Big Burrito has signed a lease to open its first new concept in well over a decade in O’Hara, in the spot that’s been occupied by Donato’s Fox Chapel for eight years. 

Big Burrito corporate chef and partner Bill Fuller confirmed the signing of the lease, but “that’s all we’ve got,” he said. He and Big Burrito president Tom Baron are not ready to reveal the details of the new place that is on track to open this fall. 

Until Sunday, the address at 46 Fox Chapel Road was where opening chef Donato Coluccio filled the dining room with customers looking for seafood and steakhouse classics. He had been the chef at Capital Grille, Downtown, before he opened his own restaurant. He left the restaurant several years ago. Donato’s was owned by David Tesone. 

Donato’s last day of service was over the weekend, including full dinner service on Easter Sunday. 

Big Burrito is one of Pittsburgh’s most established independent restaurant groups. For the past several years, the group has concentrated on opening Mad Mex locations, with the most recent spot on track to open in the fall at 1041 Freeport Road, in Waterworks Mall near Aspinwall, just in time for the restaurant’s 25th anniversary in October.  

For Pittsburgh residents in the restaurant industry, it may be a rite of passage for cooks, servers and bartenders to spend a portion of their career in the kitchen, behind the bar or as a server or manager at a Big Burrito restaurant. 

The last splashy opening for the group was Eleven in 2004 in the Strip District, with Greg Alauzen as executive chef. He’s now the chef-owner of LeoGreta, which opened in Carnegie over the weekend. Derek Stevens, the original sous chef, is now the chef-owner of Union Standard, Downtown. 

When Eleven opened, Big Burrito had just fewer than a dozen restaurants under its umbrella, including Casbah in Shadyside, which debuted in 1995, with Soba and Kaya also opening in the ’90s. Umi opened in 2002. 

Melissa McCart: mmccart@post-gazette.com; Instagram @postgazettefood; Facebook @postgazettefood.

First Published: April 2, 2018, 6:23 p.m.