LoDo’s Italian Restaurant Opens Basement Speakeasy
The team behind popular Italian restaurant Jovanina’s Broken Italian recently debuted a wine cellar speakeasy named Sotto Voce. It’s Italian for “in a quiet voice,” which is appropriate given that the room once connected to downtown Denver’s subterranean tunnel network. Across the 19th Century building, owners/husband and wife Jake and Jennifer Lin...
An Evening in Puglia
PLEASE SAVE THE DATE – November 7, 2019 And join our Honorary Chair Pat Civitate for our 5th Annual Fundraiser Dinner “An Evening in Puglia” benefitting the Italian American Cultural Center of Iowa. We will be featuring the diverse and rich cuisine from the Apulian Region known for burrata, taralli, orecchiette and of course some incredible wines!...
West St. Paul’s Jerry Carbone hangs up his pizza apron. They’re throwing him a party Saturday
In 1973, a 21-year-old Jerry Carbone agreed to run his father’s small pizza shop after the manager was shown the door. Carbone quickly turned around the shop, which was at Smith Avenue and Curtice Street on St. Paul’s West Side. But he had worked long hours — every day. “It started making a profit,” Jerry recalled this week. “And then my dad found...
La dolce vita: Modigliani brings handmade Italian ceramics to Kansas City [sponsored]
Who among us hasn’t dreamed of living the Italian lifestyle — connecting with family and friends over simple but delicious food under the Tuscan sun? Maybe you’ve experienced la dolce vita firsthand on visits to Italy and want to recreate the memories here at home. No matter what about la grande vita captures you, you can embrace it with the functi...
Denver's Spinelli’s Sauce Company Debuts New Branding Inspired By The Tradition and Details of Classic Italy
Spinelli’s Sauce Company is proud to share its bold new look rooted with inspiration from Italy — celebrating with vibrant colors, fresh ingredients, and classic flavors of their recipes. “We partnered with Ellen Bruss Designs to create a feel that will really set our products apart from the competition. Our new labels celebrate not only the tradit...
That’s amore: Ragazza Food & Wine is a cozy midtown hangout with tempting Italian fare
You know how much fun it is to watch your babies grow up? It’s bittersweet but also empowering to see them take on the world. That has to be how Laura Norris feels now that her baby, formerly known as Cucina Della Ragazza, has reopened to great fanfare as Ragazza Food & Wine at 4301 Main St. in midtown Kansas City. When Norris opened the Italian re...
Remembering Rocky: The man behind the famous pizza
If there were an official food of Iowa Falls – a signature dish – surely it would be Rocky’s Pizza. And if the Scenic City had an icon, it would almost certainly be the man who tossed that pizza dough in the air. The one who made friends with everyone he encountered, and who, after more than a decade of service in local government, was still fierce...
Baratta's: A soft-spoken south-side Italian stalwart
Upon arriving at this unassuming establishment, it can feel as if you have stepped right into a companion’s residence. The simple color scheme and non-glitzy nature of Baratta’s truly fit the south-side neighborhood that surrounds it. My friend and I stopped in on a recent weekday and were seated at the multi-room venue in less than a minute. What...
Remember the Titans: Rose Totino, the nonna who brought about a pizza revolution
Rose Totino, founder of the eponymous Totino’s Pizza, brought the famed Italian pizzas to American taste buds in an easy-to-eat, frozen package. She charted its growth from a small takeaway in Minneapolis to becoming the #1 pizza maker in the US in the next 20 years. Not only a suave businesswoman, Totino is also fondly remembered for introducing t...
Don’t Miss the Fresh Pasta at Panzano
As any nonna will tell you, simplicity is the key to superb pasta. Logan Stephenson, Panzano’s new executive chef, agrees. “My approach is bare bones,” he says. “Simple pastas made with four or five ingredients—nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.” After just two months at the helm of the downtown Denver Northern Italian stalwart located inside the Mon...
Pallucca’s carries on community tradition
For over 100 years, Pallucca’s has been known for their rigatoni and sausage, homemade meatballs, panini sandwiches and Italian-made goods. During the 2019 Frontenac Homecoming, three tables were set up with a century’s-worth of photos and stories of Pallucca’s.As history goes, Attilio Pallucca had immigrated to the United States from Italy. In 190...
For Charlie Gitto, Spaghetti Is Always the Answer
Every morning around 10:30, Charlie Gitto arrives at the downtown restaurant that bears his name, gets a cup of coffee from the bartender and settles into his designated spot at the corner of the bar — the best seat in the house, if you ask him."This is my office," Gitto explains. "I can see the entire restaurant, and who comes in and who goes out....