Via Baci - Denver Area

[jjerrier]

Hey All - I was in Denver on business and had a free night last night so I went and checked out Via Baci in Lone Tree (www.viabaci.com). They have a woodstone oven , but they at least use real wood and no gas to cook with it.

I had Prosciutto e Rucola and it was great. They claim to use 00 flour and san marzanos. They also make their mozzarella there so it is very authentic.

The pizza was very good and it is definitely worth checking out if you get this way. The dough could use a little work - but overall it was very very good.

I highly recommend it. My favorite US spot is Antica Pizzeria (Antica Pizzeria - Los Angeles, CA Southern Italian Cuisine, Pizza, Fine Dining) in Marina Del Rey, CA. Yes I like it even more than Pizzeria Bianco!! Blashphemy!!

Jay

[james]

Nice to hear from you Jay. How is the restaurant coming along. It will be fun to hear what you are doing and how much you like being in the pizzeria business.
James

[jjerrier]

Well I love the pizzeria business...I still have my day job but do work some days at our existing Dallas restaurant making pizzas, working the front of the house, or reviewing POS systems.

We just have deck ovens in Dallas so it is VERY easy cooking...not nearly as stressful as wood ovens.

That being said - I HATE the restaurant construction business. It is like death by duckbite...long, slow, and painful. So many hoops to jump through between contractors and city councils...uggh. We are allegedely opening in mid-March.

Believe it or not we are looking at a third location to open in 2008 and I may take the full lead on that one. Depending on how things go with our Italian partners, I may want to do something a bit more meaningful for Forno Bravo.

Jay

[DrakeRemoray]

Hey Jay, you were about 1 mile from my house. What do you think of all of that snow? I think the via baci place is pretty good. They revamped the menu recently (they took away the clam and garlic pizza ) but I still enjoy it.

I had just started my oven when they opened the place...

It seems to me that they are in a pretty good position to expand/franchise, they have a pretty well-branded concept.

Drake

[jjerrier]

Hey Drake - I get out to Denver all the time. I'll drop you a note when I head out there again. I was "loser - party of one" at Via Baci. I did talk to one of the owners for a bit. Seems like they are looking at opening a second site somewhere in the area. They did say they had recently changed the menu and had a lot of people disappointed with some of the things they took off...

Jay

[DrakeRemoray]

They also added some "entrees" recently, which I think loses the focus on pizza...drop me an email next time you are in town and I can show you my oven in person, at least we can grab lunch drake at bluetap dot com.

Drew