Man punched, arrested at Geno's after scratching Joey Vento's Escalade

Many people have taken issue with the sticker at Geno's Steaks instructing customers to order in English, but Jose Oviedo says his beef started over Geno's beef.

Oviedo, 39, who was arrested about 7 a.m. yesterday after scratching the passenger- side door of Geno's owner Joey Vento's Cadillac Escalade, says he passed a truck unloading meat about 4:30 a.m. yesterday and noticed the boxes were from Uruguay and stamped November 2009. He asked the workers why the restaurant used frozen meats and then a few minutes later a police car approached him and friends and an officer asked, "Why are you giving Joey's guys a hard time?"

After that is when, in Oviedo's words, "I did a stupid thing." On his way home after hanging out with friends and having "two 12-ounce beers in 2 1/2 hours," Oviedo admits, he scratched the door of Vento's Escalade with "the back of a keychain bottle opener. It was a surface scratch."

He says he was angry that Geno's, which has a close relationship with the police and supports police charities among Vento's other philanthropic efforts, had called police to report him asking questions about the meat.

Oviedo, a server at an Old City restaurant he declined to identify, says a Geno's employee punched him twice in the face after he scratched Vento's Escalade.

"The guy threw a punch at my employee and got cracked. The cops locked him up," Vento said yesterday. Oviedo says he only defended himself. That's just what Vento did about his beef.

"If my meat is bad, they better close the city down," Vento told us yesterday. "I use the best quality meat in the city. It's steer rib-eye. It's top-quality," says Vento.

Oviedo, cited for a summary offense of criminal mischief, was the only person arrested, said police spokesman Sgt. Ray Evers.

Oviedo pleaded no contest to the summary offense yesterday afternoon in Community Court (1401 Arch) and was sentenced to community service and a fine, according to district attorney spokeswoman Tasha Jamerson.

Click here to read more from our column in Tuesday's Daily News.