A Braddock restaurant space, vacated by chef Kevin Sousa at the outset of the covid pandemic, is reopening with new ownership.
Craft brewer Brew Gentlemen, which is also located in Braddock, is opening a restaurant and brewpub called Braddock Public House in the old Superior Motors space.
Alaina Webber, co-owner alongside business partner Matt Katase, said they’re hoping to be open by the end of August — with a grand opening in September.
“We’re still very much in crunch time to get to open; it’s one of the most exciting times of the project,” she said Thursday. “We’re cautiously optimistic for end of month.”
Webber said specific dates and information regarding the opening will be forthcoming.
Braddock Public House will have Hawaiian and Japanese influence, with Brew Gentlemen beer, snacks, salads, handhelds and mains, she said.
“It really is a combination of Matt and I as partners,” Webber said. “We really are playing with the idea of building a bridge between Pittsburgh and the Pacific.”
Heading into the project, she said they were aware that the second generation restaurant has history — just like Braddock itself.
“There’s things here that are worth rebuilding that have a lot of value,” Webber said. “From the beginning of thinking about this concept, we really took into consideration Braddock and the surrounding communities.”
She said Braddock and the surrounding communities were taken into consideration when creating the concept.
“For a decade, BG has been on a mission to provide opportunities for you to come to Braddock – to drink Braddock-brewed beers, share meaningful experiences, and participate in the revitalization of this historic steel town,” Brew Gentlemen posted on its Instagram page. “Once again, we’re setting the stage and hoping you’ll visit. While you’re here, we hope to create something beautiful together.”
The Superior Motors restaurant helmed by Sousa — located beneath Sen. John Fetterman’s residence — opened to fanfare in 2017. In 2018, Time Magazine named it one of the “world’s greatest places.”
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However, the pandemic led to its sudden closure, and it never recovered. Sousa later left a failed venture in 2021 in Mount Oliver. Sousa is now working in Taos, N.M.
Brew Gentlemen and barebones productions continued utilizing the Braddock Avenue space for plays and pop-up meals. Barebones, run by Patrick Jordan, opened a theater in 2015 behind the space that would become Superior Motors two years later. The theater, called Barebones Black Box Theater, has continued to operate even after the restaurant closed.
Braddock Public House will focus on love and connection, according to Webber.
“It really came out of who we are and things that we love,” she said.
Megan Swift is a TribLive reporter covering trending news in Western Pennsylvania. A Murrysville native, she joined the Trib full time in 2023 after serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian at Penn State. She previously worked as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the Trib for three summers. She can be reached at mswift@triblive.com.