Following the opening of his third Crust Simply Italian in Gilbert’s Verde at Cooley Station earlier this month, owner Mike Merendino has revealed that the next outpost, which is slated to open mid-2023, will take up residence in Mesa, as the Italian restaurateur continues to make good on his plans of opening one new location in Arizona every year until 2029.
“We’re working on a location – nothing to share just yet – but we’re coming real close, and we’re hoping to share the news 100 percent very shortly,” Merendino tells What Now Phoenix, adding, “We’ve been back and forth for the last few months and we’re very close to a deal.”
Since opening its first location in Scottsdale in 2007, Crust has garnered a reputation as some of the most authentic Italian food to be found in the Valley. On the impact that family dinners had on a young Merendino growing up in Long Island, Crust writes on its website, “The food was always simple, but the taste was gourmet and authentic thanks to his mother’s recipes from her hometown of Abruzzi on Italy’s mainland.”
That, coupled with his experience working at his father’s pizzeria where he inherited a “cornerstone” of the Crust menu, The Rustica, resulted in a local favorite.
Today, Crust operates the original Scottsdale location, as well as one in Chandler and the new Gilbert outpost – the latter two of which boast Crust’s speakeasy cocktail bar concept, The Blue Heron, where folks can order their homestyle, comfort Italian cooking from Crust’s kitchen while sipping on “true Classic Cocktails,” mixed by bartenders who “are connoisseurs of the lost art of classic drink making.”
