Bonefish Grill founders start new eatery

ST. PETERSBURG — Two members of Bonefish Grill's founding team and former joint venture partners plan to open a new restaurant concept, Noble Crust, this summer in north St. Petersburg.

Construction for the 160-seat restaurant is currently underway at the former Haymarket Pub and The Hideaway property at the corner of Fourth Street North and 83rd Avenue North. The Noble Crust team purchased several properties to accommodate a 3,300-square-foot restaurant and parking lot.

Noble Crust partners TJ Thielbar and John Mays, who will handle restaurant operations, were both joint venture partners and operations managers for Bonefish Grill. Both were also involved in Hops Grill & Brewery at its early stage - Thielbar as national culinary director and Mays as regional director of operations - in the early 1990s.

The cuisine for the new casual restaurant is described as Italian cooking combined with Southern ingredients.

Noble Crust's third partner, Jeff Strouse, who has a background in law and accounting and is a consultant for a financial services firm, will help oversee the restaurant's business and legal operations. The restaurant's Executive Chef Rob Reinsmith is a Pinellas County native, who spent the past several years in New York City, most recently working under chefs Mario Carbone at Parm and Rich Torrisi at Torrisi Italian Specialties.

“Opening Noble Crust in St. Pete is significant to us because it feels like we're coming home,” Thielbar, says in a press release. “John and I were part of the original team that opened the very first Bonefish Grill right down the street from the Noble Crust site, and Rob was born and raised here. We're very excited to revitalize that entire corner of Fourth Street and 83rd and create something the local community and the city of St. Pete can be really proud of.”