Bonanno Concepts has expanded its Denver restaurant portfolio with the debut last month of Rōmyō, an Itameshi concept in the downtown district of Larimer Square.
Itameshi, also called Wafu Italian, is an increasingly popular cuisine that combines elements of Japanese and Italian cooking.
Husband-and-wife team Frank and Jacqueline Bonanno landed on the idea as their restaurants were coming out of COVID.
“One of the things that we did to start activating our Italian restaurant, Luca, was a series of ‘play dates,’ when we did unlikely pairings, like Indian-Italian, German-Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Moroccan,” said Jacqueline Bonanno, the company’s creative director.
“They were very successful, super fun, and kind of got the neighborhood [residents] out, but the most popular one was the Japanese-Italian pairing.”
To further test the concept, the Bonannos closed their small sandwich shop, Salt & Grinder, in Denver’s Highland neighborhood and replaced it with a 22-seat Itameshi concept called Dumplin’.
Then the space formerly occupied by Ted’s Montana Grill in Larimer Square opened up, and the Bonannos took it.
“We closed Dumplin’ about two weeks after we signed this lease,” said chef Frank Bonanno. “And almost everything that was on the Dumplin’ menu is on this menu.”
The new restaurant, whose name combines Rome and Tokyo, is about 4,000 square feet with 120 seats.
Jacqueline Bonanno designed the restaurant with booths lining the walls to resemble train cars, with video-screen “windows” showing views of Japan and Italy.
Another distinctive element is Gracie, a 6-foot-tall giraffe that holds a chandelier over the host stand.
The Bonannos’ son, Luca, created the restaurant’s pottery.
The menu is divided into trilingual sections, such as “Antipasti | Zensai | Introductions”, “Fritto | Ageru | Crispies”, and “Ripieni | Gyoza | Dumplings,” but the dishes’ names are all in English.
Among them are porchetta ramen with grilled broccoli raab, poached egg, and pork brodo; Australian wagyu beef katsu with tonkatsu sauce and a poached egg; and Hawaiian tuna crudo with barrel-aged soy sauce, orange, and Calabrian chile oil.
Porchetta ramen.
Apart from Rōmyō and Luca, the Bonannos also operate Osteria Marco, named for their other son Marco; Vesper Lounge; a high-end Italian cocktail bar called Salita; and Mizuna, a French-Japanese restaurant that’s celebrating its 25th anniversary.
“French-Japanese has always been accepted, and they’re sort of similar, but nothing is more similar than Italian-Japanese, to be dead honest with you,” Frank Bonanno said, pointing out that both are hyper-ingredient focused, and that the umami of Parmesan and similar cheeses has a similar effect as Japanese dashi.
Itameshi restaurants now operate in a number of U.S. markets, the highest-profile one probably being PastaRamen in Montclair, New Jersey. But there’s also Junah in Salt Lake City and Itameshi in Albany, New York, among others. And Masako Morishita, chef of Perry’s, a longstanding Japanese restaurant in Washington, D.C., recently began incorporating Italian elements into the menu and was named one of Food & Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs this year
Local media have been quite receptive to Rōmyō, with Westword saying “the restaurant is already showing the potential to become a new and sorely needed anchor,” and The Denver Post praising its boldness and creativity.
Denver has struggled since the pandemic, with slow recovery, particularly in terms of workers returning to downtown offices. In fact, the Bonannos closed French 75, which was the anchor tenant of an office building, but they remain devoted to the city.
“We love Larimer Square, and we love Denver,” Jacqueline Bonanno said.
Frank Bonanno said Rōmyō in particular is a great location.
“I’m lucky to be sitting next to Tamayo, which is Richard Sandoval’s, and Jen Jasinski’s Rioja,” he said. “We have great culinary talent, and it just keeps getting better and better. And this is a city where I think mom-and-pops can open a small restaurant on a decent budget right now, and I think there’s opportunity for people like that.”
Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected]
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