LEWISBURG, W.Va. -- Pay very close attention if someone invites you to meet them at that recently opened Stella's place near downtown. Or, no, maybe it's Bella.

Or, wait -- maybe it's Bella Casa.

Stella's. Bella. Bella Casa. Which is it?

All three may be right since within the last year three businesses with similar-sounding names have opened in a municipality that was recently voted America's Coolest Small Town by Budget Travel magazine.

Here then is a user's guide to three rhyming establishments -- two restaurants and a gourmet food and gift shop -- whose names may sound alike but whose missions and delicacies are both divergent and particular.

Bella the Corner Gourmet

WHERE: 100 E. Washington St.

PHONE: 304-520-2414

ONLINE: bellathecornergourmet.com

THE NAME: "'Bella' is a play on my maiden name, which was Bell," says owner Tamera Pence. "And the 'a' is a tip of the hat to my dad, whose middle name was Augustus, otherwise known as 'Gus.'"

Bella the Corner Gourmet opened in May 2010 at a prime piece of real estate at the corner of Washington and Jefferson streets. It has quickly become the local go-to place for everything from artisanal cheeses, craft beers and French Press coffeemakers, to high-end picnic baskets, wine glasses and grass-fed beef.

Bella's website keeps a running tally of new products and treats rotating onto shelves and into its refrigerated spaces. ("RECENT NEWS: Urban Accents Dry Glazes, Sable & Rosenfeld Olives, Istar Sheep Cheese & Galli Olive Oils and Balsamics!")

It's been a rather heady return to the area for owner Tamera Pence, who, in her 20s, sold shoes at the nearby Greenbrier resort.

Pence, a Maryland native, had never run a retail shop until she and her husband returned to the region. She had business experience to draw upon, though, having managed an 18-hole golf course and fitness facility in South Carolina, for example, and doing commercial office leasing work.

"I had a girlfriend tap me on the shoulder and say, 'You can do this.' I went and did some research and took everything I'd learned over the past 35 years of business," Spence said.

The corner building came first. "I walked in and said, 'Sir, would you like to sell your building?' And he said, 'Yes.'"

The sunlit space is not large, but a large selection of gourmet food and gifts is packed into it, including a popular bin of artisanal cheese, which can be sampled at the shop's regular cheese and wine tastings.

"Our collection of wines is not deep by any means -- I'm not a sommelier -- but we know enough to make their experience in dining OK," Pence said.

In fact, between the collection of cocktail party gear, gourmet appetizers and regionally grown beef, pork and occasionally chicken, you could outfit a high-end feast -- then pack leftovers and wine into one of Bella's wicker picnic baskets for an outing the next day.

Early on during one crazy day, Pence recalled a moment when she realized how much her life had changed. She glanced at what she dubbed her "good cracker collection," which includes $9 boxes of Canadian Crisps she can hardly keep in stock.

"Things were hysterical, and I'm going, 'What am I doing?' I'm making my living selling crackers and cheese,'" she said, adding, "It's actually pretty fun."

In addition to the family roots of the name, "bella" also means "beautiful" in Italian, which fits the shop's mission, she said. "It just seems appropriate to put beauty in your home, on your table, on your palate and to share with your friends and family."

She quickly learned that another local establishment also had a beauty of a name, when people began calling about the menu at Bella Casa.

"Until the phone companies got the name and the locations straightened out, I was getting a whole lot of their phone calls," said Pence, who just went with the flow. "But it was an opportunity to share who we were. So that's what we did. And then, of course, to send them on to Bella Casa's."

Bella Casa

WHERE: 208 W. Washington St.

PHONE: 304-645-CASA

ONLINE: www.bellacasawv.com

THE NAME: "The Bella Casa name means 'beautiful house' in Italian," says manager Tom Brand.

Bella Casa Ristorante, which opened in February 2011, is the new West Virginia flagship restaurant of Brian and Donna Williams, owners of Pasquales and The Char in Beckley.

Bella Casa combines the menu focus of those two restaurants into one fine dining establishment, says manager Tom Brand.

"Pasquales is pretty much purely Italian, and The Char has been a traditional steak and seafood restaurant. So we took a combination of both to form Bella Casa," he said.

It's fine dining -- "smart casual attire," says the website -- but also not uptight dining, and it all takes place in a historic setting, Brand said.

The building's core structure was first laid about a decade after the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and most recently had housed Tavern 1787. Brand hopes for great things from a great old place.

"I want it to be the coolest dining experience in America's coolest small town -- and yes that's a play on the whole 'coolest small town' thing," said Brand, who previously worked as assistant food and beverage manager at The Greenbrier Casino Club.

It's also one of the best places in Lewisburg to eat outside, he said. "A lot of people want to sit outside."

With a staff of about 30, Bella Casa is geared up to meet what comes. It came during the last Lewisburg Chocolate Festival, on April 9, when they seated and fed about 300 people that day. (A typical solid Friday or Saturday night can range from 160 to 210 people, Brand noted.)

The aim of the restaurant is to provide a democratic set of menu offerings to appeal to a wide set of tastes. "Great Italian food, steaks, chops and seafood -- there is a variety of items on the menu for anybody to be able to pick something and enjoy," he said.

As they moved toward their opening last winter, the owners first learned there was another business in town with 'Bella' in the name, Brand said.

"About a week after we decided to name it 'Bella Casa,' the owner, Donna, received an email from Tamera, who owns Bella. And Donna was like, 'Oh no, we don't want to name it that!'"

But Pence assured them that having two Bellafied businesses in Lewisburg "could be good for all of us," he said. "She had no problem with it, so we stuck with the name."

Stella's

WHERE: 11 S. Lafayette St.

PHONE: 304-520-4937

ONLINE: www.stellasteahouse.com

THE NAME: Named after Alice Stella Hirt, mother of the siblings who launched the restaurant.

Bella Casa and Stella's both lay claim to one of the nicest outdoor dining experiences in town. One of the siblings who launched Stella's even bought a very large outdoor fountain in Memphis, Tenn., and shipped it to Lewisburg, where it splashes away during the restaurant's lunch and dinner hours.

Stella's -- or Stella's Tea House, to give its full name -- is a family affair, even beyond the origin of the name.

"We opened in the end of January 2011," says Nancy Stewart. "The idea for the restaurant was our mother, Alice Stella. This is something she would have liked."

The inspirational matriarch of Stella's, who died 26 years ago, had five children. One day, all of them got together and her brother spoke up and said, "'Let's start a restaurant,'" Stewart recalled.

"And we thought, 'Oh, you're nuts.' But he just moves forward," she said.

Before long, this restored 1890s Victorian home had a "Stella's" sign out front, with a logo of a bird and a nest with five eggs, one for each sibling.

"And my sister decorated everything, and my sister-in-law, my brother's wife, came and helped her with that. It just evolved. And we're having so much fun, and it's doing so well," Stewart said.

All the rooms are christened with the first names of Alice Stella Hirt and her sisters, so, moving about the interior you will move among the Alice, Grace, Lula, Nelda and Ann rooms.

None of her brothers and sister had any restaurant experience, Stewart said, "so we just kind of made stuff up as we went along. It seems to be working."

Her sister, Tammy Perilli, is usually the face customers first meet, but Stewart, a US Airways flight attendant, was filling in this day. "She's the face of Stella's, and I'm behind the scenes going 'check-check-check!'" she said.

The menu focuses on American casual fine dining fare with dinner entrees ranging from dishes like grilled scallop and asparagus salad and curried lamb stew to a popular lobster pot pie.

For lunch, the fried green tomato sandwiches are popular, and the Sunday brunch offers gourmet renditions such as crab and avocado eggs benedict.

Depending on the hour and event, expect to see long gloves to khaki shorts on the clientele.

"We want people to feel comfortable coming in. Ladies love coming in dressed up -- we have a group of ladies who come and wear hats. They drag their gentlemen with them, and sometimes they're all dressed up, and sometimes they're in shorts and sneakers.

"So it doesn't really matter; there is no dress code," Stewart said. "But it gives you an opportunity. Mothers will bring their daughters in, and sometimes they'll have long gloves on and hats. It gives the girls an occasion to kind of get feminine."

The restaurant has a small garden that supplies some of the herbs and vegetables for menu items. Stella's strives to heed the farm-to-table call, using foods from area sources such as West Farms, Lindside Farms, Jeff's Breads, Kee Hill Farms and Westwinds Ranch.

A cellar space has been transformed into a small wine cellar, including a selection of ports and sparkling wines.

Customers sometimes ask about "Stella" and "her" house. "People think this was Stella's house, and we just lie and say, 'yeah,'" Stewart joked.

Don't believe her either when she pats the bust of a female head near the door, which looks suspiciously like a Greek goddess. "This is Stella, by the way.

"Well, it's not really her, but when we saw it we said, 'Isn't she pretty?'"

Reach Douglas Imbrogno at Doug...@cnpapers.com or 304-348-3017.