KINGSTON, N.Y. — Well-known restaurateur Frank Guido, who has owned and operated more than 20 restaurants in the Hudson Valley, has been diagnosed with lung cancer and will close his Port Of Call eatery in Catskill in mid-September.
Guido, grew up in East Kingston and has operated 26 different restaurants in the area since 1962, including Frank Guido’s Little Italy and Mariner’s Harbor, both in Kingston, said on Friday in an interview with the Freeman that the time had come to close the Catskill restaurant.
“I just can’t do it anymore,” said Guido, who is undergoing chemotherapy treatment in New York City. “I need to concentrate on my health. It’s time we closed down a little.”
Guido said he expected to close on a sale of the Port of Call restaurant on Sept. 30, with a reopening of the establishment under different ownership Oct. 1.
Guido had previously sold Mariner’s Harbor, which is operated by his cousin, Sal Guido, in the Rondout, and that will remain open. So will Frank Guido’s Little Italy, operated by his son, Mark, in Midtown.
Guido bought Port of Call 27 years ago. The restaurant was destroyed during Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011 and he reopened it in 2012.
Port of Call owner Frank Guido holds up a Lobster Bake plate on Aug. 12, 2012. (Freeman photo by Tania Barricklo/Daily Freeman, file)
Following graduation from high school, Guido went to Marist College (now Marist University) and earned a degree in accounting and went to work for the Internal Revenue Service. Three months later, he left the IRS to open a bar not far from the SUNY Ulster campus in Stone Ridge.
Guido has owned and operated more than 20 restaurants in the Hudson Valley over the past five decades, mainly specializing in seafood and Italian cuisine. He has said Frank Guido’s Little Italy, for instance, serves traditional Neapolitan cuisine inspired by dishes enjoyed by his family and friends for generations.