The restaurant:Osteria Alberico, 3455 S. University Blvd., Englewood
About:Frasca Hospitality Group opened its first Italian restaurant in the suburbs this week. The companyboasts restaurants like Michelin-starred Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, as well as Tavernetta and Sunday Vinyl in Denver. Osteria Alberico is a sister restaurant to Pizzeria Alberico, which Frasca debuted last year after closing its flagship Pizzeria Locale.
“In the hierarchy of Italian dining, an osteria is the most casual restaurant style, followed by a trattoria and then ristorante. An osteria offers great, reasonably priced food and drink in a rustic and cozy ambiance with friendly but informed service,” Frasca founder Bobby Stuckey said in a press release. “What I love about an osteria is that they are often tucked away in a neighborhood and are beloved by locals. When I travel to Italy, I find something deeply comforting and satisfying about being taken care of in an osteria.”
The family-friendly Englewood restaurant draws inspiration from Italy’s neighborhood osterias and bears the family name of Stuckey’s wife, Danette. It has a more approachable and affordable menu than its fine-dining counterparts.
“The Alberico brand of restaurants is all about the neighborhood, and we’re so excited to share our hospitality with this community and be a warm landing spot for guests, whether they are popping in with the kids for lunch, dining with friends or family on a weeknight or getting dressed up for a special night out,” he continued.
What’s on the menu:Osteria Alberico features Pizzeria Alberico’s pizza dough recipe with 16-inch, wood-fired pies. There’s a riff on Pizzeria Alberico’s Mais pizza with crème fraîche, speck, corn, mozzarella, pecorino and chives. Other white and red pizzas include Pomodoro Bianco with yellow tomato, fresh basil, burrata and anchovy and the Emilia with San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, Grana Padano, arugula and prosciutto.
But the menu doesn’t stop with pizza. Diners will also find antipasti bites, like Suppli al Telefono, a fried Roman snack that gets its name from stringy mozzarella’s resemblance to a telephone cord, chickpea-fried calamari, or a classic caprese with Colorado tomatoes, imported burrata, pickled basil and a 12-year aged balsamic vinegar. Pick from one of the many plates of pasta, including garganelli, a hand-rolled pasta from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy with beef and pork Bolognese, or a seasonal ravioli stuffed with roasted sweet corn, mascarpone and lobster.
Founders Stuckey and Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson also added the Maiale, a roasted Berkshire pork loin with peaches and mustard greens, inspired by a recipe from their Friuli Food and Wine cookbook, and grilled Colorado lamb chops with arugula, saba and lemon to the entree selections.
To round out the night, the limited Italian dessert menu makes it sweet and simple with pesca, stewed Palisade peaches with mint, vanilla gelato and amaretto cookies; house-made gelato and sorbet; tiramisu; and budino, a butterscotch pudding and Pizzeria Alberico staple.
There are more than 150 selections of Italian wines, much like Frasca, Sunday Vinyl and Tavernetta, plus a fall bar of spritzes, Italian spirits, champagne and amaro.
Who’s cooking:Russell Stippich is the executive chef of Osteria Alberico. He most recently manned the kitchen at Bar Dough in Denver, after leaving the now-closed Acorn, and was once a line cook for Boulder’s Frasca in 2011.
Opening: Monday, July 29. Open every day (except Tuesday) for dinner starting at 4 p.m. with lunch, all-day menus, happy hour, take-out and outdoor seating to follow.
Originally Published: July 30, 2024 at 6:00 a.m.
