Belisimo’s Ristorante in Finksburg closes to make way for new Italian restaurant

Belisimo’s Ristorante, a landmark on the side of Baltimore Boulevard in Finksburg, will rebrand under new management.

Vasilis “Bill” Lericos and Eric Schlueter signed a lease Wednesday on the restaurant space, which sits along a heavily traveled thoroughfare near the border of Carroll and Baltimore counties. The business partners plan to open a new Italian eatery there late this summer.

Belisimo’s, a Finksburg fixture since 2005, closed in late April, said Francesco DiFatta, who owns the sit-down restaurant, as well as a chain of Belisimo’s carry-outs, with his sons Frank and Anthony. DiFatta will soon turn 74 years old, and, he said, “I’m hoping to slow down and let my boys take over.”

The Finksburg restaurant was the only Belisimo’s location with full service. DiFatta said the dining spot became more difficult to run after his daughter, longtime Belisimo’s manager Anna Cannon, left the role about a year ago. The family decided to rent the building to a new operator, instead. DiFatta said the deal, brokered by Russ Dukan of Allfirst Realty in Pikesville, is a five-year lease with an option for the new restaurateurs to purchase the building in 2029 or continue renting.

Lericos and Schlueter both have a background in hospitality and met at Cafe Mezzanotte in Severna Park more than a decade ago. Lericos, who has been working in the restaurant industry since he was 13 years old, ran the Italian restaurant with his cousin. Schlueter worked there as a bartender and later went on to open his own eatery, Primo Pasta Kitchen, in Pasadena.

The business partners will call their Finksburg restaurant Fiamata, which means “blaze” in Italian. They’re hoping to open the new concept by the end of August, after a renovation of the building is complete.

Fiamata will offer “a more casual take on Italian [cuisine] with some American items mixed in,” according to Lericos, who said the menu will feature pizza, pasta, seafood and steak options. The restaurant will serve lunch and dinner seven days a week.

An upstairs, family-friendly dining room and lounge will seat 180 people, while the basement will house “The Corner Pocket,” a bar and recreation room with pool tables, dart boards and occasional live music.

Lericos said he was drawn to the restaurant space because of its high-traffic location and a relative lack of dining options in the area.

“We like the community a lot, and we think it’s a bit of an underserved market,” he said.

Before Belisimo’s, the building housed another long-running restaurant, Rudys’ 2900, which was a Carroll County haven for fine dining for 23 years before it closed in 2005. Chef Rudy Speckamp and maitre d’ Rudi Paul ran that “temple of Continental cuisine,” as The Sun once described it, serving classic dishes like smoked salmon and free-range quail topped with truffle sauce.

Though Belisimo’s has closed in Finksburg, the family-run chain will continue to operate carry-outs in Westminster, Taneytown and New Windsor.

“I had a long run,” DiFatta said. “Now, hopefully I can slow down.”