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reviewed on: October 23, 2009
I read just this week that the number one ethnic food in America is Italian. It doesn’t really surprise me. I know lots of people who don’t care for Thai or Greek or Middle Eastern fare, but mention Italian and their eyes light up. Of course every kid seems to love a big plate of spaghetti, and if you include pizza, I suspect it alone could propel Italian food to the top of the list.
It’s not that many years ago that Denver, like so many cities, had an Italian part of town where folks with an Italian heritage settled down, raised their families, built their homes and churches and, invariably, their restaurants. The restaurants they created weren’t anything fancy to look at. They couldn’t afford posh furnishings, and nobody really cared as long as the food was good, hearty and plentiful.
This week, after several inquiries on The Restaurant Show, we headed down to Lone Tree to check our the new location of Pasquini’s Pizzeria. This is the fourth Pasquini’s in town, soon to be followed by a fifth, which is the first indication that they must be doing something right. Add that to the lineup of awards they’ve garnered over the years since Tony Pasquini opened the first store in 1986, and the obvious conclusion is that the odds are pretty good you’re going to have a great time.
If you remember those Italian restaurants from the middle of the last century, either here in Denver or elsewhere, you’re going to feel like you’ve stepped back in time. From the assortment of chrome-edged diner tables flanked by multi-hued matching chairs, to the colorful, plates, no two of which are the same, to the pressed ceiling over the retro bar and the lighted clocks with advertising around the perimeter, Pasquini’s brings back lots of memories. We slipped into a booth, and instantly our server approached the table with a plate of big chewy breadsticks. You’d think we’d know better after all these years, but those breadsticks, oozing garlic butter, dusted with cheese, served with a ramekin of vibrant marinara sauce, just demanded to be eaten, and eat them we did, realizing as the last one disappeared that we probably should have paced ourselves better.
When a restaurant labels itself as a pizzeria, there’s no question about what you’re having for dinner. But, in spite of its name, Pasquini’s also offers a broad selection of sandwiches, calzones (which are really just modified pizzas), salads, and pasta dishes. The pizzas range in size from ten inches to eighteen and, as in most places, you can custom design your own mix of toppings or go with one of their specialty pizzas. We opted for the Prosciutto Pizza, topped with a tasty mix of prosciutto, garlic, spinach, basil and cheese on a wonderful, chewy crust. From the pasta section we chose the Walnut, Spinach, Ricotta Ravioli topped with more of that wonderful marinara. The pasta dishes all come with a choice of garden or an excellent Caesar salad, which was so large we actually split it and still didn’t finish it.
Not only is the food good, and the atmosphere fun, but Pasquini’s is remarkably affordable. Which is probably one of the reason we saw so many families there on a Tuesday evening. They’re open seven days with lots of parking.
Pasquini’s Pizzeria
7431 S. Park Meadows Drive (directly east of the Claim Jumper on Quebec south of County Line)
303-662-8888
http://pasquinis.com/
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