Chef Kevin Sousa set to open new restaurant in Mount Oliver

A black, nondescript storefront with a plain wooden door occupies an inconspicuous spot at 225 Brownsville Road in Mount Oliver’s business district. There is nothing to indicate what is behind the door other than something resembling a company logo.

But once inside on a recent weekday morning, there was a beehive of activity taking place as one of the Pittsburgh area’s best-known chefs, Kevin Sousa, was getting ready to open his latest restaurant, Mount Oliver Bodega to go along with his Arlington Beverage Club in Allentown.

They are the latest in a string of attention-getting eateries in the last decade that include Salt of the Earth in Garfield and Union Pig & Chicken and Station Street Hot Dogs in East Liberty. Sousa moved on from those to open Superior Motors in Braddock, which closed at the outset of the pandemic. Sousa never returned and now has a new venture.

Mount Oliver Bodega’s official opening is set for Wednesday. It’s situated in a smartly made-over former bakery, which includes newly built tables, chairs and shelves and a bar made out of maple.

The focus is Sicilian-inspired food, especially pizza. It’s a first for him as a chef but by no means a stretch. Sousa is of Italian descent and that’s part of his family’s heritage, he explained.

Sousa is involved in the venture with his wife Megan – who will also act as sommelier – and longtime friend and business partner Chris Clark. The trio tops what is officially called Tribute Hospitality Group.

“The whole concept, the comfort food thing and the things that aren’t finicky was borne out of these relationships – Meg and I falling in love and getting married,” said Sousa. “There was a certain level of comfort in being at home that kind of distanced me from the tweezer food and the interpretations of things and just making more simple food.”

Sousa said that will include a lot of sourdough baking as he stood next to a huge 80-year-old oven that was part of the old bakery.

“It looks like a Kennywood ride on the inside. It’s wild. It feels like you’re in line at the Jackrabbit,” said Sousa, referring to one of the amusement park’s older roller coasters.

“This (oven) is the heart of the beast, this is where we’ll do our Sicilian pies out of,” he said. “This oven doesn’t get hot enough to do traditional thin pizzas. You need something like six, seven, eight hundred degrees. This will hold about 500 (degrees) steady and that’s a perfect temperature for a pizza in a pan.”

But in a city with many great pizza places to choose from, why try to compete with them?

“We’re not a pizza shop. We’re a wine shop and restaurant that has one pizza on the menu,” said Sousa. “It’s going to be a red pizza, that’s it. You get it how it comes with a long, slow-cooked ‘all day’ sauce, and then heavily seasoned.”

Sousa said he’s not offering pepperoni and sausage but the pizza is topped with very distinct Sicilian Caciocavallo and Pecorino Pepato cheeses.

“This is about really good crust, really good sauce and really good hard cheeses. And it makes your mouth water. It’s one of the best pizzas that I know of.”

As for the rest of the menu, Sousa is building on the pizza idea by coming up with dishes that go with wine – seasonal pastas and vegetable dishes but not much meat.

“There’s only three animals on the opening menu, and they’re all appetizers,” he said. “We have a lamb and crab and a raw fish dish. We’re now prototyping pasta dishes and desserts. Everything is designed to be shared, passed around the table.”

While the opening of Mount Oliver Bodega is highly anticipated, one might be curious about why an accomplished chef like Sousa would want to open in an area that is struggling economically and has more than its fair share of crime.

“I’m not very interested in going into Shadyside,” he said. “It’s not really my thing. I grew up in McKees Rocks. I lived in the West End. It feels like my neighborhood.”

As one of Pittsburgh’s high-profile personalities, at least in the restaurant world, Sousa has received a good deal of praise but also become a target for criticism, particularly after his decision to sever ties with Superior Motors.

Braddock Mayor Chardaé ’ Jones remains one of Sousa’s most vocal critics. Superior Motors was launched with a 2014 Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $300,000 from 2,026 supporters.

“He built roots in the Braddock community,” Jones said. “But he let the community down when he left because he left employees and investors hanging in the wind.

“It was his decision to leave the restaurant, and that’s why investors closed Superior Motors. He promised investors he would stay a certain number of years, but he didn’t do that. He overpromised on some things. For example, he promised there would be some kind of training in the community. He dabbled in it but he didn’t actually do it.”

For his part, Sousa said he had no choice but to move on.

“I’ve never met the mayor of Braddock,” he said of Jones. “I don’t really have any bones to pick with anybody. I changed jobs. The restaurant is still there. Superior Motors is still there. All the investment is there. The building exists. Everything we did there is still there.

“All I did was get a new job. I don’t have money. I don’t have a trust fund. I need to work. We were in a pandemic. So, Superior Motors was not operating, not by my decision, by my business partners.”

Meanwhile, Jones says she’s involved in efforts to reopen Superior Motors, which will accelerate once a new head chef is hired.

And while Sousa bristles at the criticism, he seems happy – content in his new marriage and his new restaurant.

“I’m over myself. Fifteen years ago I still felt like I probably had something to prove, I wanted to (have) a special occasion restaurant,” he said. “I want people to feel like they can celebrate here, but I also want people to feel like they can stop in and grab a slice of beautiful Sicilian pizza, a wonderful seasonal salad and a glass of wine and get on with their day.

“I just feel like I’ve changed, with the pandemic and going through a rough patch. It’s simplified.”