Chef from D.C. will run new restaurant taking over Poros space in Market Square

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

How will a new Italian chef from the D.C. area add to the vast landscape of Italian fare in Pittsburgh?

That’s the question of the hour with the opening of Molinaro Ristorante in June in the former Poros space in Market Square, Downtown.

The 8,000-square-foot restaurant comes from Ron Molinaro and his partner Bob Wolfinger, the duo behind Il Pizzaiolo and its recent expansions in Marshall and Indiana Township.

The new executive chef, Domenico Cornacchia, grew up in the Abruzzo region of Italy, east of Rome. Mr. Molinaro homed in on Mr. Cornacchia because he’s wanted to take Pittsburgh Italian fare to the next level, he said when he confirmed buying the Poros spot.

Mr. Molinaro, who founded Il Pizzaiolo in Mt. Lebanon in the ’90s, has long valued regional Italian cooking. He fine-tuned his craft as a pioneer in the popularity of Neapolitan pizza by finding mentors from Naples before opening his own restaurant. This mentoring paired with his obsession for pizza helped Mr. Molinaro earn a reputation as a master pizzaiolo by adhering to strict pizza-making rules — reinforced by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana, an international group that crowns pizzas as the real deal when they meet requirements in traditional Neapolitan pizza-making. Those involve sourcing flour, tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella, the latter of which Mr. Molinaro gets shipped from Italy every week.

Since he founded Il Pizzaiolo, Mr. Molinaro has partnered in other ventures such as Pirata in Market Square and what’s now called Pizzaiolo Primo, the former Il Pizzaiolo in Market Square, where he’s broken up with partners. But Molinaro Ristorante is a new phase of his career.

For one, it’s very big and calls for additional staff, including a super experienced chef to run the kitchen. It’s also the first restaurant opening from among the handful of properties Mr. Molinaro and Mr. Wolfinger are in the middle of purchasing from Big Y Restaurant Group led by Yves Carreau, which includes NOLA on the Square and Perle.

Ron Sofranko of Sofranko Advisory Services, based in Pine, has been representing Mr. Carreau in the transactions. Poros was the first completed transaction, and it closed last weekend. When first interviewed about the acquisition, Mr. Molinaro said he will not close NOLA and Perle — or at the very least, not right away.

An uptick in ambition along with some serious capital can attract chefs with a resume such as Mr. Cornacchia’s. Aside from his Italian bona fides, he’s the former longtime executive chef of a D.C. power broker trio of restaurants with Cafe Milano as the heavyweight. Last year, The New York Times described the place as where “some of the world’s most powerful people go to be noticed but not approached.”

Mr. Cornacchia also has been part owner of Assaggi Osteria in the swanky D.C. suburb of McLean, Va., where it’s been a neighborhood crowd pleaser for nearly a decade. Assaggi has earned praise for its burrata and sliced-to-order Parma prosciutto, fritti misti, chicken livers over polenta and pappardelle Bolognese.

Whether his Assaggi dishes will land on Molinaro Ristorante’s menu remains to be seen. In the meantime, Mr. Cornacchia will keep a hand in his McLean restaurant and is in the process of moving to Pittsburgh.

Mr. Cornacchia found Mr. Molinaro by way of a guy who works for the Il Pizzaiolo group, Tonino Topolino, whom the Abruzzo chef knew back in the Washington area, Mr. Wolfinger confirmed.

Mr. Topolino is another story. Originally from Naples, he’s spearheading the transition of the now-closed Pizzuvio on Forbes Avenue that Mr. Molinaro and Mr. Wolfinger opened in 2016 then closed a year later.

That restaurant will reopen as Pizzuvio Pizzaria and Wine Bar, serving Neapolitan and Roman-style tray pizzas as well as regional Italian snacks. The fast-casual service will be swapped out for table service, although it will remain casual. Look for the restaurant opening after Molinaro Ristorante gets its groove this summer.

As for Mr. Cornacchia, expect to see him around Market Square starting this week.