about parisi sotto

Ciao, it’s Christine Parisi and WOW have I missed our sweet space below Parisi. Firenze a Tavola opened in 2006, a few years after opening Parisi’s new & current location. Firenze a Tavola was the brain child of former owner/partner Simone Parisi, who dreamt of having a place that was not only Tuscan, but Florentine to the core … with a fantastic & thoughtfully curated wine list full of Chianti Riserva, Brunello di Montalcino & of course, many Super Tuscans. It was meant to be more of an escape than its casual upstairs co-habitant, with coursed meals & detailed service, but still have a sense of comfort & casual hospitality. In the very beginning, we quickly learned that beloved classics like trippa alla Fiorentina, lampredotto, crostini con fegatino and other Tuscan classics, were perhaps, a bit too adventurous for the American palette of the time, but luckily there are enough recipes that represent Tuscany’s beautiful simplicity that don’t contain cow stomach or chicken livers.

Once the space felt Tuscan enough, the concept needed to be refined … Simone & I had no idea how to run a finer dining concept … that’s where Troy Nelson came into the picture. Troy gave Firenze purpose & attention to detail while Simone fine-tuned the menus. Next came Mario Petit, fellow Florentine & would become one of Simone’s best friends, to double up the authenticity of our Firenze a Tavola menu … Simone & Mario would bring in giant slabs of beef & cut it up into some magnificent Bistecca alla Fiorentina, they would have heated discussions about the proper way to make a rustic sauce & of course, if the Fiorentina soccer team played well that day, our guests were in for a spectacular treat fueled by the excitement of a win. The use of the space defined itself over time as some events developed with the ideas of visiting chefs or Italian wine producers passing through Denver on their way to Aspen Food & Wine. Parisi & Firenze a Tavola were quietly becoming known as a stopover for passing through Italians who were happy to either have a proper cappuccino and Margherita pizza or a space receptive to creating a menu around their spectacular wines that we would showcase in a presentation at one of our producer dinners.

Throughout the years, Firenze won numerous awards, was the hub for Italians to watch the final World Cup game that they won (and the revelry was televised from Firenze a Tavola), hosted many fun & VIP guests, developed Community Table events & special wine dinners hosted usually by our friend, Mario Scanu, and some amazing producer dinners representing some of the best vineyards in Italy. New Years Eve & Christmas Eve events became tradition for many families including mine. We developed relationships with so many of our visitors & between our staff and guests, we all felt like a special family.

We’ve had the pleasure of having Mariana making pasta for a couple decades, Isabel smoothly doing huge volumes of prep for a decade and Salvador throwing dough with blazing fast pizza-making skills. Among our GMs, we had Matt Berger & his mom, Danna, still helping to keep our books in order. Of course nowadays, a visit isn’t complete without the ever-present GM Gennaro, who runs a tight ship & treats this place like his own for a decade. We would not have survived the pandemic without his perseverance & dedication … he is absolutely employee of the century. And so many of you will know our sweet lead server, Anamaria, who keeps things smooth & calm on the craziest of evenings. The many Italian chefs that have graced our kitchen helped to keep our authentic vibe going & many of the talented American chefs like Gabe Aragon, Bob Blair, Michael Meek, Scott Burnham among so many others … and even a few budding chefs who started out young and found a passion working with food through us, like Nadine Moss who went on to some pretty impressive accomplishments as a pastry chef. And of course the many servers from Italy who add so much to our authenticity with their musical accents & help keep Italy alive in our Parisi culture.

Over the years, we have lost some of our dear co-workers, including the spectacular Silvana who had wonderful shops on Tennyson, spoke Italian fluently (as well as a multitude of other languages), was a hostess extraordinaire while keeping the Italian “boys” in line. And recently our talented chef friend Mario Petit passed away too. These losses have made it that much harder to not have our sweet little space below Parisi still flourishing. And we will never forget the kindest soul ever, Leo, who worked alongside Salvador for many years & really became a wonderful pizzaiolo. Rest in peace to these amazing co-workers who each carved out their special place in Parisi.

As you all may know, we poured all of our energy into Parisi during the pandemic since Parisi’s menu is the most conducive to take-out and Firenze was put on temporary hold. Then 4+ years later still not able to re-open … until now. Through staffing issues to the current uptick in volume at Parisi, we couldn’t figure out a way to give Firenze a Tavola the return it deserves. We are grateful for the exponential growth post-pandemic at Parisi, but we needed to really think about how to best bring back Firenze a Tavola. A return to the way things were previously would be too challenging, but a revised version, crafted to work with the challenges created by volume growth, instead of re-introducing the old Firenze, might make sense. And that’s how we came to the decision to have the Firenze space be a little more flexible & multi-functional. Private parties have also returned with more descriptive information available here. Many questions about private parties or special events are answered in our FAQ section.

So where is Firenze a Tavola? Apart from a new mural and some upgrades in our back prep area, the space remains mostly the same. But since we want to highlight multiple Italian regions, we’ve decided that the name needed to be multi-regional. Firenze will still be very present & we haven’t lost our love of Tuscan cuisine, so you will continue to see nods to our old place.

Our current chef, Mirco Bizzarri & his wife Federica, both hail from the surrounding towns of Firenze & are committed to re-infuse our Tuscan roots into the seasonal menus & the events that will pop up. Mariana will once again grace our menu with house-made pappardelle & tortelli. Our calendar will be updated monthly with special events highlighted. Our community table returns and we will add a “Grazing night”, where you will be seated with friends & your community to share a giant antipasto spread & pasta to round out the experience … a few wine events will appear as well with a small plate pairing menu & some other familiar vibes will return.

Give a look around our new website & we hope that you find it easy to navigate & that it helps clarify our mission … to carry on our love of authentic Italian food while smoothing out the production issues created by a very big following of supporters. And if you are new, you will find that PARISI sotto is the refined relative of Parisi, with a “slow food” experience, more attention to service & a well-curated, larger selection of Italian wines all presented in a quieter more intimate, old-world space.

So many changes are in store & for now, we are so HAPPY & relieved to finally get back to business in the space “below Parisi”. Ci vediamo presto!