Pittsburghers are hungry for more big Burrito. The restaurant group will open two more eateries in a little over a year.
Alta Via, the company’s popular Italian concept in O’Hara Township, is expanding to McCandless at 5300 Corporate Drive and expects to open for lunch and dinner customers in January 2021. Alta Via North will have 140 seats and a large bar for an additional 40 guests.
Additionally, big Burrito plans to open a new restaurant at 3529 Butler St. Lawrenceville in September 2020. Details about the concept haven’t been released yet, but Corporate Chef Bill Fuller says the company’s extensive kitchen talent will come up with new and intriguing dishes for the as yet unnamed Lawrenceville eatery.
Life in Northern California and the Italian Alps (Alta Via is named after a famous footpath through the Dolomites mountain range) inspired Fuller to create a menu highlighting those regions. Alta Via features pasta, seafood and vegetable-forward appetizers and entrees prepared over an open, wood-fired grill.
“Alta Via in Fox Chapel Plaza has been such a pleasant surprise,” Fuller says of the restaurant, which debuted in April this year. “We are achieving our vision and have received a very favorable response. We know that there are many more people who will appreciate our fresh pastas, vegetable dishes and wood hearth cooking. We are so excited to be working on the second location.”
Pasta is handmade daily, as is the soft-serve gelato, which will grow from two to four flavors. In addition to serving classic cocktails, the bar program will include a concise wine list with a balance of Italian and American offerings.
big Burrito’s other restaurants include Alta Via Fox Chapel, numerous Mad Mex locations, Casbah, Kaya, Eleven, Soba and Umi.