Dashi Hebeja is constantly busy, running around his shop. Holding up two massive homemade pizzas fresh from the oven, he has his hands full.
“This is my life, you know?” Hebeja said, placing the pizzas onto elevated silver trays in a glass display case. “My pizza is good pizza. That’s all.”
La Casa Bella pizza of Main Street Manayunk has been Hebeja’s pride and joy for the last seven years. The narrow, intimate space sits on the edge of
Main Street, minutes from the Manayunk bridge. Inside the shop, amid bright windows and salmon-pink walls, are a few wooden tables and stools.
Hebeja’s wife and two daughters help out when it gets busy. A security camera installed by Hebeja in the shop delivers a live stream to his home, so that in a pinch, his family can come over during restaurant rush hours to lend a hand.
Hebeja moved to the U.S. from Albania and picked up a passion for cooking 17 years ago. Under the wing of his first boss in Philadelphia, a Greek owner of an Italian restaurant, he built the foundations of his classic recipes for pizza and ravioli.
La Casa Bella is well known for Hebeja’s homemade sauces, cheese and dough, but perhaps most of all, his chicken bacon ranch pizza.
“It’s definitely the most popular pizza,” said Emilio Alvarado, one of the shop’s employees. “That one goes pretty fast.”
The recipe is Hebeja’s best kept secret, and has yet to be replicated by other local competitors, he said. “I do my special sauce,” Hebeja said. “Everybody’s got chicken bacon ranch, but they need something. I have it.”
Not a single pizza is thrown away or wasted on Hebeja’s watch. When the pizzas on display are ready to be replaced, Hebeja gives the remaining slices to homeless members of the Manayunk community.
“If you work for yourself, there is more space to be a better person,” Hebeja said. Colin Snyder ’20, a recent hire at La Casa Bella, said Hebeja’s community outreach means a lot to him and his fellow staff members.
“Not only is it a warm place during the winter, but that one slice of pizza can be their only meal of the day,” Snyder said.
On a street filled with upscale shops and dine-in restaurants, La Casa Bella boasts no frills: no social media accounts, only a sun-stained sign out front. Word of mouth drives loyal customers into the shop, and business is booming.
“It’s a more authentic feel,” Alvarado said. “You come in, and you actually talk to Dashi or one of the guys working in the back.”
Gianna Gesualdo ’20, said she enjoys walking over to La Casa Bella after a night out on the town.
“Great pizza with great people,” Gesualdo said. “I’m always greeted with a smile and laugh.”
