is one of the most popular dishes. They are creative with their ingredients for their sandwiches. One of them called the Luca Brasi is made with a chicken cutlet smothered in vodka sauce topped with long hots and fontina cheese. The homemade roast beef sandwiches are made medium rare with the option of spicy deli mustard or yellow cheddar with red onion and horseradish mayo.
“We wanted to do something different to the area,” said Tayoun.
Tayoun’s son, Antonio, created a sandwich named after him that was inspired by videos that he watches. The Antonio features grilled chicken cutlet, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, arugula, and sun-dried tomatoes with balsamic glaze. The sandwiches are made to the customer’s liking.
The bread used for the sandwiches is a seeded semolina bread, which is shipped fresh daily from New Jersey.
“We wanted to make sure we have a good bread, different from everybody else’s,” said Tayoun.
The Mediterranean dishes include pita wraps such as kibbeh, which is made with yogurt and cucumber slices. Mediterranean sandwiches are served on pita bread with lettuce and tomato. The shawarma is made with chicken, lettuce, tomato, and cucumbers with yogurt sauce. There is also a big variety of salads and bowls. The Dean Martin Salad comes with arugula, prosciutto, capicola, provolone, grated cheese, and balsamic olive oil glaze topped with fresh herbs.
Most of the Italian desserts are bought from New York and New Jersey but Toscano makes their own cannolis and rice pudding. Beverages include organic drinks as well as water from Italy. Toscano also does catering.
Tayoun works with his wife and three sons. His brother, Peter, and his family help him with the restaurant. Before opening Toscano, Peter at his business called Complete Lawn Care and Landscaping in Clarks Summit. Peter also owns two other businesses in the area, Northeastern Tree and City Tire & Auto.
The name of the restaurant is derived from the Italian word meaning an inhabitant of Tuscany.
“We just wanted to give it a nice Italian name,” said Tayoun.
Tayoun enjoys working with his family and his customer base.
“We have great people in the area,” he said.
