Say Cheese, Pasta, Pizzas and More: Berkley-Based Crispelli's Opens Second Location

Crispelli’s Bakery & Pizzeria opened its second location in West Bloomfield Tuesday and the restaurant has plans to open two more locations in Novi and in late 2015.

The Berkley-based restaurant operates with a fast-casual format, which allows customers to place orders at the counter and pick up their meals in only minutes, the Detroit Free Press reports.

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The West Bloomfield location has expanded beer, wine and pasta selections, in addition to soups, salads, panini, appetizers, deli sandwiches burgers, cedar-planked salmon, and pizzas.

Pastas include cheese-filled beggar’s-purse noodles with porcini mushroom sauce and the béchamel-and-ricotta lasagna originally served at the Berkley location, which opened in 2012 at 28939 Woodward Ave.

Sylvia Rector, the newspaper’s restaurant critic, said the hallmark of the expanded menu at the West Bloomfield restaurant, located at 6690 Orchard Lake Road, is Crispelli’s “thin-crust pizzas with pristinely fresh toppings and flavorful, blistered crusts that are both crisp and pleasantly chewy.”

Rector called the restaurant, which seats 165 and has an enclosed four-season patio with warmed floors and forced air heat, “strikingly handsome.” Two stone-hearth pizza ovens help the staff keep pace with orders.

Crispelli’s co-owner Mark Artinian said “food is what we take most seriously”

“The partners and I – and chef Steve Lindemier, who’ll be training the new cooks – we are all foodies. We’re very serious about our food. ... Our artisan breads are made from scratch every day. Our pizza dough is made with natural starters every day. We’re not buying anything prepared – we’re just buying ingredients.”

The other partners are Artinian’s brother-in-law Glen Willson, owner of Willison’s Pub in Commerce Township; and brothers Joe and Ken Morelli, Artinian’s childhood friends who owned several Papa Romano’s franchises.

Ron Nussbaum is the general manager of both the Berkley and West Bloomfield restaurants.

Artinian said leases are still being negotiated for the Novi and Troy restaurants. If it all goes well, construction could start this spring with openings around this time next year.

If you go:

What: Crispelli’s Bakery & Pizzeria | Where: 6990 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield Township | Hours: Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sundays, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. | Phone: (248) 254-4760

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Photo: Crispelli’s Bakery & Pizzeria – West Bloomfield Facebook page