New cafe from Bella Notte family opens for carryout, free delivery in Chevy Chase
Bella Cafe and Grille, the latest dining spot from the restaurant owner behind Smashing Tomato and Bella Notte, has opened.
Kuni Toyoda opened the Chevy Chase new place in the former Le Matin bakery space on Dec. 1. The popular bakery closed in August 2019 after 37 years.
Opened only for carry out lunch and dinner at the moment, Bella Cafe and Grille is planning to blossom in the spring into the kind of legendary local place it is replacing, according to Tiffany Blair, director of operations for the Bella Notte Restaurant Group.
“The original idea was to create a neighborhood restaurant with elevated food for dining in. And it was supposed to open in March,” she said. “The COVID happened and we put it on hold.”
They expected it would be 2021 before the cafe could open but people have adjusted to takeout and delivery so they decided to launch.
Bella Cafe has added free delivery, through the Toast ordering app that works with DoorDash, she said, giving the restaurant a delivery option with more control and fewer fees.
To reward those who jumped in first, the cafe offered a free baguette with the first 50 orders of the day the first week they are open.
Yes, those baguettes, the ones that Le Matin’s Abbas Larian made.
Blair said that Larian came in to teach them how to make Le Matin’s famous baguettes, brioche and some of Debbie Larian’s famous desserts.
The process for the bread was tricky: “Abbas came in four times to teach us. The first time he said, ‘It will get better.’ The second day he said, ‘It will get better.’ The third day he said, ‘It will get better,’” Blair said. “The fourth time he said, ‘This bread is good.’”
The restaurant’s menu is pared down from what was originally planned. Blair said they focused on what would best survive carryout, testing dishes in packaging to see how they tasted after 30 minutes.
What they came up with was a lineup of salads, burgers and sandwiches, a few entrees and desserts. More gem-like desserts like fruit tarts will be coming.
But each has special touches: The ranch dressing is housemade for instance, and the croutons on the salad are made from the baguette bread, tossed in olive oil and Bella Notte’s herb blend.
Blair said the menu will grow once they are comfortable with running the cafe and have a feel for what customers want. The next phase will include prime rib and a French dip sandwich as well as some vegetarian options such as a tofu sandwich and another pasta.
Although Kentucky restaurants likely will be able reopen for dining in, with limits, on Dec. 14, Blair said the cafe plans to wait.
“The restaurant’s pretty small, so we really need full capacity,” she said.
Also coming: Weekend brunch, but it likely will have to wait until the pandemic has eased.
“People want brunch, there’s definitely a demand for it in this area,” she said. “But carryout brunch is very tricky.”
Bella Cafe & Grille
Where: 890 E. High St.
Open: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Online: Bellacafeandgrille.com
Call: 859-785-1922
