Chef Mark Claypool stands before his bar inside Garibaldi’s Italian Ristorante, soon to rebrand as Garibaldi’s Italian Steakhouse in the new year.
Ronni Hannaman
On April 1, 1995, Chef Mark Claypool bought Garibaldi’s Italian Ristorante.
After 27 years as the chef and owner of this venerable Carson City restaurant, he knows he did the right thing even after all the trials and tribulations caused by a number of economic downturns and the most recent state-mandated pandemic partial closing that caused many restaurants to either fail or rethink their business model.
Claypool has always had a flair for cooking and started where so many chefs begin their journey, at home. Like so many teenagers did upon graduating from high school in the late 1970s, he and his best friend decided to venture out on their own. Growing up in Encinitas, California, Lake Tahoe was the draw. Instead of Pacific beaches, the pair decided to find their way to the mountains, become ski bums, and work any jobs needed to survive.
Thus, with $100 in his pocket and whatever he could carry on his back, the long journey by way of Lake Tahoe to Carson City began.
Of course, with his passion and flair for cooking and the fact that he had some restaurant experience, he soon found a job at a chain restaurant working his way up to finer restaurants.
“I didn’t have any formal training at a culinary institution, but I had passion,” he said. “My education came from hands-on learning and working for some fine chefs in dinner houses at the lake.”
He remained cooking at various fine dinner houses in Tahoe for 15 years before the opportunity to buy Garibaldi’s from restaurateurs Ed and Connie Easley was presented. He was the chef at their Café Fiori at the time and jumped at the chance to own his own restaurant, then just over a year old.
“Garibaldi’s was the lone soldier in this area before others started opening in the downtown,” he asserted.
A search of Carson City dining establishments in 1995 found that the downtown was an embarrassing eyesore and all the venerable restaurants had closed. As printed in the New York Times, Oct. 1, 1995, then-Mayor Marv Teixeira was being pressured by the legislators coming to session to do something about the downtown. His quote in the Times stated legislators would ask, “Hey, Marv, when are you going to clean up the area?”
It was when Robert McFadden purchased the St. Charles Hotel in 1993 that the downtown started to change from being known as the “wild west,” and Garibaldi’s was one of the first on the cusp of a “new” restaurant revolution.
Some of the old-timers may remember businessman and self-proclaimed curmudgeon Bob Thomas who, on Dec. 19, 2001, wrote an opinion column in the Nevada Appeal despairing the lack of good restaurants no longer in business. He wrote, “The only "new" Carson City restaurant in the same league with the first seven mentioned above is Garibaldi's, which specializes in Continental-Italian cuisine. It's excellent!” By then, Claypool had already claimed his reputation as one of Carson’s finest chefs and that reputation today is still secure.
It's not been an easy journey since 1995. Keeping his business going through the pandemic was the hardest challenge and he, like so many other restaurant owners large and small, have had to rethink their business model to survive.
“I used to be open seven days a week and served lunch as well as dinner. Even before the pandemic, I had already closed for lunch because it just didn’t pencil out. Today, although I am thankful to be fully staffed by loyal employees, I have had to cut down to five days because of the ever-increasing costs and though I hate to increase my menu prices, I am forced to.”
Those menu increases have not slowed down his popularity as a great local dining spot serving consistently tasty fresh dishes still considered by many a good price in today’s market. He has not sacrificed his generous portions. Have you seen his meatballs? The lasagna?
What’s the next step for Claypool? Over 35% of his most requested menu item is steak so he is rebranding Garibaldi’s as an Italian steakhouse.
“I pick out my meat, butcher the cuts, and personally prepare the minimum 16 ounce steaks to order,” he asserts.
He also is proud of his selection of wines visible upon entering the dining room that customers can personally choose to pair with their favorite meal.
Although he has had other cooks/chefs to assist in the past, he has now gone solo and prepares most dishes, including hard-to-find fresh veal and fish, for which he also has become known. Server Slade Siciliano chimed in by reminding Claypool to say that “everything is freshly made right here including the sauces and the giant meatloaf-sized meatballs served with our spaghetti.”
“I am so grateful for the 27 years I have been able to cook for so many in Carson City and particularly thank my regulars for their support,” said Claypool. “Though I left my heart in Lake Tahoe many years ago, since venturing out on my own in Carson City, my heart has been and continues to be here.”
(For the old timers who lived here when Bob Thomas frequented his favorite restaurants, his seven favorites referenced were: Bonanza (now Glen Eagles), The Guitar, Dug’s West Indies, Enrico’s, The Golden Dragon, Heiss’ Steak & Seafood House, and Thurman’s Ranch House.)