Owner Jason Capps describes
Bella Sera Urban Trattoria as a "white collar watering hole," but that description does the place injustice. Instead of loosened ties and room-temp draft beers, imagine classic cocktails, local microbrews, tables handcrafted from imported volcanic rock, and a commitment to not just good food (tried-and-true Italian pub eats and grab 'n go staples), but also good, sustainable business practices.
Bella Sera, on Market Square, Downtown, opened this November, and is one of just two Pittsburgh spots to be Green Restaurant Association-certified (the other is the café at Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens). The restaurant is an extension of Capps' catering business, Greco's, which he started a decade ago, and his 18,000-square-foot banquet hall in Canonsburg, which hosts weddings and events for up to 400 guests.
Capps says a variety of chefs inspired Bella Sera's direction: Mario Batali (all the celebrity chef's restaurants are Green Restaurant Association-certified); Jose Garces (recently named the Food Network's newest Iron Chef, his Philadelphia eateries have elegant, intimate interiors Capps unabashedly emulates at Bella Sera); and all the home-cooks in Capps' Italian family (his Grandma Greco instilled in him the importance of recycling and composting, and his mother's organic farm provides much of the produce, including the ingredients for the house pesto and pickles).
Bella Sera's green initiatives include: energy-efficient appliances, composting, using local products and eco-friendly cleaning products, recycling fryer oil into biodiesel, bottling and bubbling their own water, and, weather-permitting, "zero emissions catering," through delivery by Green Gears Pedicabs.
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Writer: Caralyn Green
Source: Jason Capps, Bella Sera
Photograph courtesy Bella Sera