{"id":322037,"date":"2026-11-06T00:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T00:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/322037\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T00:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T00:14:11","slug":"kevins-chefs-travel-to-scranton-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/322037\/","title":{"rendered":"Kevin’s chefs travel to Scranton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chef de cuisine Val\u00e9rie Muccio\u2019s station at the grill in the new Kevin\u2019s on Penn will be visible through the windows to passersby on Linden Street. Customers who book the \u201cchef\u2019s table\u201d near the kitchen\u2019s built-in wine rack also will be able to watch her and others cook.<\/p>\n

Some of what they see will look familiar to customers of Kevin\u2019s in Kingston. Both are part of the Friedman Hospitality Group.<\/p>\n

She and executive chef Matt Gilbert are both veterans of Kevin\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"ChefChef de cuisine Valerie Muccio, left, and Executive chef Matt Gilbert prepare for the opening on Kevin\u2019s on Penn. (CHAD SEBIRNG\/STAFF PHOTO)<\/p>\n

They brought part of the menu with them. Steak and seafood are staples and the carryovers include shrimp and scallops with a sambuca blush sauce for $37, espresso martinis and cr\u00e8me br\u00fbl\u00e9e.<\/p>\n

Executive chef<\/p>\n

Gilbert remains the executive chef at the Kingston restaurant. Owner Rob Friedman would not have launched Kevin\u2019s on Penn without Gilbert and general manager John Lahr. \u201cThey love what they do; they love a challenge,\u201d Friedman said.<\/p>\n

Gilbert joined Friedman Hospitality around a decade ago, beginning as a sous chef at the Beaumont Inn near Dallas.<\/p>\n

His self-taught career began when he was 15, working at The Highlands at Newberry Estates. He later worked at Connor\u2019s Grillroom, also in the Back Mountain.<\/p>\n

Chef de cuisine<\/p>\n

Muccio will be in charge of the kitchen on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

Cooking was where she found a home after what she called a hard upbringing. The Crestwood High School graduate hopes to be the kind of LGBTQ+ role model she lacked in her own life.<\/p>\n

Before joining Kevin\u2019s, her previous regional work included the Huntsville Golf Club, the Harvest Seasonal Grill and Bistro 174.<\/p>\n

The 18 or so months she spent as sous chef at Kevin\u2019s in Kingston was the best job she ever had. She intends for the new Kevin\u2019s to have the same accepting atmosphere and passion about food as the Kingston restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fostered such a beautiful working environment where everybody was so passionate about food and they were so adamant on growing and learning and being the best versions of themselves,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I know I inspired them, but they also inspired me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muccio is excited about talking with customers at the chef\u2019s table.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll come talk to you guys, see what you guys like, and kind of go from there,\u201d Muccio said. \u201cGet a little creative and make this more of a fun, special occasion thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a place for the staff to ramp the creativity and try out things for future menus. \u201cThis is really where our ideas could go crazy, and that\u2019s the fun part.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chef de cuisine Val\u00e9rie Muccio\u2019s station at the grill in the new Kevin\u2019s on Penn will be visible…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322038,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,28,435,178,180,179,289,729],"class_list":["post-322037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-restaurants-food-and-drink","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-things-to-do","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322037"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322037\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}