Crisp is ready to show off its crisp new take on pizza, beer and wine

In a town with a voracious appetite - that would be The Woodlands - the arrival of a new restaurant isn't exactly groundbreaking news. But an independent restaurant that is making terrific pizza and pouring great wines and beers in a sophisticated setting? Yeah, it's time to pause from the usual feeding frenzy and consider Crisp Wine, Beer & Eatery.

The new restaurant, which opened last week at 2520 Research Forest in the former Black Walnut space, is the second location of the popular Crisp in the Heights. Crisp's owners created a more upscale interior for their Woodlands store: wood and stone textures, upgraded furnishings, a generous and sophisticated bar and glass wine coolers that act as shimmering room dividers. It's a handsome space where oenophiles can indulge themselves with serve-yourself Enomatic wine dispensers. The beer menu, too, is a thoroughly researched document aimed at a brew-savvy customer.

The hand-tossed pies are the restaurant's signature - big, thin, chewy affairs topped with a clever combination of ingredients. Take the best-selling San Fran's North Beach pie, for example. It's a meat-lovers dream of pepperoni, rosemary ham, and fennel seed sausage scattered with Sicilian olives, tomatoes and chili flakes. The Flying V "Pie in the Sky" features duck leg meat, herb-roasted mushrooms, goat cheese, collard greens and balsamic syrup. Or maybe the unorthodox Cluck Your BBQ is more to your liking: beer-can chicken, smoked gouda, pickled jalapeños, grilled red onion and Dr Pepper barbecue sauce. The Toscano sings with its clever mix of herb-roasted mushrooms, balsamic onions, salami, gorgonzola and sage.

The menu encompasses so much more than hot oven-crisped dough, though. Offerings include starters such as blue crab bisque made with Texas lager; a Houston Dairymaids cheese board; a cured meats board; chilled scallop crudo; baked Texas goat cheese and marinara; saffron arancini; roasted mushroom fondue; and shrimp and polenta.

Yes, there are sandwiches, salads, and a variety of pastas including four cheese ravioli, lasagna with house-made sausage, lamb Bolognese crab macaroni and cheese and giant meatballs with spaghetti. Entrees include beer-can chicken with Parmesan fries; Surf & Turf Risotto (caramelized scallops and beef short ribs); grilled salmon served cioppino style with Gulf shrimp, mussels and calamari in a roasted garlic tomato sauce; beef short ribs with polenta; and grilled beef tenderloin with macaroni and cheese.

"Crisp is known for being a chef-driven menu, which means everything is created by us. All our sauces, all our dressings, all our dough," said general manager/partner Dave Dobbins, referring to the menu created by chef/partner Jared Estes. "Freshness is key to us."

"We like to say we're cooking with love," partner Al Scavelli added. "Everything we make has a little love in it - we take pride in making everything in house."

Scavelli said that the Crisp concept as an upscale neighborhood bar makes perfect sense in The Woodlands, which, despite its growth, has a strong sense of community with a "neighborly feel."

Crisp is now ready to appeal to those insatiable, adventurous Woodlands diners who are looking for their next favorite neighborhood restaurant.

A dish of Parmesan Meatball XL

The San Fran's North beach pizza

Grilled half-pound beef tenderloin