Capturing the spirit and romance of Italy

Chef, restaurant owner, and the Village at Castle Pines resident Sean Huggard missed the Italian American food he was surrounded by growing up south of Boston, despite living in Colorado for the last 20 years. Huggard felt our area was missing that Italian landscape, so he created Oliver’s Italian, a new restaurant in Greenwood Village “channeling the spirit and the romance of Italy” with the “aim to transport our guests through our cuisine and our hospitality.”

   

Huggard was a teen working in an Italian restaurant on the East Coast when very talented chefs took him under their wing. Later he graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in New York. Huggard carried the fond memories and formative experiences from that first restaurant for the next 30 years.

Huggard owns the Blue Island Oyster Bar restaurants in Lone Tree and Cherry Creek and is proud to be a locally owned and operated restaurant group. “We employ a lot of people from around the area,” Huggard said, which drives him to grow and “give more people the opportunity to have success within our company.”

Huggard brought the “heart and soul” of Blue Island to Oliver’s Italian. The new restaurant offers fresh oyster and clam selections, in addition to seafood salads and salmon tartare.

Pasta is the most requested item, Huggard shared, highlighting the spicy vodka rigatoni. The dish has a smoked pepper in it which gives it a unique flavor. Huggard said all the classic dishes he learned to make years ago such as cacio e pepe, pasta limone and simple spaghetti are on the menu, but are elevated because of one simple secret: “We are focused on super high-quality ingredients in every dish; that’s what we are showcasing.”

Most of the ingredients for the dishes at Oliver’s Italian come from Italy, including the cheeses: hand-dipped ricotta, burrata and the highest quality pecorino Romano and Parmesan reggiano. Huggard buys locally too; he raved about Carmine’s Italian sausage from Lakewood, which is “so full of flavor with tons of spices and fennel seeds” as well as the incredible bread from the Grateful Bread Company in Golden.

Order a glass of wine or a Negroni sampler and try a Pinsa, a pizza made in the Roman style. The dough is fermented for five days then hand pressed and double baked. Huggard said the process makes the product very digestible, having a lighter structure than typical American pizza. Creative toppings include the Fig & Pig, with fig jam, prosciutto and arugula, or try mortadella and pistachio, or sausage and broccolini.

Oliver’s Italian offers main courses that will make it hard to choose. The veal chop Milanese and the Saltimbocca use house-made bread crumbs following a recipe from Huggard’s early days, making them crispy and hearty. A true carbonara, Huggard explained, is made with cured pork chop, thus the carbonara Guanciale on the menu has a rich and smoky flavor and softer texture as a result of the higher-quality ingredients.

The three-course lunch offers the opportunity “to slow down and have a real meal.” Huggard added that a quick salmon salad is an option too.

The restaurant has beautiful framed Italian postcards throughout, creating a sense of escape and travel. With the check comes a postcard guests can fill out and mail to a loved one by dropping it in the mailbox at the front; romantic and practical, it includes a coupon.

Huggard’s vision of an Italian American restaurant that celebrates a love of food, family and togetherness was realized upon opening in early November. “It has been great to see the variety of the crowd. I see a lot of families coming in with their kids and then the crowd changes later in the evening to more of a scene, which was exactly what I was after.”

By Lisa Nicklanovich

Oliver’s Italian
4950 S Yosemite St. Greenwood Village, CO 80111
(303) 862-8507
www.oliversitalian.com