The Bridgeport News
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
by Charles Young STAFF WRITER
Mia Margherita, located in Bridgeport’s Charles Pointe development, is the only restaurant in West Virginia offering its customers artisan, handcrafted pizzas cooked in a coal-fired oven.
Scott Duarte, who operates the restaurant for owners CP Hospitality, said the restaurant puts a contemporary spin on the culinary classic.
“The thought was to try and pay homage to pizza’s history in an original way,” he said. “The very first pizza that was made was the Margherita — named for Queen Margherita of Italy — and that was made with the colors of Italy. So we decided to name it Mia Margherita, which means ‘my margherita,’ so it’s kind of our version of it.”
With the restaurant’s coal-fired oven located in the center of the dinning room, customers can watch each step of the pizza preparation process, Duarte said.
“It’s stretched to order,” he said. “People order a pizza, we toss it, stretch it, top it and put it in there.”
The eatery, which celebrated its fourth anniversary in December, was among the first businesses to call the Charles Pointe development home, Duarte said.
“We had concepts that we wanted to put in from a restaurant standpoint,” he said. “As the market grew, this was one of the first ones we decided to put it. I think it was the business climate, the access to the highway, the things going on at White Oaks — the hospital, the FBI — and it just seemed like a good location to put in a new restaurant.”
In addition to its pizzas, the restaurant offers a variety of other Italian-influenced dishes, Duarte said.
“The menu is made up of coal-fired pizza, focaccia, a lot of fresh pastas, soups, salads and sauté-dishes,” he said.
Located next door to the restaurant is Mia Market, which handles the restaurant’s takeout orders and carries a range of items, including craft beer, wine, deli meats and cheeses, Duarte said.
The market also has a number of ready-to-eat options for people on their lunch hour, Duarte said.
“You can come in and get a fresh-made sandwich or one of our soups that are made daily,” he said. “We have some options for people if they don’t want to come in and sit, they can grab a quick sandwich to go or just grab some takeout and take off.”
The restaurant attracts a broad customer base thanks to its central location, said Aaron Banks, the restaurant’s general manger.
“We have our business professionals, from the FBI and from the engineering firms across the street,” he said. “We have the airport down over the hill and the (Bridgeport) Sports Complex brings us lots of teams.”
In addition to an outdoor eating area that’s open in the spring and summer, the restaurant also has a large private dining area that be rented for special occasions, Banks said.
“We’ve done birthday parties, wedding dinners, rehearsals and receptions,” he said. “It’s a lot of celebrations.”
Mia Margherita is located at 139 Conference Center Way No. 137 in Bridgeport.
The restaurant and market are open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays.
For more information visit miamargherita.com, or call 304-808-4600.
Staff Writer Charles Young can be reached at 304-626-1447 or cyoung@theet.com
