Chef Kevin Sousa leaves new restaurant venture in Mount Oliver
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Kevin Sousa’s dream of running a restaurant focused on food rooted in his family’s Italian heritage appears to be short-lived.
Less than two months after opening Mount Oliver Bodega restaurant, the iconic and nomadic chef is cutting ties with RE360, the real estate company Sousa partnered with to create the restaurant on Brownsville Road.
Sousa’s wife Megan issued a statement on behalf of Tribute Hospitality, the company they formed with partner Chris Clark. Clark will remain with the restaurant, according to RE360.
“(Mount Oliver Bodega) was created out of love…and out of a passion for what we do – bringing people together over a delicious plate of food, a unique glass of wine, in a beautifully created space. Bringing M.O.B. into existence was a labor of love between myself, my husband Kevin, and our partner Chris Clark. RE360 hired us to open a restaurant – and that we did,” she said. “While we would have liked to have remained on board with this project beyond just opening consultants, the relationship between our vision and RE360’s were no longer aligned.”
Reached for comment later Thursday, Megan Sousa confirmed in an email that she and her husband are no longer consulting for the project.
“The owners (RE360) have decided to go in a new direction,” she said.
Joe Calloway, founder of RE360, a real estate investment company, and owner of the restaurant’s building, said there were differences of opinion. The restaurant originally began selling pizzas for $40, later lowering the price to $30.
“The dream of this restaurant was for it to succeed through what several of us wanted, not just what one individual wanted,” said Calloway. “Yes, it’s an upscale restaurant, but a $40 pizza wasn’t going to be well-received here. And I didn’t want to keep fighting about that before it would change.”
Calloway said the pizza was Sousa’s idea but the rest of the menu was developed by chef Jonah Frazier. He and Chris Clark, the manager, will remain with the restaurant. Clark was the glue that held Superior Motors together, said Calloway.
“Jonah is an amazing chef,” Calloway said. “This dude is awesome. He makes cauliflower taste delicious. He has a great team behind him.”
Calloway said he thought Sousa’s name would result in a cohesive partnership and he partnered with him for the right reasons. But that doesn’t always work out, he said.
“I have good memories with Kevin and I wish him the best,” Calloway said. “I want him to be successful but I also want what is right for us. We made the decision based on what was right for us. We want our best ideas to prevail. This is a team concept. Some people are making this about Kevin and his restaurant experience, but I am not sure what that means. You can’t run a restaurant based on ego.”
The news comes as a bit of a surprise, despite Sousa’s propensity for jumping to different restaurants.
Mount Oliver Bodega and Arlington Beverage Club in Allentown were 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’s latest venture made Sicilian-inspired food, especially pizza, its centerpiece. His wife acted as the sommelier.
“We’re not a pizza shop. We’re a wine shop and restaurant that has one pizza on the menu,” he said in a Tribune-Review interview in September, just before Mount Oliver Bodega opened . “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 did not comment on what his immediate future might hold.