Best Chefs in Pittsburgh: Josh Ross Crafts a Creative Exerience Fit For The Senses at Con Alma

By Olivia Miller

Stop in to Con Alma on any given Saturday night and you can hear rhythmic jazz, drink spirited libations, and eat flavorful fusion cuisine. Since its establishment in 2019, executive chef and owner Josh Ross has been behind the scenes of this musical, culinary powerhouse creating an experience that is “really like nothing else in Pittsburgh.” 

Chef Ross's love affair with cooking began in high school while working in a nursing home kitchen. From there, he worked front of the house jobs at various restaurants before “[falling] into the kitchen” and realizing that cheffing “came easy to me.” 

Getting to Con Alma was no easy feat for him. It took “a lot of work” and perseverance as he built his culinary career in Pittsburgh. He worked at prestigious Downtown restaurants like the former Bravo Franco and Pirata. Between butting heads with the owners and gaining support from regulars to start his own restaurant, He thought “I could do this” and “off we went.” And so, Con Alma’s first location in Shadyside was established in 2019 with the Penn Avenue location opening in 2021. 

The sensory quality of food has intrigued Chef Ross more than anything else over the years. He wants his dishes to “hit all the senses at once” to take diners “on a journey in their mouths.” This could be a journey back in time to “remind you of something you can’t pinpoint” but still lingers in your mind. 

Looking at the fiery flavorful fusion of his dishes, the menu is a true representation of Con Alma’s mantra: “we do everything with soul.”  He avoids tying himself down to a specific cuisine, keeping the menu ever-changing and dynamic. This constant evolution brings creativity to the kitchen and keeps the kitchen staff excited about experimenting with new flavors and combinations. This is largely made possible by the freedom of ownership; he says, “We don’t have to answer to anybody. Why not make what we want?” 

To Chef Ross, being a chef is much more than what the glamorous image portrayed on The Food Network might suggest. Oftentime a thankless job that involves “long hours if you’re doing it properly”, it is about overseeing day-to-day operations, maintaining quality control, ensuring that dishes are prepared to perfection, and a slew of other tasks including being “a boss, a psychologist, and a babysitter.” 

Though it is a difficult, conflict-ridden job, being a chef also has many rewards. Chef Ross says it is “nice when dishes come back empty” and enjoys reading reviews and emails from guests who had a great experience. However, his focus lies not on his individual success as a chef but on witnessing Con Alma flourish as a whole.

As Pittsburgh’s premier jazz bar, their pillars are “Eat. Drink. Jazz.” Chef Ross draws parallels between music and cooking, especially jazz, as both are improvisational arts. To him, chefs are like musicians who produce culinary creations instead of melodic masterpieces. 

Overall, Chef Ross wants patrons to leave Con Alma with a “sensory overload”, having experienced the lively energy that is unleashed when “[the] live music is just right, cocktails are flowing, and everyone is having a good time.”