Hide Select Value in Options with NG-OPTIONS

Followed this CodePen http://codepen.io/aaronksaunders/pen/XJeayJ and made mods to fit my scenario.

HTML

<label class="item item-input item-select">
    {{ categorySelectedItem.Item.ItemCategory }}
    <select ng-options="category.ItemCategory for category in categories track by category.CategoryID"
            ng-model="categorySelectedItem.Item">
    </select><br/>
</label><br/>

Scope Data

$scope.categories =
        [{"$id":"1"
        ,"CategoryID":1
        ,"ItemCategory":"Select Category"}];

$scope.categorySelectedItem = {
isPresent : true,
Item : {"$id":"1"  // <-- this is the default item
        ,"CategoryID":1
        ,"ItemCategory":"Select Category"}
};

I get:

Category

Select Category     Select Category <imagined drop down arrow>

I’d like to suppress the Select Value (second Select Category text) just like the example in the CodePen. It should only appear when the drop down is clicked.

I tried applying the class in the label to the select instead. However, the drop-down lost the fancy ionic style and it didn’t expand the width of the page.