THE
CHERRY
TOMATO
Park Hill restaurant offers
Italian food, welcoming ambience

By SHARON ALMIRALL
Photography KIMBERLY DAWN

Food speaks to the heart. Food can inspire love, cause passion to grow or simply offer a backdrop where friendship and camaraderie can flourish.

A maxim such as “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” tells much about the power of food. Food is the centerpiece for a large, loving
family that sits down together for feasts prepared with attention and affection.

For Wendy Felese, co-owner of The Cherry Tomato in Park Hill, an Italian dinner prepared by a man she was dating turned her head and her heart. “On one of our first dates, Tom cooked an Italian dinner for me. I’ve never looked back,” she says. Tom had learned the art of cooking from his grandmother, an Italian mother who fed her family well.

Today at The Cherry Tomato, Wendy and Tom serve their guests Italian food that could inspire love — be it romantic, familial or friendly.

The cherry tomato, the one that grows on a vine, is a red fruit, a small version of the tomato that is the fruit of love. Yes, it is argued, it’s a vegetable. But no matter, fruit or vegetable, the tomato is the star of the show at The Cherry Tomato.

The restaurant uses the tomato to its advantage in its name, and it must be working, as the restaurant recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. Both the color red and the cherry tomato inspire love in the food preparation, the presentation, the comfortable environment and the musical offerings of Italian-flavored crooners.

Red, say the color experts, stimulates both passion and appetite. At The Cherry Tomato, diners can use the crayons provided by the management to create their own designs for love or food on tables covered with butcher-block paper. It’s a way to amuse themselves and pass the time while they wait for their Italian feasts to arrive.

With pictures on the wall that tell of Italy, black-and-white-tiled floors and red brick walls, The Cherry Tomato has made a dramatic conversion from a corner pharmacy to a pleasing neighborhood restaurant.
Located at the corner of Dexter and 23rd Avenue, The Cherry Tomato was the brainchild of Wendy and Tom Felese and some friends. Tom had attended the Culinary Institute of America and was working in Ithaca, New York, for a restaurateur named Vinny. When Wendy and Tom married, they discussed the idea of having their own restaurant.

Once in Denver, they were living in the 2300 block of Cherry and noticed the available space at 23rd and Dexter. They were dining one night with friends, and as the evening wore on, the talk turned to the possibility of the group’s starting a restaurant. “The more we talked, the more we said we could do this. At the time, four families were involved,” Wendy recalls. She says it was the right time and the right place for the establishment of the restaurant now totally owned by the Feleses. Over time, they bought out their partners and became the sole owners.

Tom’s grandparents were from Italy, and he grew up with the Italian cooking of his mother and grandmother. At culinary school, he learned even more about cooking and Italian food. Over the years, Tom has developed additional recipes.

For the 10th anniversary of the restaurant, the Feleses are featuring an extensive, well-rounded menu. They unveiled such specials as braciole, a southern Italian dish consisting of flank steak stuffed with salami, pine nuts, garlic and assorted ingredients, then rolled and slow-cooked. “It’s a perfect dish if you want meat and red sauce,” Wendy says. Also on the new menu are scalloped calamari, chipotle-smoked salmon and rock shrimp in white sauce with capers.

The Cherry Tomato’s wine list keeps evolving, becoming more and more eclectic. “We deal with the small vineyards in Italy. Our wine list changes every three months or so because the small vineyards produce such a small amount of wine,” comments Wendy. The Cherry Tomato’s staff is well educated on wine and understands the importance of wine with Italian food. Think Salud! The wines add to the ambience of the restaurant.

My dinner began with wine and antipasto – an ample selection of cheeses, salami, cold meats, peppers and olives. Antipasto is a spicy accompaniment to wine, each bite of food snapping a new taste bud to attention. The conversation seemed to perk up, too, as the wine and antipasto gave the palate a lift.

Chicken puttanesca was my main course, an unusual blend of chicken, capers, olives, tomatoes (think love again), pasta and grated Parmesan cheese. Wendy explains the introduction of puttanesca: “We didn’t have it when we first opened. At first, it was just pasta puttanesca (a traditional Italian dish made hot and spicy). Then we created the chicken puttanesca.”

The Cherry Tomato also serves the lasagna for which it is known, pasta with marinara and alfredo sauces. Plates are served both personally and family-style, yet another way The Cherry Tomato makes a welcoming and inviting environment.

On the evening I visited, parents with young children relaxed in the environment, as did couples and solo diners. The children dining with their dad at a nearby table sipped on “Shirley Temple” look-alike beverages — no one could possibly deny this restaurant is family-friendly. The wait staff set just the right tone — attentive but not solicitous, friendly and available, but not hovering. The professionalism was apparent in those who waited on my table.

For dessert, I chose tiramisu from the tray, which also carried layered chocolate cake, cheesecake and carrot cake. The recorded music playing in the background was Unforgettable, an apt description of this charming restaurant, where the neighborhood is welcome.

In honor of its 10th anniversary, celebrated March 12, The Cherry Tomato donated part of its profits to The Gathering Place and the Park Hill Library. “We also thought of The Cherry Tomato as a gathering place. When we heard The Gathering Place was coming to the neighborhood, we felt like it was a good connection,” Wendy says. The Feleses like being part of a neighborhood with traditions and history, and they want to contribute to the good will that is part of that neighborhood.

The Cherry Tomato is a gathering place for the Felese family, with three children who have grown up in a family-owned restaurant. The Cherry Tomato is home to them. “Our 6-year-old says she wants to cook like daddy,” Wendy says with a smile.

The traditions of the Felese family Italian heritage are being passed on. What a wonderful treat for all those diners to come. Mama mia!

THE CHERRY TOMATO
4645 East 23rd Avenue
(303) 377-1914