What's Cooking: Chipotle sets Center opening date; Ambridge & Midland get new pizza shops

What's Cooking is a twice-a-month look at the Beaver Valley dining & drinks scene.

Beaver County's first Chipotle Mexican Grill opens Jan. 19 in Center Township.

Chipotle spokesperson Erin Wolford confirmed the opening date for the Wagner Road restaurant, which shares a parking lot with Marshalls, and will include a drive-thru pickup lane allowing guests to pick up digital orders without leaving their cars.

The Chipotle menu includes burritos, burrito bowls, tacos, quesadillas and salads, as well as lifestyle bowls for those following Keto, Paleo and plant-powered diets.

The Center store's opening comes in time for Carne Asada, available for a limited time on tacos, quesadillas or burritos, featuring steak hand-seasoned with Chipotle's signature blend of spices, finished with fresh lime juice and cilantro, hand-sliced before serving, and grilled fresh every day in small batches.

The Chipotle website boasts of the restaurant chain's absence of freezers, can openers, artificial flavors or artificial colors, as freshness is put at a premium.

"Being real means we only use 53 ingredients you can pronounce," the website says.

"Chipotle operates over 3,300 restaurants in North America, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The Center restaurant becomes the 120th Pennsylvania location, including sites in Cranberry, Moon, North Fayette and Pine townships.

Ambridge pizza & Mexican eateries planned

A new pizzeria hopes to open on Merchant Street, next to Fermata Brewing, in Ambridge.

"Black Dog Pizza is waiting for their architect drawings to get their building permits," Ambridge Manager Mario Leone said.

Meanwhile, in Ambridge's Duss Avenue business district, a new Mexican eatery is planned, next to Frank's Pizzeria.

"Chili Verde got their permits, so remodeling has started," Leone said.

Midland getting pizza shop

Work has begun to open a new pizza shop in Midland.

Big Kat Pizza plans to open at 628 Midland Ave., launching a Facebook page showing its storefront and advising future customers to "follow here for play-by-play updates of all construction, installation of equipment, and start-up.

Big Kat Pizza will sell made-in-house pizza, sandwiches and soup, as well as house-made Italian bread and sandwich rolls.

Baden diner closes

Mr. Jim's diner in Baden closed permanently Jan. 7 after 14 months in business.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, operations will no longer be able to continue," owner Fred Pappas said in a Facebook post. "I want to thank all of our wonderful guests and employees who have supported Mr. Jim’s over the past year. I am humbled that so many embraced this restaurant and the success that it had. We gave it our all and put all that we could into it, but this venture was simply not meant to be."

Serving breakfast and lunch, Mr. Jim's had replaced Sheila's Restaurant, which closed in April 2022 after that eatery's owner retired.

Mr. Jim's was affiliated with the Maple Restaurant, an Ambridge culinary institution, which posted, "We, sadly, had to close our second location, Mr. Jim’s in Baden. As hard as we tried to keep it going, circumstances simply no longer allowed us to keep fighting for Mr. Jim’s to remain open."

Scott Tady is entertainment editor at The Times and easy to reach at stady@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: What's Cooking: Chipotle comes to Center; Ambridge & Midland get new pizza shops