After Mary Ann Calabrase and Chris Lee lingered for several hours over a recent lunch at Coco’s Prodigious Food Artisans, Calabrase said, “If we had brought sleeping bags, we’d stay overnight.”

That’s how much they enjoyed the experience.

Their order included a Reuben sandwich and fries, beef barley soup, white chicken chili and a dessert flight of four cocktail-inspired goodies.

“The food was fantastic, the service was excellent and it was a great experience,” said Calabrase of Greensburg. “We’ll definitely be back.”

“It was our first time here and they made us feel very comfortable. We’re absolutely thrilled,” added Lee of Latrobe.

The restaurant opened June 28 at 201 West Drive in Hempfield, in the space formerly occupied by Lupi & Leo.

“Our customers are excellent and our staff is excellent,” said co-owner Rob Bazala of West Newton. “That’s the key to this industry. More than the owners, the customers and the staff make or break a restaurant, and we’re blessed to have an abundance of both.”

Bazala said Coco’s provides an upscale dining experience with a menu varied enough to satisfy any taste or appetite.

Courtesy of Matt Kuhns Buffalo chicken mac ‘n cheese from Coco’s Prodigious Food Artisans in Hempfield.  

Bazala, 58, said he’s been working in the area restaurant business since he was 15, at both brick-and-mortar and mobile eateries. His partner at Coco’s is Chef Matt Kuhns of Irwin, a graduate of the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute and veteran of area kitchens including Rodney’s, The Boulevard and Laurel Valley Golf Club.

Kuhns, 43, was the proprietor of the short-lived 520 Bar & Grill in Jeannette, which fell victim to the pandemic shutdown less than a year after opening in November 2019.

“There’s a lot of Italian influence in our menu, Asian influence, Mexican, regular American fare and a little bit of Mediterranean,” Kuhns said. “Basically a six-top can come in here, and each person at that six-top should not have a hard time finding something on the menu.”

“We should be able to please everybody,” Bazala added.

Entree prices start at $18 for the pasta bruschetta, with sauteed fresh diced tomato, garlic and herbs, tossed with trumpet pasta, baked with mozzarella and served over garlic crostini with a balsamic glaze.

At $50, there’s the Quatro Dall Aqua, with shrimp, lobster claws, crab cake, mahi mahi fillet, vegetable, potato, charred lemon and drawn butter.

The crab cake, filet sizzler and 12-ounce New York strip entrees are market price.

Art of the dish

Appetizers include the $18 Coco’s graffiti sharing platter, with roasted pepper medley, caprese marinade, marinated mushrooms, olive salad, sliced pears, garlic crostini, pita chips, grain mustard, apricot preserves, Italian meats and cheeses.

A fusion influence is evident in the poke bowl nachos, also $18. The dish has sushi rice, avocado, green onion, purple cabbage, cucumber and choice of sashimi tuna or salmon topped with Asian Persuasion and Yum Yum sauces, served with nori strips.

There are soups, salads, bowls, mac ‘n cheese, sandwiches, burgers and tacos, which come with a corn fritter.

“The combos in the tacos aren’t something you’re gonna see anywhere else,” Kuhns said — like the grilled mahi mahi and charred pineapple or pulled chicken, spinach and roasted strawberry.

Grinders are available for lunch and takeout, and there’s also a takeout pizza menu.

Breads and pastries are made in-house by pastry chef Erica Bahnak. Among the sweet endings, the dessert flight includes a chocolate Grand Marnier cookie, strawberry champagne sorbet, pina colada panna cotta and Jack and Coke cake.

Shirley McMarlin | Tribune-Review Chef Matt Kuhns (left) of Irwin and Rob Bazala of West Newton are partners in Coco’s Prodigious Food Artisans in Hempfield.  

“It took Matt and I a little over two months to design the menu. I told him things that I wanted, he told me things that he wanted,” Bazala said. “I liked his stuff and he liked my stuff, and it just worked. He came up with the plating of the dishes and the actual art of the dish, so it comes out looking beautiful.

“I have ideas, but he executes them.”

Dominated by black, white and grey with industrial touches, the restaurant interior was designed by Bazala’s girlfriend, Lisa Phillips, and Denise Bowen, owner of Junque Genius Studio & Marketplace in Irwin. Decorative touches include classic rock lyrics that Bowen hand-painted on the walls.

Shirley McMarlin | Tribune-Review Denise Bowen, owner of Junque Genius Studio & Marketplace in Irwin, designed the interior of Coco’s Prodigious Food Artisans in Hempfield.  

There’s a personal touch behind the name, too.

“My girlfriend and I have been together 10 years. We were high school sweethearts and married other people, then both got divorced and got back together in 2012,” Bazala said. “Now there are grandkids, so all the grandkids, instead of calling her Nana or Gigi, they call her Coco.”

The rest of name comes from their associate who installed the HVAC system, kitchen and lighting.

“Since we were upscale, he wanted to use the word prodigious, meaning ‘awesome’ or ‘excellent,’” Bazala said.

Coco’s is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily except Sunday. For information or takeout, call 724-838-8160 or visit cocosgreensburg.com.

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