Italian resurgence: new talent fortifies an enduring cuisine.

In the world of food fads, one ethnic cuisine endures and prospers in America: Italian.

Pizza, sausage, veggie and pasta have become part of the Colorado and U.S. restaurant vocabulary, and, while for many years the number of authentic Italian restaurants remained relatively constant in the state, today there is a resurgence of cooking talent and quality food that is producing new set and style of Italian restaurants to serve a Colorado clientele whose devotion to the cuisine has never been higher.

And yet, most of even these new restaurateurs still use family recipes on their menus. One thing is true with all: When you walk into an Italian restaurant in Colorado, the proprietors will love sharing the food and wine of their beloved Italy.

In the IN STATE section of this issue of VINE, we featured one of the new harvest of Italian restaurants in the state and one that is an old landmark. Here is a further sample of some of the best places to enjoy Italian cuisine around Colorado.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

CHIANTI RISTORANTE ITALIANO 5121 S. YOSEMITE ST., GREENWOOD VILLAGE * [phone]

When Alessandro Carollo and wife Sara moved from Sicily to Denver, they set their sights on opening their own restaurant. He found space in the Denver Tech Center and opened Chianti, which quickly became a family affair when Carollo's artistic mother flew in to paint murals on the walls depicting various scenes from Tuscany. Alessandro designed the menu and Sara figured out how to operate the front of the house. Ristorante Italiano was the first Italian restaurant in the southern section of Denver to offer the authentic tastes of Italy, specifically those of Tuscany. The small restaurant looks and feels like a Tuscan trattoria with intimate seating in an upscale ambiance.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Carollo's menu incorporates flavors of Florence with recipes from his heritage. Signature dishes:

Calamaretti: crisply fried calamari with a classic marinara sauce.

Cappelacci di zucca: ravioli filled with pureed butternut squash and topped with a brown butter sage sauce.

Pollo alla Caciatore: Chicken braised with tomatoes, onion and garlic.

VENICE RISTORANTE

TWO METRO LOCATIONS:

5960 S. HOLLY ST., GREENWOOD VILLAGE * [phone] 1700 WYNKOOP ST., DENVER * [phone]

Carollo's second restaurant, Venice, opened its doors in an upscale shopping center on Orchard Road next to The Preserve in Greenwood Village in 2003. It has been busy ever since, with lines forming on holidays and weekends. Venice is an open, large restaurant with a private dining area, muraled walls and a bar with high-top table seating. Banners gracefully adorn the ceiling, and Pavarotti usually can be heard singing Italian ballads in the background. The restaurant is run by general manager Nunzio Marino, one of Denver's most notable restaurant managers, having spent seven years as general manager at prestigious Cliff Young's. He understands customer service and brings a charming element to the restaurant. Carollo and executive chef Christian Delle Fave created the extensive menu that includes dishes from many regions in Italy.

The second Venice opened in Lower Downtown Denver in the old Adega space that has a wine cellar housing more than 12,000 bottles from all over the world. If you're looking for a restaurant for a special date, you may want to reserve the chef's table at this downtown location for a private dining experience with the head chef. Signature dishes:

Insalata al Limoncello: Boston lettuce, cherry tomatoes, gorgonzola crumbles and toasted almonds with limoncello dressing.

Risotto con salsiccia: carnaroli rice, Italian sausage, fresh spinach and wild mushrooms with Marsala sauce.

Linguine al frutti di mare: Linguine topped with prawns, scallops, mussels, clams all seasoned with fresh tomatoes and trebbiano wine.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

LUCA D'ITALIA

711 GRANT ST., DENVER * [phone]

Frank Bonano's Luca D'Italia is right around the corner from his first restaurant, the ever-popular Mizuna. Bonano mastered French cuisine at Mizuna and felt compelled to try his hand at authentic Italian at Luca. Even though Bonano is part Italian, he still studied the food, traveled and ate it before he was ready to open Luca. At the restaurant, he sought a combination of traditionally prepared foods using high-end ingredients. Bonano and his chefs make their own salumi, some cheeses and duck prosciutto. He purchases produce from local growers who supply the restaurant with just picked chanterelles, organic beets and many other items. He contends, "I have a great deal of respect for food and wine and at Luca we are dedicated to be 100 percent Italian." In true Italian style, the pasta is served as a first course and the "secondi" courses feature ocean-fresh seafood, signature veal and poultry. Luca's wine list has more than 230 wines.

Everything at Luca is made to order. There are no steam-table sauces and Bonano's philosophy of providing customers with the finest foods carries over to service as well.

When you walk away from a meal at Luca, Bonano hopes "you will appreciate the quality of service and understand the quality of food." Signature dishes:

Frank's house salumi plate: a plate of soppressata, capocollo and bresaola.

Lobster fra Diavolo: capellini with lobster in a spicy tomato sauce and fresh basil.

Rabbit three ways: rabbit served braised, grilled and confit with white truffle sauce.

UNDICI

1200 E. HAMPDEN AVE., ENGLEWOOD [phone]

Kosta and Alex Kallas found the neighborhood spot they wanted to open an Italian restaurant--the old Fratelli's place on Old Hampden Avenue in Englewood. Kosta purchased the building, came up with the name Undici (meaning 11 in Italian), referring to the 11th restaurant his family has owned. While a design and decor makeover took place, a more pressing task of finding the right chef was underway. Dozens were interviewed until the family hired Giempietro De Marchi, an executive chef with more than 50 years experience in Italian cooking. De Marchi says, "My godfather was a chef and he was the greatest influence in my life." His fusion style of cooking complements the northern Italian foods he serves. As the renovation neared completion, the new chef refined the menu and Undici opened in January. "Our downfall was we were too busy too fast," recalls Alex, "but it forced us to refine the business and focus on hospitality. It is what we do best." Keeping with the undici theme, the menu has 11 items, too, ranging across pasta, meat and fish offerings. Signature dishes:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Pollo alla Cacciatora: Sauteed chicken breast with Marsala, mushroom sauce.

Salmone alla Senade: Sauteed salmon with white wine, lemon and herbs.

Rigatoni Undici: Rigatoni pasta with homemade sausage, pancetta and a fresh tomato sauce.

PULCINELLA RISTORANTE 300 S. PUBLIC ROAD, LAFAYETTE * 303-604-2888

Born and raised in a small town in Naples, Antonio Race learned the art of making pizza at a very young age. Race, owner of Pulcinella Ristorante and Pizzarias, has been tossing pizzas ever since. He first worked at a pizzaria and gourmet restaurant that is still operating near his home in Italy. While his mother was a great cook and his father a fisherman, his real culinary training came from the restaurant he worked in throughout his school years. "As I got older, I started doing more of the gourmet cooking for the restaurant," he says. When a Naples man opened a pizza chain in America, he recruited Race to come to America to help open new locations. He worked as a general manager for the company for years until deciding to go out on his own.

Race and wife Mary, a native Coloradan, picked the Fort Collins area as the location of Pulcinella in 1991. With Mary running the front and Antonio cooking, the two found the work to be overwhelmingly busy. Antonio says, "We had to split the two businesses so we could manage them better." Now, the restaurant serves authentic Naples dishes with some creative twists from the chef. One of those twists is an antipastini menu, offering bite-sized portions of various foods. Pulcinella's wine list has wines from all 20 regions of Italy, and many imported through Race's own Bacco Imports. Signature dishes:

Fettucine All'Assunta: fettucine with calamari and sun-dried tomatoes in a pink sauce, a dish Antonio's mother made.

Penne All'Antonio: Antonio's own creation of penne with scallops and shrimp in a pink cognac sauce.

Salsiccia Ischitana: mild Italian sausage with mushrooms and onion over rigatoni pasta.

FIRENZE A TAVOLA (TRANSLATED: FLORENCE AT YOUR TABLE)

4401 TENNYSON ST., DENVER * [phone]

Inside the front door of Parisi, one of the restaurants featured in IN STATE, and down a flight of steps is the 60-seat fine-dining restaurant Firenze a Tavola.

Simone Parisi and wife Christine wanted a look and atmosphere that is representative of some of their favorite restaurants in Tuscany. The Parisis call Firenze an "experience," and say they want customers to have more than just a meal. They want the room, menu and wine list to take you right into the heart of Tuscany. The experience, according to Tony Rosacci of Tony's Meats, "is truly like it is in Tuscany from the decor to people mingling and sharing wine and food."

In Florence, "some of the best restaurants are outside of the big cities," Parisi recalls, "and very few of them have white tablecloth type decor." Wanting authenticity, the Parisis flew to Florence and picked out chunky tables, chairs and even fabrics to furnish Firenze. The look is rustic yet elegant. Simone built a prosciutto bar, where customers can sit and sip wine while sampling antipasti. The menu at Firenze is as you'd expect: Florentine through and through. Parisi suggests wines from his list of more than 220 Italian vintages. Signature dishes:

Pappa al Pomodoro: a hearty tomato, garlic and basil soup.

Pappardelle con Cinghiale: rich wild boar meat stew with vegetables and hand cut Pappardelle.

Filetto di Maile in Crosta di Pane: Seared pork tenderloin wrapped in herbs and a baguette crust, finished with a port demi glace.

FLORINDO'S ITALIAN CUISINE 721 GRAND AVE., GLENWOOD SPRINGS * [phone]

Florindo Gallicchio may have experienced the best of the culinary world, as he was born in Calabria, Italy, but raised in southern France. At an early age, Gallicchio says he changed his name to Florent "because the French people couldn't pronounce Florindo." At age 19, Gallicchio ventured across the Atlantic and landed a job in an Italian restaurant in Westchester County, N.Y. He then moved to Miami where he worked as a manager of a large Italian restaurant for 19 years. It was a skiing vacation in Vail that drew Gallicchio and his wife to Colorado. They were convinced this was the ideal place to live and open their dream restaurant. When a friend in real estate from Aspen spotted a space in Glenwood Springs, the Gallicchios signed the lease immediately. Florindos opened in 1989. Gallichio's family cooked in the classic south central Italian style, and today, he continues that tradition at Florindo's. He says, "I am still cooking some of my mother and grandmother's favorite recipes." Signature dishes:

Buffala Mozzarella Caprese: sliced beefsteak tomatoes with fresh buffala mozzarella and house-made pesto.

Baked Ziti ala Siciliana: ziti tossed with ricotta and tomatoes and baked with eggplant and mozzarella.

Thick-cut Veal Chop Grilled: two inches of veal served with a shiitake and Marsala wine reduction sauce.

House cannoli: filled with whole-milk ricotta and fine liqueurs.

PARAVICINI'S ITALIAN BISTRO 2802 W. COLORADO AVE. COLORADO SPRINGS * [phone]

Franco Pisani grew up tossing pizza in the kitchen of his family's Italian deli in the Northeast. That's why, when Pisani moved to the Springs in 1997, he knew it was time to pull out the plethora of hand-written recipes handed down from his mother and grandmother and put them to use. Pisani and friend Ted Sexton became partners and came up with the concept of Paravicini's, an Italian eatery featuring reasonably priced comfort foods and wine. Paravicini is Pisani's mother's maiden name, and he adds "in Italian, it means: 'for the neighborhood,' the exact concept we wanted for this restaurant." The menu offers dishes from Calabria, a region of southern Italy. A wide selection of pastas, chicken, veal and steak are offered. Paravicini's also has a nice wine list with multiple Italian wines. The atmosphere is casual, the prices reasonable and the portions are large. It is one of Colorado Springs' few authentic Italian restaurants. While you're there, pick up a copy of Pisani's newly released cookbook, "Mama Mia!"

Signature dishes:

Chicken Valeria: breasts topped with sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes and mushrooms; drizzled with a white-wine reduction sauce.

Penne ala Vodka: penne pasta with prosciutto and topped with a pink vodka sauce.

Tiramisu: lady fingers soaked in espresso and topped with chocolate and mascarpone cream.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]