About Guido
How often is the American dream held up as an ideal for which everyone should strive? And yet, Guido Panara, owner of Da Guido Ristorante, will tell you the Canadian dream is what worked for him.
The renowned chef was born in Italy and began his life's work as a mere child. "I was working in a bakery from 3:00am until 8:00am then, I would go to school," Panara says. "Later, I took courses in cooking school, where I lived for two years." By the time he came to Canada at age 24, Panara's passion for the culinary arts was firmly rooted. Friends had moved to Montreal and encouraged him to come and open a restaurant with them, so he bid farewell to Italy and set off for Canada. Ironically, his friends returned to Italy and it was Panara who opened the restaurant, Chez Ubaldo, alone. He came west in 1983, Intending to visit Vancouver after hearing the climate was similar to what he remembered in Italy. "I stopped in Calgary and I loved it," he says. "Five months later I had sold my house and restaurant and was living here." Having been offered a job as a chef, Panara settled in and set to work learning English, his fourth language after Italian, French and Spanish. He opened the restaurant he runs now, Da Guido, in 1984, and has never looked back. Entertaining such notable customers as Clint Eastwood, Sophia Loren and Tom Berenger, Panara involved himself in the community through business ventures and by supporting local charities - becoming a fixture on the local social scene.
Panara has parlayed the success of his restaurant into a variety of real estate holdings in and around Calgary, including campgrounds in the Kananaskis that allow him a quick getaway from his busy life. He stands by his decision to come to Canada. "There's no terrorism - you don't always have to be looking behind you. You can deal honestly and go forward," he says. "There's so much opportunity for future generations here, whereas Europe is already so crowded." While Panara is aware opportunities abound, particularly in the Calgary of the new millennium, he says he is content with what he has. "If I bought more restaurants, I wouldn't have time to cook." He says. "I'm happy here with what I'm doing." And talented, too. Panara is among a select few invited to join the Chaine des Rotisseurs, an organization comprised of the culinary world's upper crust, which was started by the King of France to serve the elite in 1248.
He runs his restaurant with an old-world flair in keeping with the rich traditions that inspired him. "Only about 40% of our orders are from the menu," he says. "Something like 60% just tell me, Guido, do something special." We have specialty foods that change all the time to keep things interesting." And while diligently maintains the lessons from his home country, serving the finest of Italian cuisines, Panara says there's no place he'd rather be dishing it up than right here in Calgary. "Europe is beautiful and filled with history, but there is so much chaos - not like here," he says. "I love that Canadians are so well organized in most everything. It makes life so much easier." A trip to Italy every year to visit his mom and sister helps Panara stave off the pangs of homesickness, but he now considers Canada home.
"There are many stressful days when I wonder why I'm still doing this," he says. "It's not the money anymore - it's the people you meet and the friends you make. I love my city and I love what I do."