Award-winning Denver chef Elise Wiggins will open Cattivella, wood-fired Italian this fall as part of the Eastbridge project in the Stapleton, Colorado, neighborhood where she lives. Cattivella translates to “naughty girl”.
“I can’t believe I’m opening my own restaurant in my own neighborhood, just a few blocks from my own house,” says Wiggins. “This project is a dream come true for this naughty chef.”
Located on the southwest corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Galena Street, Cattivella joins chef-driven restaurants from Troy Guard, Lon Symensma, and the Kitchen Next Door in the Eastbridge project that abuts the long-awaited new King Soopers, currently under construction.
Chef/Owner Wiggins brings decades of restaurant experience to Cattivella including a 12-year stint as executive chef of Panzano named Best Italian by Westword and winner of multiple awards for food and service from The Denver Post, 5280 magazine, The American Culinary Federation, and The American Automobile Association.
An exhibition kitchen will be the star of the show and focus all attention on a wood-burning pizza oven, a wood-burning grill and the graceful dance of the Cattivella cooks. Several lucky guests will sit overlooking the pastificio (pasta table) section of the chefs’ counter while others might be seated with a view of the Butchers’ Corner where the Cattivella butchers will work on beef, pork, lamb, and other whole animals. The surrounding chefs’ counter will seat 26 along with 74 additional interior seats and 100 seats on a wrap-around patio with stunning views of the mountains. The open kitchen will provide the perfect setting for the wildly successful cooking classes that Elise will continue to offer.
Joining Elise on this project is Sarah Brown of Semple Brown Design, Denver’s premiere architecture and design firm for restaurants, Jordy Construction, Smith & Greene kitchen designers and Gearbox Graphic Design. Construction should begin on the tenant finish work in August 2016 with an opening scheduled for late fall or early winter.
