What happened to Piazza Del Pane? This northwest Fresno restaurant has a new name, menu
For nearly two years, the Italian-American Piazza Del Pane restaurant in northwest Fresno sat quiet and empty, closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Drivers passing by on the busy street wondered what was going on inside, especially when work trucks started showing up.
The company kept quiet, but now The Bee has all the details.
The restaurant reopened Monday, with a new name, new menu, new drinks – but the same owners – and a new look inside.
It’s now Blast & Brew, a Fresno-based restaurant and bar serving “sophisticated comfort food” with self-serve beer taps.
But first, what happened to Piazza Del Pane?
“When COVID hit, we really lost a lot of employees. Everything was crashing,” said John Ferdinandi, CEO and president of Milano Restaurants, which owns Piazza Del Pane, Blast & Brew and Me-n-Ed’s.
They closed the Piazza Del Pane on Palm Avenue, south of Herndon Avenue.
Take note: The Piazza Del Pane at Cedar and Nees avenues is still open, drive-thru and all. It just got a face-lift, in fact.
But the restaurant at Palm and Herndon now looks majorly different.
Blast & Brew
The big stone fireplace is gone. All the seating has been replaced. Big bubble lights designed to echo beer suds hang from the ceiling.
New tile, flooring and neon lights have been installed. The music is hopping and TVs playing sports and music videos hang on the walls of the dining room.
Blast & Brew has eight locations total, stretching from San Jose to Pismo.
The ninth is headed for Riverwalk, a new shopping center near Highway 41 and Avenue 12 in Madera, possibly later this year. It will sit next to a Me-n-Ed’s with delivery and carryout pizza.
One of the first Blast & Brews opened a few years ago on Pollasky Avenue in Old Town Clovis.
Like the others, the Palm location has 26 self-serve taps serving all kinds of craft beer. It’s a way for people to sample different kinds of beer without repeatedly pestering a server.
Customers show their ID to a worker and are given a card that activates the taps. They can pour a taste, a half glass, or a full glass. A limited number of pours prevents people from getting too wild with their drinking.
This Blast & Brew is one of the first to have a full bar. It has wine and a cocktail menu featuring everything from a “blast-chelada” (a Michelada) to a berry bourbon smash cocktail.
Despite the alcohol, the restaurant is family friendly and has a kids menu.
It also has a large patio, with both enclosed and uncovered sections.
The food/menu
The menu has plenty of “tappetizers,” foods that pair well with beer — like carnitas nachos and bacon-wrapped shrimp.
There are also chicken wings, burgers, four kinds of mac n cheese, rice bowls and salads. Particularly popular? The Cali burger with bacon, avocado and cheddar cheese, and the Philly cheesesteak sandwich.
Hand-tossed 11-inch pizzas are cooked by flame in the pizza oven. Options range from traditional pepperoni to a fig, prosciutto and arugula pizza.
Or, customers can build their own, with vegan cheese and gluten-free crusts as options.
Details: Blast & Brew is at 799 W. Palmdon Drive. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays. 559-229-7263.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 10:03 AM.
