Sneak peek: Lexington pizza, pasta restaurant reopens after COVID with ‘bold flavors’
Very few restaurants come back after closing, let alone after the COVID pandemic.
But one Lexington dining spot is back with an expanded menu of “edgy and bold flavors” at a new location.
Crust will reopen March 25 in the Beaumont Center, in the former Whiskey Bear and Addie’s Stone-Fired Pizza location.
The pizzeria operated as a wood-fired pizza and pasta restaurant in the French Quarter Square shopping center off Richmond Road from 2014-2019, changing its name to Bella Forno shortly before closing in 2020. But the Bella Notte Restaurant Group said it was important to bring back the brand to go along with its five other local dining spots including Belle Notte, Bella Cafe & Grille and Smashing Tomato.
“It felt like the pandemic took so much from everybody,” said Jillian Richards, Director of Marketing and Training for the Bella Notte Restaurant Group. “Taking one of our brands was just heartbreaking. And so having the opportunity to bring that back is wonderful.”
How is new Crust location different from old one?
There are two notable differences between this version of Crust and the former.
The new location has fresh paint and fresh flooring, and the feel of the restaurant is different with a light, West Coast ambiance.
There’s a giant outdoor patio lush with greenery and a sitting area around a fireplace. About half of the patio is covered and can be partially enclosed with automated dividers from the non-covered part. With heaters, the restaurant is expecting to use the space all seasons, much like their patio at Bella Cafe Palomar.
Crust has a full-service wait staff, different from the quick-service atmosphere of its sister pizza and pasta restaurant, Smashing Tomato. Crust is looking to be more elevated than Smashing Tomato, but it’s not white tablecloth — there are cloth napkins at each table, even out on the spacious patio.
“At Smashing, we’re trying to appeal to the whole family. And here (Crust) it’s gonna be the foodies coming out who can’t get it anywhere else,” said Richards.
What’s on the menu at Crust?
Those foodies will notice another big difference between this iteration of Crust and the previous — the menu.
While they have brought back some favorites, they’ve expanded the menu with more appetizers, more pizza from the Italian stone oven and more fresh pasta dishes being made with Lexington Pasta.
“The ones that we had before, they were not as edgy and bold flavors as what we are doing now,” said Richards. “So it’s exciting, (there’s) some things that I haven’t really seen on any menu in Lexington.”
That includes artisan pizzas like the spicy Nemesis ($19) with ‘nduja spreadable pork, fior di latte cheese, peppadew peppers and fresh basil. And the Funkhi ($19) topped with three different mushrooms (porcini, shiitake and cremini), ricotta, egg, Parmesan and crushed chili.
Another standout of the nine pizzas on the menu is the Grape Ape ($18), which is baked with crema sauce, roasted grapes, pancetta, Gorgonzola and arugula.
The five pasta dishes on the menu are highlighted by two made with squid ink — yes, the pasta is black.
The spicy Scampi ($22) uses squid ink tonnarelli pasta, shrimp, calabrian chilies, garlic, preserved lemon and is topped with garlic herb breadcrumbs. While the d’Abruzzo ($18) is made with the squid ink tonnarelli pasta, bottarga (often called “poor man’s caviar”), garlic, chili and topped with garlic herb breadcrumbs.
“It’s fun to bring some of those flavors to Lexington,” said Caitlyn Maynard, Marketing Specialist with Bella Notte Restaurant Group. “The culinary scene has changed so much since 2020, I feel like the community is looking for something a little different.”
Included in the eight appetizers are Burrata ($19; creamy Italian cheese with prosciutto, fig jam, arugula, grilled ciabatta bread and extra virgin olive oil), Meatballs ($10) and Garlic Knots ($12).
There’s a selection of four salads on the menu and three sandwiches, including the spicy Salumi ($16) with genoa salami, coppa, mortadella, provolone cheese, arugula and giardiniera.
The four scratch-made desserts are highlighted by doughnuts and coffee gelato ($11) from Sorella Gelateria. The ricotta-flavored zeppoli Italian pastries are dusted with cinnamon sugar. They had been an occasional special dessert at Bella Notte but customers kept raving about them Richards said.
There is a large, full-service bar with a menu of bourbon, wine, cocktails and draft beer. Crust is the first Bella Notte Restaurant Group location to have draft beer.
Another new restaurant in the Bella Notte family?
The new Crust location might not be the last new restaurant coming in 2025 from the Bella group. President and owner Kunihide Toyoda previously said they are looking to expand within the Bella family, and Richards said they are close to announcing plans.
“We’re always looking, and it really does come with the best location and opportunity,” said Richards “We’ve been begged to go to the Hamburg area forever and ever. So once we announce that, I think we’ll have a lot of very excited (people), and hopefully that’ll be soon.”
Crust
Where: 3195 Beaumont Centre Circle, Suite #100
Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sun.-Thur.; 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat.
Reservations: Can be made online at OpenTable.com
Specials: Thursday is half price bottles of wine; Happy Hour to come
This story was originally published March 24, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
