Meet Jay Sebes, Owner of Aviva Brick Oven in Warrendale, PA

Dave Jackley
I’m here with Jay Sebes, owner of Aviva Brick Oven in Wexford, Pennsylvania. This is Dave Jackley, with another edition of ExactlyAtHome North of Pittsburgh. And I’m excited to learn more about this fantastic restaurant.

So tell me a little bit of your history, Jay, what like how did how did this whole expansive complex come about?

Jay Sebes
You know, we were very blessed. We started a little restaurant on the other side of the room, as I told you earlier, we had about 44 seats about 15 menu items. And just over the years that evolved, we needed more space to accommodate all the customers coming in. And so we put our Express concept in, which is does everything all of our takeout delivery, and catering out of that one kitchen. And then we acquired the space to put our lounge in to have a nice following that comes in the bar. And then the dining room. And then we have the outdoor dining space on the patio. So yeah, it’s been quite the journey. All good.

Dave Jackley
And your takeout, took off during the pandemic, right?

Jay Sebes
Yeah, you know, from day one, we had a no retreat attitude. And even though we had to close a dining room in the lounge area, our takeout business was quite busy. And we learned a lot of things. When you have 100% of your business going out the front door. You you think you know a lot of things, but you learn quite a few new ones, too. And so it’s actually been very good for us.

Dave Jackley
Fantastic. Yes. Well, what I like about your concept is you’ve got takeout, you’ve got the bar area here, you’ve got two expansive seating areas, the patio out back, and you also cater, you got the portable brick ovens.

Jay Sebes
Yes, the brick ovens have worked out quite well. I actually picked those up at a Pizza Show in Las Vegas. They haven’t had the show in a couple of years because of the pandemic. But hopefully it will return next year. I but saw these there and I liked the idea. So long story short, we acquired the oven, and ended up acquiring two more after that. And now we take those ovens on site, and do private events for people within about a 30 mile radius. And during the pandemic, it worked out tremendously well, because we ended up going to a lot of neighborhoods, maybe setting up in a cul de sac or community center. And folks would come out and it actually turned into a block party after a while. So we had a good time with it our customers.

Dave Jackley
That’s fantastic. I mean, people need block parties during these times. Yes.

Jay Sebes
Ad so it became a welcome relief. Fun. That was great.

Dave Jackley
Well, I you know, we’ve got some video in the restaurant here. And I love the murals and the environment. I mean, it seems like genuine Italy. And you were telling me about the brick ovens like that is a classic Italian way to cook

Jay Sebes
The ovens are phenomenal. We cook it at 700 degrees. And we make everything we do here is made fresh daily. We even make our own cheese. And so a lot of people don’t even know that but you could taste it’s a distinct fresh flavor. And the ovens temp, at 700 degrees, and we’re able to put a single pizza in and out in about four and a half minutes. And it’s just delicious. Crisp. Perfect. That’s fantastic. They’re good. We have two of them. We actually do quite well with the mobile ovens. We have five,

Dave Jackley
And now you have the food truck. That’s great. I mean, you’ve got all the dimensions covered.

Jay Sebes
We just took delivery on a on the food truck. We haven’t even boiled water in it yet. And that we’re wrapping it right now. And that shouldn’t be on road ready, probably in another week. And then you’ll be seeing the Aviva food truck coming out into the community. We’re wrapping it in a burgundy color like this. It’s really sharp.

Dave Jackley
That is fantastic. I’ll show the truck, so folks look for the food truck. But you got to come here to this location. Yes, because this is the place to come.

Jay Sebes
It is. We’ve got a good vibe here. Good. Very good staff and very good food.

Dave Jackley
So let me ask you have you had any, like surprising customer requests along the way?

You know, in the years, you can’t believe some of the things you get. Not too long ago we had somebody calling here and bought an $85 Pizza. They wanted our brick oven pizza with every single topping that we have on thing weighed about eight pounds going out the door and I don’t know how they consumed it. But they did it and was that was so interesting.

I mean every business I guess has its quirky customer.

Jay Sebes
Yes, we got them. We got them all. We got very, very loyal, dedicated, very good customers.

Dave Jackley
That is fantastic. Well, what I like about your story is this started out as a vision. And it kind of grew into the size it is today it did. It morphed with the demand and the times.

Jay Sebes
It took time, obviously, will be here 12 years may, wow. Which is a very long time in this industry. But the first few years, it really, we really got busy. And hence the need for additional seating and a different additional ways to service our customers with the other kitchen. So right now, I mean, I wish we had some more seats. I wish we had a bigger kitchen, but we do, or my team, I should say, does the best they can with what they got. And they knock it out. When that bell sounds, I don’t know how it gets done. They are amazing.

Dave Jackley
Well, you got a great location. I mean, you’re right off the Warrendale exit at 16099 Perrysville Highway or Route 19 .

Jay Sebes
We’re close to 79, close to the turnpike. I like it because you know, we’re high visibility being at this crossway. But we’re very involved in the community, we do a lot of business with local schools and churches. And so we’re within a very great area in Wexford/Warrendale, in touch a lot of the folks in the local community. We get a lot of people coming from traveling going north to Canada, you know, coming off the highway, and they find us whether they’re searching on Yelp or it may be because we have some very good reviews. So we get a lot a lot of out of town people here.

Dave Jackley
Terrific. Well, Jay, I really appreciate your time.

Jay Sebes
Thank you. I appreciate you thinking of us coming on in and I hope everybody enjoys what Aviva offers and and if you do not, I’d like to know about it. So we appreciate everything and all our customers.

Dave Jackley
Well come on in and look for the next edition of ExactlyAtHome North of Pittsburgh, and why the Wexford and Cranberry Towsnhip areas the best places to be and this location is actually dead center of all those. So we’ll see you next time.

Jay Sebes
Thank you very much