There’s nothing sweeter than a place that feels like home … you know the sort of place. It has a wickedly cool space for friends and family to gather, while it can also present a welcoming table for a celebratory dinner party you want to host.

Home can be the best of both worlds, and Osteria Marco in Larimer Square has that quality. There’s a spirit in the air at the restaurant with its sign of the pig out front, and that spirit shouts, “Eat, drink, enjoy.” The menu defines Osteria Marco as “a humble restaurant where friends gather to casually enjoy their wine with food.” And to say “enjoy their wine” is a vast understatement when you gaze at the incredibly complete wine list with some 100 offerings.

Jean Philippe Failyau, one of the owners of Osteria Marco, says he and partners Frank Bonanno and Ryan Gaudin were talking about how they had always wanted to do something together. The trio wanted to create a venue that would be a place they’d like to patronize. Bonanno and Failyau created the menu; Gaudin assembled the wine list featuring Italian wines exclusively.

A traveler from Washington state recently experienced Osteria Marco. On a chilly autumn evening, this roadweary business traveler found her way to the restaurant, hoping for dinner in a relaxing environment where she would feel comfortable dining alone. She sat at the bar and ordered a glass of wine and a salad. The waiter was open to her sitting at the bar and welcomed her to enjoy a full dinner. She had come to Colorado on a work project from her home base of Seattle. She didn’t know Denver well and soon found herself chatting with others in Osteria Marco and exchanging thoughts about the two cities, comparing notes. She says she can eat seafood regularly in Seattle and was hoping to find an alternative dinner entree in Denver.

Soon, she was served grilled lamb sirloin topped with goat cheese, potatoes and red pepper. It satisfied her appetite for a new dish, something she typically didn’t have at her seaside home. At Osteria Marco, she also could have selected naturally raised chicken or Tuscan ribbed Harris Ranch bistecca, among other items, on the secondo section of the menu. Pig is big at Osteria Marco, and a friend of mine who joined me there tried some pork, let me taste it, and together we exclaimed, “Yes, pig!” On Sunday evenings a special slowroasted suckling pig that would be fun to try is served.

One dish we sampled was the stuffed pork milanese, a piece of pork that features exquisite tastes of prosciutto, fontina, artichokes and red peppers, with some capers added to the mix, each one vibrant yet a full partner in the mélange. A thin rim of prosciutto outlined the stuffed pork, gently allowing the escape of fontina. A symphony of flavors — each one enhancing the other, each one challenging the other to be the most memorable — traveled with the stuffed pork milanese. To say the pork was tender and tasty is an understatement.

I ordered pancetta-wrapped jumbo prawns accompanied by polenta and tomato vinaigrette that was attractively presented. This dish was on the lighter side, perfect for me. But I must admit I couldn’t keep my fork off the pork on my companion’s plate.

For those who elect not to order a full plate, paninis and pizzas, offering similarly unusual tastes, are available. The panini section speaks of Italian dip with prime rib and provolone, rotisserie chicken, imported Italian tuna, Colorado lamb and a porchetta cubano, as well as other Italian dishes. Antipasti and salads kickstart the profusion of flavor, using the ingredients that so delight Italian cooking: pesto and Parmesan, prosciutto and peppers, almonds and artichokes, all of them designed to wake up the senses. Salads combine vegetables, nuts and cheeses, all bursting with flavor. Shaved lamb is complemented by goat cheese, olives and roasted peppers to create a salad that will surprise and please.

Osteria Marco features excellent house-crafted as well as imported cheeses. This unique feature of handcrafted cheeses adds to the comfortable environment of Osteria Marco, a place where creativity abounds. You can imagine walking into an Italian market on the continent and having a range of artful cheeses available. Failyau says the burrata, ricotta, capra and mozzarella are the favorites. The restaurant also has a salami bar offering dry-cured meats. One of the most requested antipasti dishes is the meatball slider.

The wine list names 50 different wines complete with the vintage, the region where the wine was produced and the price. The choices are staggering. Wine racks line the exposed brick walls, adding to the ambience.

When it was time for the dolci course, we sampled the butterscotch bread pudding and vanilla gelato with caramel sauce. If I never tried another dessert, I’d go to my final reward a happy woman. A dessert that tops off the meal with some sweetness and warms the soul with comfort is too good to be true. This dessert menu also offers warm chocolate cake gelato, mascarpone-vanilla cheesecake with almond biscotti crust and strawberry coulis, a gelato assortment and an Italian sundae vanilla gelato with Nutella syrup and whipped cream. Dessert wines are mentioned, too, for diners yearning for an accompaniment.

Failyau says Osteria Marco has passed its first year, and the owners are pleased with the business. He notes the restaurant is offering enough choices to please a variety of tastes and budgets: “With this economy, you can come in and have a $10 pizza and a $5 glass of wine.” It doesn’t get any better than that.

OSTERIA MARCO
1453 Larimer Street
(303) 534-5855
info@osteriamarco.com