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For more than a quarter century, Giuseppe Oreamuno has been feeding us pappardelle and chicken Parmigiana at Boulder’s Il Pastaio. Plus: We note the closing of two local doughnut shops and share three food fundraisers this Sunday, as well as a recipe for fresh corn, peach and avocado salad.

By the way, Aug. 24 is National Waffle Day. For some creative waffling ideas, check out a certain waffling edition of Nibbles.

— John Lehndorff

Boulder to Denver without the drive. Colorado Connector, or CoCo, is the planned passenger train linking 12 Front Range communities from Fort Collins to Pueblo on existing tracks, with trains rolling by 2029. More people on trains means fewer cars on everyone’s roads. Review the delivery plan at ColoradoConnector.com.

Old school doesn’t quite describe Giuseppe Oreamuno or the menu the white-haired chef has served for a quarter century at Boulder’s Il Pastaio.

He serves no trendy Italian regional dishes or tweaks on risotto or polenta. Certainly, NO pizza. The only dishes he prepares are the classics Oreamuno first tasted in Pisa, within shouting distance of that city’s famous Leaning Tower. And unlike most eateries, this tiny restaurant is not open on weekends. 

If you think this is yet another Italian American immigrant tale involving a family and a red sauce joint, you would be incorrect. It has been a cinematic life, but this pasta origin story begins in San Jose, Costa Rica, where Oreamuno and his future wife, Marta, grew up. He recalls eating plantains, ropa vieja and other regional staples as a child, not pasta. 

Their daughter, Ahagata Dominguez, explains that Giuseppe Oreamuno always wanted to see the world and ended up biking through Italy in the late 1960s. “He was a hippie and had long hair,” she says. 

“In Pisa, I lived with Nonna. She loved me. She made gnocchi from scratch,” he says. Giuseppe eventually moved to California, where he learned to cook Italian food. Through the years, he opened a restaurant in Costa Rica, cooked on cruise ships out of Miami and eventually was lured to the relative middle of nowhere: Boulder, Colorado. 

Ahagata Dominguez and her parents, Giuseppe and Marta Oreamuno, stand in the dining room at Il Pastaio. Their son, Mariano Oreamuno, also helps to run the restaurant. Credit: John Lehndorff

On July 4, 2000, the Oreamuno family — which now included four kids — opened Il Pastaio and started serving customers and supplying restaurants. The restaurant is still family run. Ahagata Dominguez helps manage the kitchen and her brother, Mariano Oreamuno, looks after the front of the house. Marta, who was formerly in banking, handles the business.

Physically, Il Pastaio is a full-scale trattoria crammed into a sandwich shop space in a strip mall next to King Soopers. All the tables are small high-tops seating two people or three at the most. According to Ahagata Dominguez, the limitations of the location mean that Il Pastaio can seat only 30 guests at a time. That means no big families or groups and scant elbow room. As a result, this is one of the few Boulder eateries where diners almost always need reservations on weeknights. 

Il Pastaio’s dinner menu is thoroughly traditional, from antipasti and minestrone as starters to simple desserts including tiramisu and panna cotta.

With a name like Il Pastaio (“the pasta maker” in Italian), the menu naturally boasts a huge selection of fresh pasta types that diners can pair with their favorite sauces. 

Capellini, linguine, fettuccine, pappardelle, fusilli and rigatoni, as well as gnocchi and ravioli, are served with housemade sauces ranging from creamy Alfredo, spicy arrabbiata and herbal basilico to simple pomodoro, Bolognese and butter and sage. Fluffy meatballs can be added. 

Oreamuno proudly opens a freezer loaded with about 15 ravioli variations with fillings including asparagus, beet, bison, four cheese, salmon, shrimp and spinach-ricotta.

Il Pastaio’s entrees, served with a pasta side, include lasagna, baked (not fried) eggplant Parmigiana, Pollo alla Francese and lamb chops. 

Fresh pasta varieties, including linguine, fettuccine and pappardelle, are ready to cook in the kitchen at Il Pastaio. Credit: John Lehndorff

One selection has become iconic: Il Pastaio’s Pollo Parmigiana. That’s chicken Parm to multiple generations of CU students who return annually for a plate with pasta.

According to the family, Il Pastaio’s top-selling dishes are chicken Parmesan, cioppino (seafood stew), linguine marinara and chicken Francese. 

“I’ve tried to change the menu, but people like it this way. We make it the same way we made it 25 years ago, and it tastes the same,” Giuseppe Oreamuno says. 

Linguine Mare Nero, jet-black pasta with fresh tomato sauce, mussels and shrimp, has also been an unexpected hit. “People from Asia really love this dish. They come in and take pictures. I don’t know how they found out about it,” he says. 

For weekday lunches, Il Pastaio offers a cafeteria-style meal that includes an entrée, vegetable, salad and bread. The open-seating tables fill quickly. 

Oreamuno says he knows the seating situation is less than ideal. “People come because of the flavor,” he says. Judging by the customers warmly greeting him, part of Il Pastaio’s lasting appeal is Giuseppe Oreamuno. 

When it first opened, Il Pastaio served lunch and dinner on Saturdays, too. 

“It was too much. We needed Sunday for family. My family said Saturday is a big day for business. I said, ‘You want money or me? It’s impossible to work that much,’” Oreamuno says.

Fans of his food have learned to work around Giuseppe Oreamuno’s schedule.

Since Il Pastaio opened in 2000, thousands of locals who were raised on dry macaroni have also learned how to cook fresh pasta. Oreamuno offered a quick refresher on cooking fresh pasta. Standing at the stove, he warms a ladle of sauce in a pan. Meanwhile, he drops a portion of fresh linguine in boiling water. After just a minute, he pulls the pasta into the sauce to finish before serving it on a warm plate with a fresh basil garnish.

Il Pastaio has survived for a quarter century through local economic crises, culinary fads and the opening and closing of hundreds of eateries. The family has persevered after suffering the loss of two family homes in Superior in the 2021 Marshall Fire. 

At age 74, Oreamuno says he’s not remotely interested in retirement, and the next generation is expanding the Il Pastaio brand. According to Ahagata Dominguez, the family is preparing to finally open a new facility, a real pasta factory, in Gunbarrel later this year to produce noodles for Il Pastaio and other restaurants. 

Fresh pasta is added to sauce in the kitchen at Il Pastaio. Credit: John Lehndorff

Foolish Craig’s tops ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives’ roster

Forget Michelin! More tourists follow the Guy Fieri bucket list of Boulder destinations, including The Sink, Bohemian Biergarten, Audrey Jane’s Pizza Garage, Aloy Thai Cuisine and Rincon Argentino. Tasting Table recently named Foolish Craig’s Cafe as Colorado’s top “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” restaurant. 

Tasting Table has named Foolish Craig’s Cafe as Colorado’s top “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” restaurant. Credit: Foolish Craig’s Cafe

Students and staff may notice lettuce missing from salad bars in Boulder Valley School District cafeterias due to the Cyclospora outbreaks associated with fresh produce. BVSD Food Services announced: 

“For now, we have made the decision to remove lettuce and leafy greens from our salad bars until we establish a safe, reliable source we trust. … In the meantime, we will offer a variety of other colorful, locally grown fruits and vegetables.”

Openings

Pearl Street Coffee is open at 2232 Pearl Street, serving beverages and Scandinavian-style pastries.

Gaia Masala & Burger is open at 704 Main St. in Longmont.

Closings

Known for its fluffy potato doughnuts, Landline Doughnuts & Coffee closes Aug. 25 at 321 Main Street in Longmont.

After decades of dishing up yeast-raised treats, The Donut Haus has closed in Estes Park. In a social media post, the iconic business noted: 

“We don’t want to leave. This is about what happens when a beloved local spot ends up in a place now controlled by a big out-of-state corporation whose priorities don’t leave much room for the small businesses that make this town what it is.”

Sunday’s fundraisers feature tamales, baked goods and bites on the farm

The 800-plus residents of Boulder’s San Lazaro Mobile Home Park are racing to raise funds to purchase the park property. The Celebration of Cuisine fundraiser, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Aug. 23 at San Lazaro, will feature Latin American menudo and tamales, Bosnian burek, savory pastries and other foods cooked by the community.

Cooking for Culture community bake sale features baked goods from more than 25 eateries, including Blackbelly Market, Leven Deli, Olive & Finch, Rioja, Work & Class and Yuan Wonton. Proceeds benefit Kaizen Food Rescue and the Rocky Mountain Immigration Advocacy Network. The sale runs from 10 a.m. until the baked goods sell out on Aug. 23 at Joyride Brewing in Edgewater. 

Slow Food Boulder County’s Plant a Seed Celebration lunch on Aug. 23 at Sunflower Farm features bites from Snail of Approval chefs and restaurants, including Basta, Corrida and the Flagstaff House. Funds support Slow Food USA’s 2026 Plant a Seed for Change program. Tickets here. 

The highly anticipated Colorado Pizza Festival on Sept. 5 in Longmont features an Amateur Pizza Competition using a wood-fired oven and Moxie Bread Co. flour. Contest applications are due Aug. 21. 

(Get your upcoming food event, festival or class listed free on Boulder Reporting Lab using the self-submission form here.)

Raw corn adds sweet crunch to peach and avocado salad

Who says you have to boil, steam, grill or otherwise cook sweet corn? The Boulder County Farmers Markets share a salad recipe using fresh kernels cut from the cob. 

Get the recipe here

“If we want to live out our ideals more fully as a country, we could begin by sitting down with our neighbors. … This feels like a timely reminder: food has always been one of the most powerful ways we build community, share culture, and discover common ground.” — Spencer Cox and Eboo Patel in the Wall Street Journal

Want more Boulder bites?

Check out recent editions of Nibbles:

🥣 Inside Boulder’s bone broth boom + new bagels and tomato pie

🥟 The remarkable journey behind Susan’s Samosas

🍅 Tomato season is here: Boulder readers share their favorite ways to enjoy it


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John Lehndorff is Boulder Reporting Lab’s food editor. A Massachusetts native, he has lived in Boulder since 1976 and has written about food and culture here for nearly five decades. His Nibbles column has run since 1985, and he also serves as Food Editor of Colorado Avid Golfer magazine and Exhibit Historian for the Museum of Boulder’s upcoming Boulder Eats exhibit. A former restaurant cook, caterer and cooking teacher, he has been Food and Features Editor of the Daily Camera, Senior Editor at the Aurora Sentinel, and Dining Critic for the Rocky Mountain News. His writing has appeared in Westword, Yellow Scene, the Washington Post and USA Today. Nationally recognized as a pie expert, he is the former Executive Director of the American Pie Council and longtime Chief Judge at the National Pie Championships. He has hosted Radio Nibbles on KGNU-FM for more than 30 years and co-hosts Kitchen Table Talk.