Gem City Style: March 2025

Jessica Hunter

Jason Spore, owner of ippa Pizza (featured in Erie's 2025 FOOD FIGHT!)

This month, I caught up with some of the chefs and creators behind some featured fare in our annual food issue. I asked each of them: If you could invite any person to dinner, who would it be? What would be on the menu? What would you talk about?*

Jason Spore, owner of ippa Pizza (featured in Erie's 2025 FOOD FIGHT!)

If I could invite anyone to dinner it would be Steve Jobs, American entrepreneur, inventor, and investor who co-founded Apple Inc. in 1976. We would have ippa Pizza of course!

Jobs was known to be a vegan, eliminating all animal products — including dairy — from his diet. At times he was even a fruitarian. Since I don't believe in putting fruit on pizza I figure we could compromise and make a marinara pizza — a very simple Neapolitan classic with dough, sauce, oil, oregano... and no cheese!

Jobs was such an innovator, known for completely rethinking entire markets and industries. He was known to say, "A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them. Start with the customer experience."

I would want to ask him questions to dissect his mindset when understanding what a market, and ultimately, a customer needs. He was also a tremendous speaker. If you have never seen the YouTube video of him launching the iPhone, watch it!!

I would love to speak with him about how he puts together presentations that touch people's emotions at the core and creates desires they don't even know they have yet. I would love to see what he thinks of today's artificial intelligence and how he sees it shaping the future. I would love to know his thoughts on cryptocurrency. Also would like to know how his study and practice of Zen Buddhism influenced his ability to disconnect and think deeply about problems — something I believe is needed with today's busy lifestyles of distractions, lack of focus, and immediate gratification. It would be a fantastic, life-changing, and insightful experience for sure!

Photo: Jessica Hunter

Alice DeGeorge, Co-owner of The Six Pack House of Beer (Featured in 2025's Can't Miss Dishes)

I would invite Barb Haggerty (rest in peace), who co-owned and operated the Plymouth Tavern with her husband Mike until her death in Oct 2018. I worked at the Plymouth Tavern from 1995 to 2008 as a server and a trivia host. During that time, I gained so much knowledge and insight from Barb and Mike about how to run a successful small business. A business that has been in Erie since 1973! The year I was born!

As for what would be on the menu, I feel like it's always hard to have a good conversation with someone when you are eating a big meal. I would go for a casual dinner… I feel folks are usually the funniest around a table of fun food, drinks, and snacks. I would choose to have a few charcuterie boards at our table or a nice tapas food selection.

When I started at the Plymouth, I was new to Erie and was an impressionable 25-year-old. Little did I know that Barb would become a great mentor to me. She was a strong, graceful, and classy woman. She was always well-dressed and kind to everyone but also didn't take any shit from anyone. I admired and respected her greatly. After I started my first small business (Presque Isle Printing Services, LLC) in 2008, Barb came to me to design and print the Plymouth's menus, table tents, and flyers. I felt that it was my full circle moment with the Plymouth.

As a small business owner, I would often lean on the lessons I acquired from Barb in my own business. I would talk with her and Mike about business stuff when I would drop off their orders.

In 2022, my husband and I purchased the 6 Pack House of Beer. And after selling the printshop in December of 2024, I was all-in on the restaurant and beer business!

At our casual dinner, I would love to talk with Barb more than ever about tips and tricks she had learned from running the Plymouth in her time there. I would inquire about how she and Mike kept their personal and business relationship separate when they were working together. I would ask about how they managed their growth from one building in 1973 to the three buildings that house the Plymouth currently, how she managed upward of 75 employees, and how she dealt with the ups and downs of being a woman owner in the restaurant industry for so many years.

But what I really would want to do at dinner with Barb, would be to take the opportunity, to let her know what a big influence she was to me, and how I think of her quite often still to this day. Not only in those times when I find myself in a business situation that I need a little guidance on, but just on the life questions that pop up. I would want to let her know that I still draw on her wisdom and usually ask myself, "What would Barb do?"

Dave DeGeorge, Co-owner of The Six Pack House of Beer (Featured in 2025's Can't Miss Dishes)

I would invite my deceased grandfather, Chris DeGeorge, to dinner. He passed away when I was around 8 years old. So, I don't remember too much about him. I do know that he was a small business owner. He had a plastering and contracting business in Erie. In fact, he was known for plastering hundreds of houses in Erie. He was a fine craftsman!

When I was younger and into my early teens, I, along with my brother, worked for my father, his son, in his own plastering business. And prior to purchasing the 6 Pack House of Beer with my wife in 2022, I too had my own small contracting business that specialized in painting and plastering.

I would take my grandfather to Ricardo's Restaurant. His wife's (my grandmother's) family used to own it back in the day. We would probably eat a delicious Italian meal, maybe a steak. But definitely an order of fried zucchini with a side of marinara.

At dinner, I would want to know what life was like for him when he was younger. How did he start his business? Who taught him about plastering or how did he gain his skills? And what lessons did he learn owning and running his small business in Erie.

Photo: Jessica Hunter

Scott Croyle, Head Chef at Roma's Italian Kitchen (Featured in 2025's Can't Miss Dishes)

The person I would like most to have dinner with would be my grandmother. She passed away when I was about 13 years old. She was a big part of my life, only living across the yard from my parents' house. I was at grandma's house even when I was not supposed to be. Most memories I have of her were in her kitchen and I believe it shaped my future as a chef. It seemed she was always cooking and making people happy with food. Giant Sunday dinners were always the norm. She was a Syrian married to an Italian, so the food was diverse. A meatball recipe that has now made its way through generations, spanakopita, and Syrian bread were always on the table. I would have loved to have learned of her past and the history of all the food that my family still talks about as we do our best to recreate it.

Gem City Style is a monthly column featuring an intimate Q&A with someone making a creative impact in Erie. If you or someone you know would make a good fit for a future Gem City Style, email jessica@eriereader.com

*An abridged version of this article appeared in print. It was edited for space.