Sam DiBattista has been in the food business for 38 of his 52 years, so he knows a thing or two about how to run a successful restaurant.

The former owner of the upscale Vivo, in Bellevue, is savvy enough to recognize when to toss in the towel, as he did when he closed Vivo last year and re-opened last month as Bite Bistro at the same location on Lincoln Avenue.

"Vivo was expensive," admits DiBattista, the owner and executive chef of the freshly painted 45-seat eatery. "The market dictated change. Our goal at Bite Bistro is to allow people to dine here more often than they could at Vivo.

"Vivo was Italian-inspired," he says. "The idea was to not take Vivo and bring it here. We wanted a bistro ideology, and to offer quality food at a lower price point."

DiBattista has been gratified at the response to the change. He sees a lot of the old Vivo clientele coming to Bite Bistro, as well as first-timers who have seen the website, or heard about the bistro through others. DiBattista, who is married to Lori, hired both of their daughters, Danina, 26, and Martina, 22, to manage the new place.

"The restaurant business has changed dramatically in the past decade," he says. "Nobody wants to be that white-tablecloth place anymore. People want to be relaxed when they go out. I don't like spending a lot of time building dishes -- food and flavor should speak for themselves."

Bite Bistro has enjoyed a great deal of interest since opening on March 8, something DiBattista credits partly to his young chef, Mike Cutright, a 27-year-old Creighton resident who, DiBattista says, "has a different take on food."

"I took a hands-off approach with Bite Bistro because I have a lot of confidence in Mike," he says. "Mike brings something really interesting to the table. He does most of the menu, and what we're doing is not being done around here."

Cutright got his start as many chefs do, washing dishes as a teen. He worked at J.D.'s Pub in Hartwood Acres for eight years, learning how to cook fast on the line and enjoying the accompanying adrenaline rush.

"I had to learn how to cook from other cooks -- I didn't have a mom who taught me," Cutright says. "I was also going to school to be an art teacher, but then I really got into food. I learned that not only could food taste good, but look pretty, too."

His desire to improve his culinary skills led him to Toast Kitchen & Wine Bar in Bloomfield, a restaurant owned by acclaimed chef Chet Garland.

"I ate there first, and then begged Chet to let me in the building and work my way up," Cutright says. "Everything is from scratch, and he has one of the hardest lines to work in the city. Chet gives a lot of creative freedom, which can be daunting but good. I was having a blast, but then this opportunity came up."

Cutright mirrors Garland in that his contemporary American menu changes daily, and he pulls ideas from a lot of Cajun dishes. The menu, written in chalk on a gigantic blackboard in the dining room, consists of small bites, salads and soups, sandwiches, big bites (entrees) and sweets. All the dishes are made with fresh, high-quality ingredients from scratch.

Some of the recent small bites included grilled polenta with wild mushrooms; fried ricotta with spinach, parmesan and pomodoro sauce; barbecued beef short ribs; pork belly with pineapple salsa; and a salmon crudo with grapefruit, fennel and goat cheese. Recent sandwiches featured slow-cooked lamb with sweet-and-spicy barbecue sauce; slow-roasted pork with caramelized apples and onion; grilled tuna steak with black-olive tapenade; and the half-pound ground chuck burger with aged cheddar and bacon.

Big bites included items such as smoked and potato-wrapped tofu with wild rice; hanger steak with duck-fat fries; braised lamb with collard greens; crispy skin salmon with red pepper cream; and seared cod with greens and citrus-ginger broth.

"It's hard to put a label on our food," Cutright says. "We even have a foie gras dish that sells very well.

"The whole family's awesome here," he says. "Hopefully, I can be a part of something really great."

DiBattista's daughters contribute with creative, homemade soda concoctions that they pair with different dishes.

While Cutright oversees the kitchen at Bite Bistro, DiBattista has been working hard at building a new restaurant in Sewickley, Vivo Kitchen, on Beaver Street, which he hopes to open in the next couple of months. He also hosts a "Fat Club" for chefs at Bite Bistro at the end of every month, as a way of bringing together local chefs to share food, wine and ideas.

"Chefs in Pittsburgh are very interested in expanding the whole restaurant scene," DiBattista says. "Chefs realize that, in order for Pittsburgh to grow, it takes more than just one restaurant."

Chicken Confit Salad with Orange Molasses Vinaigrette

Bite Bistro chef Mike Cutright is sharing his recipe for fall-off-the-bone Chicken Confit Salad with Orange Molasses Vinaigrette. The secret to the tender chicken is the 16-hour "dry brining" process, and a slow bake in a warm oven. The recipe is a simple one, using ingredients that many home cooks would have on hand.

"This is a perfect example of what I think a bistro dish should be," he says. "It's a good, cheap, delicious meal."

He suggests serving this hearty dish with a Semillon wine, a French white wine that he says has the depth of a red wine and that would go well with the flavors of this dish.

For the chicken:

2 cups kosher salt 1 cup sugar A blend of fresh herbs of your choice, chopped, about 1/2 cup (the chef likes tarragon, rosemary, and thyme) 1 whole chicken, cut up; use both whole legs for the dish and leave the skin on 1 to 2 cups of lard, or rendered chicken or duck fat

For the Spring Mix Salad:

4 cups fresh spring mix 1/4 red onion, sliced thin 1 Roma tomato, sliced

Orange Molasses Vinaigrette:

1/3 cup cider vinegar 1/4 cup molasses 1/4 cup orange juice 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper 1 cup vegetable oil (soy or canola)

To prepare the chicken: Mix together the salt and sugar.

In a separate bowl, mix the blended herbs together and pack onto the flesh side of the chicken. Pack the salt and sugar mixture on top of that, and refrigerate overnight for 16 hours.

Wash off the herbs and salt and place, flesh side down, in a glass baking pan. Barely submerge the chicken in your choice of fat. (The chef uses lard, but duck or chicken fat is acceptable.)

Cover with foil and cook at 250 degrees for about 2 hours, or until a bone easily pulls out.

Place in a deep fryer for 1 minute, or reheat in a cast-iron skillet for 2 to 3 minutes to crisp the skin. Set aside.

To prepare the Spring Mix Salad: Combine the salad ingredients .

To prepare Orange Molasses Vinaigrette: Mix the vinaigrette ingredients in an emulsion blender or whisk thoroughly. Toss immediately with the Spring Mix Salad .

To plate: Place 2 cups of the tossed salad with vinaigrette onto each of 2 plates. Place a whole chicken leg (with thigh) on top of each salad . Serve immediately.

Makes 2 servings.

Additional Information:

Bite Bistro

Cuisine: Contemporary American bistro

Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5-10 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 5-11 p.m. Fridays, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays

Entree price range: Small bites, salads and sandwiches for $3-$12; big bites (entrees) for $10-$15

Notes: Major credit cards accepted. BYOB with a $2 corkage fee for wine, $1 for beer. Reservations accepted. Handicapped accessible. Menu changes daily. Extensive menu of unique, homemade sodas. Soda tasting at 7 p.m. Thursday featuring 9 courses with 9 soda pairings for $40, reservations required.

Address: 565 Lincoln Ave., Bellevue

Details: 412-761-9500 or www.bitebistro.com

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