Farm-to-fork chefs feed growing ‘local’ demand
By John Lehndorff for Rocky Mountain Independent
When Antonio Laudisio moved to Boulder in the late 1960s, he was shocked that it had no farmer’s market and few farmers directly supplying restaurants.
“I was coming in with the European idea that the touchstone for any restaurant was the market and fresh local produce,” Laudisio said as he sat at his stand at the Boulder County Farmer’s Market on a hot August Saturday. “In Italy there’s always been a symbiotic relationship between the farmer and the cook.”
In the Latest Pizza Trend, It’s All About the Crust
By Andrea Pyenson for MSN City Guides
"The pizza part of it is exciting for me because it reduces the culinary experience down to simplicity," he says. He makes a simple Neapolitan dough and says technique and ingredients distinguish his pizzas from others. "Our job is to reveal the natural flavors of ingredients. You can kill a good crust with bad ingredients," he says. The restaurant uses fresh, local ingredients from the Boulder Farmers' Market as much as possible, and twice a week, in season, Laudisio brings a portable wood-burning oven to the market, where he makes and sells pizza. One of the restaurant's most popular pizzas is the Bianca, with fresh rosemary, imported olive oil, parmigiano and mozzarella cheese; the other is the classic Margherita.
Happy Hour at Laudisio Lasts and Lasts...
From Boulder Ethnic Restaurants Examiner Allen Parr:
"Laudisio is a household name to many Boulderites, dating back to their location at 28th and Iris, where they transformed a strip center sidewalk into a trellised slice of Milano, complete with fans and grape vines. But, like the Jefferson’s, they have moved on up.
It is now a luxurious (but responsibly green) Italian restaurant at Twenty Ninth Street, directly above the cool, spinning globe sculpture. It is fancy enough for a royal feast, but with the current shortage of kings, earls, princesses and the like, Laudisio’s enticing happy hour reels in the common man, like me.
...
Two factors make Laudisio’s happy hour stand out: 1) the bar tenders are unfailing polite, managing to charm the ladies and mop up spills with equal proficiency, and 2) the length of the ‘hour’; you see, Laudisio’s keeps this party going from 3 all the way to 7:30! That’s about double the average happy hour span, so walk, don’t run to Laudisio’s."
Pizza Taste Test at Laudisio
Colorado based company, Tellory, Inc., makers of the Ciolo line of preservative-free, artisanal pestos, dips and spreads, and Piccolo Foods, a natural line of hand-crafted tapenades, spreads, dips and pestos, utilized the Laudisio pizza ovens, and the skills of Chef Antonio Laudisio to test its new line of pestos.
A full house of foodies packed around the pizza oven Wednesday moring (February 18) to sample the array of sauces, prepared by Antonio on Laudisio's house-made pizza dough.
Here is what Culinary Colorado had to say about the event:
"When Tellory, Inc., a Lafayette company, wanted to do a pizza sampling using their artisinal Ciolo and Piccolo brands of handcrafted pesto, the company approached Antonio Laudisio to turn the recipes into reality. Antonio and Adalberto Murillo assembled pizzas using Tellory's two lines of pesto products, plus quality ingredients and their own scrumptious pizza dough, popped the pies into the oven and sliced them for the mid-day pizza party. What a launch!" read full article
Laudisio: Edible Front Range "Farmer Approved Restaurant"
Family owned and operated for 20 years, Laudisio uses the freshest local ingredients to best reflect the beauty of Boulder’s gardens, waters and farms. We research environmentally conscious methods of procuring all of our food, and strive to support ecologically sustainable businesses. see listing
Laudisio Celebrates 20 Years!
A Boulder Tradition
"This month marks the 20th anniversary of Laudisio Italian Restaurant. Conceived by Antonio Laudisio, a first-generation American who learned the arts at his Mother’s side in the kitchen of her Miami restaurant, Laudisio spent 18 years in a small shopping center on Iris and 28th St. In 2006 Laudisio took the restaurant to the newly built 29th Street Mall, expanding into a larger and contemporary new home.." see full story
Laudisio Happy Hour
From: The Hot 5 January 18, 2009
Laudisio. Get out of the Pearl Street rut at this swank Twenty Ninth eatery, which offers discounted cocktails, beer and wine during its happy hour -- along with cheap, delicious pizza and a variety of affordable appetizers. The decor, the crowd, the location and the attractive staff combine to make a Laudisio happy hour a little like a mini-vacation.
Beat the recession: Your guide to Boulder's happy hours and drink specials
By Kim Fuller, For the Colorado Daily
Friday, January 30, 2009
BOULDER, Colo. — It's 5 o'clock somewhere, even during a time of tight budgeting and prudent spending.
...Offering Italian hospitality and cuisine at its best, Laudisio is in its 20th year in Boulder, but has settled in to a new home in the Twenty Ninth Street mall. Wine and pizza from a wood-burning oven can satisfy a savory palate, followed by a sweet finish with a mini dessert...
Laudisio's Polenta Boulder Makes Cover of Edible Front Range Magazine
This photo shows the Polenta Boulder, fresh from Antonio Laudisio's traveling pizza oven!
To view Edible Front Range Magazine online, with the recipe for this dish, click here.
Or, stop by Laudisio Italian Restaurant in Boulder! We have plenty of copies of Edible Front Range Magazine available, with all of the delicious recipes inside!
If you're not familiar with this publication, definitely pick up a copy. You'll love it!
Winner of Wine Enthusiast Magazine Award of Unique Distinction!
Laudisio Italian Restaurant has been selected as one of the nation's most wine-friendly restaurants for this year.
Laudisio is one of a select number of restaurants in North America, and one of two in Boulder, to be honored with this recognition. It represents your dedication to delivering the most wine-friendly experience to your patrons.
Winner of Wine Spectator Magazine Award
Laudisio Italian Restaurant recently received the Wine Spectator Magazine's "Award of Excellence" for 2008. This award is given to restaurants whose wine lists offer interesting selections, are appropriate to their cuisine and appeal to a wide range of wine lovers.
Laudisio was one of 3,254 winners chosen nationwide, and the only Boulder restaurant to receive this award for having a well-chosen selection of quality producers, along with a thematic match to the menu in both price and style.
Laudisio Featured in 'Daily Camera'
"Saturdays Just Got A Little More Savory"
Taste of television: Laudisio family cooks on Rocky Mountain PBS
"Local chef and restaurateur Antonio Laudisio has added cooking show host to his repertoire of Italian specialties, and his now featured with his son Tavio every Saturday on Rocky Mountain PBS. The show, "Cooking with Laudisio," is a mixture of food, wine, travel and leisure, featuring Antonio's twin passions --cooking and sailing -- that bring joy on land and water."
Laudisio Launches TV Cooking Show!
From Culinary Colorado:
Move over, Lidia! Make room, Mario!
"Cooking with Laudisio, Antonio and Tavio Laudisio's Italian cooking program, debuts at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 4 on Rocky Mountain PBS Channel 6. The father and son team will share their family recipes, easy-to-implement cooking techniques and special tips.
Laudable Dinner at Laudisio Reliable and reliably good Italian restaurant at 29th Street worthy of a pair of celebrations.
Laudisio Featured in 'Boulder Magazine'
Laudisio was recently featured in Boulder Magazine.
Excerpt from 'Boulder Magazine' Article:
"Most Boulderites remember "the old Laudisio's", as it's now called - a fun, cozy, quintessentially Italian restaurant at 28th and Iris, where Antonio Laudisio and his family served up pasta and good times for 20 years. Antonio caused quite a stir in 2006 when he closed the old location and opened in a big, sleek building in the heart of the then brand-new Twenty Ninth Street shopping District."
We are the "Best of Boulder" 2008
Laudisio Italian Restaurant was once again listed in the Boulder Weekly's "Best of Boulder" for Italian Cuisine
Listing in Boulder Weekly Reads:
"Remember that scene in Goodfellas when the mobster ringleaders are in jail but still somehow manage to cook a world-class Italian meal in the confines of their personal, private cell? If we remember correctly, it went a little something like this: "He was in a year for contempt, and he had this wonderful system for doing the garlic. He used a razor and he used to slice it so thin that it would liquefy in the pan with just a little oil. It was a very good system." Though we're not quite sure who they've got slicing the garlic in the kitchen at Laudisio, we do know that whatever it is they're doing, it's a very good system. Laudisio is the perennial winner in this category, and for good reason. Their cuisine offers an inviting and refreshing approach to the Italian table, every ingredient chosen with care, every dish meticulously prepared. With their location at the Twenty Ninth Street Mall, Laudisio succeeds in combining good food with chic ambiance."
Boulder Magazine - The 30th Anniversary Interviews
Antonio Laudisio was interviewed as part of this feature.
The questions asked:
1. What’s the biggest change you have observed in Boulder, in your field, over the last three decades?
2. What significant trends do you see developing now in the city and county of Boulder?
3. With regard to your specific area of expertise, where do you think we’re headed?
1.There’s a lot of young talent coming out of the culinary schools who approach their craft with a studied, measured step. On the negative side, there’s the management issue. The margins have been so greatly reduced that good management is essential. Good food and bad management will sink you faster than mediocre food and good management. The magic is to have both be excellent.
2. Wherever possible, we should search out local ingredients. The core issue for me is community. We don’t want to be looking all over the world for food that’s out of season. Seasons are nice: Between the notes, there’s silence. It’s the silence between the notes that makes the poetry and the music.
3. We’re headed toward being a world competitor in the food industry. You can eat as well here as anywhere. As a nation, however, we’ve got to be eating healthily. We have to take control of a renaissance from the middle down, not at the top of the food industry, if we’re going to outgrow the fast-food industry. That’s the trick to survival.
See the answers given by other prominent Boulder figures!
New 'L' Laudisio dazzles with spot-on dishes, decor
...For Laudisio, owner of "L" Laudisio and part owner of Mediterranean Restaurant in Boulder, working in a restaurant is simply the family business, begun decades before his ancestors emigrated to America from Naples, Italy in 1905. ...
A Big Thank You! Community Food Share News
Laudisio and its owners Antonio Laudisio and Richard F. Schaden would like to thank everyone who came out to support for the 19th annual Community Food Share's Tee Up Against Hunger Golf Tournament. Laudisio was the primary sponsor at this years Tournament and are proud to announce that we raised $62,000 for CFS.
For every $1 raised CFS is able to provide 4 meals for people in need. That equates to 248,000 meals that can be provided based on this single event. If you would like to learn more about CFS or make an online donation to this cause, please check out their website at www.communityfoodshare.org
Beyond a Regional Doubt
Italian cuisine as such doesn't exist. Chefs are discovering that distinctive foods of regions such as Tuscany, Apulia, Umbria and Sicily define the real Italy and command spotlights of their own.
By Virginia Gerst, Special to R&I -- Restaurants & Institutions
...Laudisio serves foods from all regions of Italy, with a focus on the cuisine of the south because the Laudisio family hails from the Amalfi Coast. One-quarter of the menu changes monthly to spotlight a specific region. “We want people to be able to experience the food and wine of Piedmont or Friuli,” Kretz says. . ...
L is for Laudisio
One thing Antonio Laudisio can do better than almost anyone is build restaurants. It's in his blood. His ancestors learned to cook and bake on the Amalfi coast in southern Italy. His parents, in the first wave of Italian immigrants, opened a bakery under the Brooklyn Bridge. In 1953, they moved to Miami and opened a small restaurant. Antonio was 11. He and his three brothers—Agostino, Jr., Raimondo and Leonardo—all worked there together, sharing a single pair of dancing shoes their mother gave them, so only one of them would be gone from work at a time.
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