By Mark Schiele

Chef Nick Pisano likens his restaurant/catering business to a hidden gem. For good reason. Especially when it comes to location.

Pisano’s business – The Burly Dove – is kind of located off the beaten path, near the courthouse in downtown Norristown. It’s actually inside the Montgomery County Bar Association building on Airy Street. Which might explain why, if you aren’t a lawyer or in the law business, you might not have heard about it.

“It’s kind of like a place for meetings for firms and offices,” Pisano said. “But we’re a restaurant. We have about 70 seats. It’s a modern-inspired new American cuisine. Everything is fresh and made to order. Lots of healthy choices and while we have a limited menu, we offer something for everyone.”

It’s a private restaurant, but open to members, courthouse visitors, businesses and professionals who work in cooperation with the bar association.

Menu offerings include a variety of salads (including chili-lime shrimp, grilled salmon and even a watermelon-feta) along with burgers and sandwiches of all kinds.

But the Burly Dove also features a catering business, which can serve groups of all sizes and tastes. To help spread the word of the catering side of the business, Pisano set up a tent recently at the Elmwood Park Zoo’s Beast of a Feast.

“Just to get the word out,” said Pisano, who grew up in the Norris Hills section of Norristown, graduated from Norristown Area High School and now lives in King of Prussia.

“I wanted to let people know about it. It was a good time. I met a lot of people.”

Pisano has worked in the food service business since his teenage years, and cooked at area restaurants his entire life. The opportunity to open the Burly Dove was a chance to move to the next level and open his own business.

“It got to the point where I wanted to do my own thing,” Pisano said. “I had an acquaintance who told me about an opportunity at the Bar Association and I went with it.

“It was a great way to get started. Part of my agreement with the Bar is to take care of all their needs for catering and meetings. It was a great way for me to get my feet wet and grow my catering business.”

Pisano also offers cooking lessons. He will go to the customer’s place of choice, bring the food and other necessary equipment and teach all about the joys of cooking.

For more information about the Burly Dove go to the website: www.burlydove.com.