Joe Mama’s bought by Fuel and Fuddle owners, will reopen as new restaurant

During the last week of this month, Joe Mama’s Italian DeLuxe will close briefly only to reopen as Olio Trattoria under new ownership.

Brandon Smith, Greg Ripper and Daniel Sutton purchased Joe Mama’s, located on the corner of Forbes and Oakland Avenues, from Mike Hanley and Jerry DiLembo. Smith, Ripper and Sutton also purchased Fuel & Fuddle from Hanley and DiLembo in July so that the pair could focus on their other restaurant, Burgatory. Hanley said he and DiLembo plan to expand the Burgatory chain in the future.

Smith said his group will take control of Joe Mama’s on October 27, after Pitt’s Homecoming weekend. Joe Mama’s will then close until November 4, the scheduled date for the opening of Olio Trattoria.

“Our concept is traditional upscale, but affordable,” Smith said of the new restaurant. “We’re getting away from the concept of a cheesier Joe Mama’s and showing people that we’re serious about food and wine here.”

While the restaurant is closed, Smith plans to acquaint himself with the existing staff. He said he hopes to retain the staff to work in the new restaurant, and he also wants to work on indoor and outdoor renovations. 

The majority of the renovations will be cosmetic, Smith said, but the entire menu will change. 

“This is a concept flip and a new restaurant,” Smith said. “But it’s not like we’re changing from Italian [food] to Chinese.”

Hanley said Smith and his partners approached him roughly six weeks ago to talk about the possible sale of Joe Mama’s, and they have signed an agreement that both parties wish to keep private. Neither Hanley nor Smith would provide details on the price at which the restaurant sold.

“Brandon, Greg and Dan have been looking for space to do Olio Trattoria for some time,” Hanley said in an email on Tuesday. “Brandon is a good friend and is aware of our expansion plans for Burgatory.”

Smith, who previously worked at Fuel & Fuddle in various roles for 13 years, said he has no plans to make any major changes to the hours operation for Olio Trattoria. 

Olio Trattoria — meaning “oil tavern” in Italian — came after brainstorming Italian restaurant names that were, according to Smith, “not too hard to pronounce,” and focused on the ingredients involved in Italian cooking. 

“One of the problems with Italian restaurants is that there’s a lot of them in Pittsburgh,” Smith said. “And the names tend to sound similar. We wanted a name that people could remember.”