(File Photo of Open for Business Sign)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Sewickley, PA) A new piazza recently opened in Sewickley around a courtyard with spaces fronted with glass that are designed for guests to both socialize and dine. The project for this new piazza got conceptualized more than five years ago and the announcment for it came in 2022. Sam DiBattista, who is a longtime chef from the Pittsburgh area and the restauranteur of Vivo Kitchen in Sewickley, led development for this new piazza in Sewickley, with backing financially from the president of Pitt Ohio, Chuck Hammel. David Saint Jacques of dsjDESIGN in Sewickley, who is an architectural designer, partnered with DiBattista on this new piazza in Sewickley. The buzz of this new piazza in Sewickley has already started with the two initial tenants, which are both restaurants, continuing their businesses. The first is Torogoz, located on 525 Locust Place in Sewickley, which is a Latin American restaurant run by Julio Peraza, a chef that was born in El Salvador and was raised in Southern California. Peraza also opened a cocktail and wine bar with small bites, Mi Cita, on Beaver Street in Sewickley. The culinary career of Peraza includes being an executive chef at fl.2 at the Fairmont Hotel in Pittsburgh when he came to Pittsburgh in 2018. The second is Moonlit Burgers, located on 523 Locust Place in Sewickley, a restaurant known for its smashburgers. The menu for Moonlit Burgers Sewickley also includes chicken sandwiches, fries and sides. Moonlit Burgers also has two locations in Pittsburgh, Moonlit Burgers Dormont on Potomac Avenue and Moonlit Burgers Uptown on Forbes Avenue. A ramen shop was also supposed to be added to this new piazaa in Sewickley, but that concept fell through during the build-out of the piazza which was extended. According to DiBattista, he is currently looking for a new tenant and he also expects a shared events space above Torogoz to open in the near future.