Photo Credit: Photo via Facebook

After a brief period where the space that previously housed Piccolo's was closed (see previously here), in a Watkinsville shopping center on Hog Mountain Road (by Bell's), it reopened rapidly, under new ownership, as Bella Noche. The new place calls itself an Italian/Latin restaurant, but the Italian part of the menu is considerably larger.

Many of the same dishes remain on the menu because they're standards: lasagna, chicken Marsala, fried calamari. But there are some new things, too, like arancini (fried rice balls, stuffed with mozzarella in this case), chicken riggies (an Italian-American rigatoni dish with chicken, sausage, hot peppers, black olives and vodka sauce) and quail stuffed with prosciutto and pineapple.

Latin options include linguine con camarones (with shrimp), almejas y mejillones (mussels and baby clams), some choices among the sides (yuca frita, tostones, platanos maduro) and horchata in the drinks section.

The lunch menu (six days a week) features pasta and sandwich specials, and Sunday brunch brings pancakes, French toast, eggs and more. Dinner is served every night. Some pasta is gluten-free, and there's a kids' menu.